The Briars Resort & Spa

My daughter and I enjoyed a girls weekend at this timeless Inn. Beautiful historic and sprawling. Room was spacious and spotless. We were impressed to find a working fireplace and very comfy Beds with many pillow options. We loved our balcony and the great view. Normally we dont use TV but we missed the World series game 1 because we couldnt get a feed. We loved dinner too amazing food arancini, shrimp and fish and chips and fresh salad wonderful cocktails and breakfast was excellent also we had french toast and eggs bennie. Coffee was incredible too. Did we mention the Staff? Bartender/ servers and desk xoxo top not h. We also loved the massages Sandra was great. I do wish there was an esthetician for pedicures but none was available on our stay. The grounds are sprawling and gorgeous especially lit with fall colour. Im sure the weddings onsite would be exquisite and the summer booking on that beach would be phenomenal.

I booked a special weekend for my friends and I for Nov 21-23. Every year we plan our time together well in advance. Today I received an email from the Briars Resort and Spa stating our weekend, this weekend, had to be cancelled because the resort is closing for the week. It stated they would refund my $100 deposit, were sorry, and I could re-schedule for another time. I actually called because I could not believe this late notice was true. If I had cancelled this late with them they would have kept my $100 deposit. The person who I spoke with could not tell me why the Resort was closing and acted like it was not a big deal. I was not offered any compensation for this late cancellation notice, such as a free night or free dinner etc,, absolutely nothing. All she said was sorry, and when I said I would never book with the Briars Resort ever again she said ok. After the phone call I responded to the email and did not get a reply. I have never dealt with such terrible management and business etiquette in the hotel industry. The hospitality industry is all about the experience and meeting the needs of clients. I would absolutely not recommend the Briars Resort and Spa to anyone for any occassion or event.

Beautiful setting by the lake with lots of beautiful trees and impressive buildings. I have to say I was disappointed with the attention to detail, cleanliness and over all condition of this once beautiful resort. This resort is in desperate need of some repair, deep cleaning and general attention to service. The overall décor is quite dated with carpets needing replacement, colour schemes to be revisited unless you love the '90's. While our room was clean, it was missing robes and the ashtray outside had old cigarette butts in it. Bed was comfy. It looked like the hallway had not seen a vacuum in a while and the hallway leading from the wing of the hotel we were staying to the main part looked like it was in desperate need of a handy man to fix it up and repaint it. We couldn't get hot water to our bathroom sink. The food was hit and miss. Servers are overly casual in their tights and sweatshirts. My partner enjoyed a lovely lamb shank while the soup, salad and bruschetta left a lot to be desired. Breakfast buffet was not elaborate and looked to have been sitting for a while, was picked over when we arrived at 9:00 AM. I think it was replenished near the end of our meal. Many of the plates had old food stuck to them and it took a few to find one clean enough to eat off of. We went up to the look out tower only to find hundreds of dead flies on the window sill and on the floor. This property has definitely seen better days, which is disappointing. Was expecting more of a high end / classy weekend. It has so much potential but sadly misses the mark.