I love a spur of the moment trip! One day a few weeks ago, we had some time and nothing to do. So we randomly decided to pack up the car, the dogs, and just GO. We hit the road in searched of a cool place to go. It had to be within a few(ish) hours from New York, and pet friendly. I searched on my phone, and soon found the Omni Bedford Springs Resort in Bedford, Pennsylvania.
If the night before you told me what we were going to be doing the next day, I’d have laughed in your face. I’m a planner, and NOT last minute with anything.
The drive to Bedford was SUPPOSED to be just under 5 hours, but thanks to construction it took SEVEN.
I’m pretty sure Davinci could travel cross country. He LOVES being in the car! Oliver on the other hand… well, we may have slipped him a small dose of Benadryl. I’m going to be a great mom one day.
Anyway, the Omni Bedford Springs Resort & Spa is packed with history. From the famed mineral springs to hosting presidents, there’s a lot to see and do here.
While mostly everyone we encountered was friendly, we had major issues with the front desk. The front desk is the heart of the hotel, and it needs to be good! During our stay, it just wasn’t.
With that said, my first word of warning is to be sure to call ahead and find out if the room you booked is the one you will actually be receiving. We booked a king bed room, and it’s not what we got. This came as a shock, considering this isn’t one of those hotels in which you request a bed type. Your reservation says what’s booked. It’s a guarantee. So that was really frustrating.
The hotel is large and made up of two wings – the spa wing and the historic wing. We were given a room in Swiss Cottage, which is part of the historic wing.
The walk to our room was long, which was expected. This historic hotel has many buildings built over different periods of time, all which connect.
So we walked all the way to our room to find that we were given two DOUBLE beds, instead of the king we booked. It would have been less of a let down had it been mentioned at check in. But it wasn’t. No, “I’m sorry, but the room you booked is no longer available.” Nothing. It wasn’t until we got to the room that we saw it wasn’t what we booked.
So I called the front desk, to which they said they’re sold out of king rooms until tomorrow. Why I was allowed to book one, I’m not sure. They said we could switch rooms tomorrow if we wanted. But on a two night stay I wasn’t interested in the hassle. Honestly though, I probably would have chosen somewhere else to go had I known we’d be squished in a double bed. It was late, and we just drove an insanely long way with all the traffic. I let them know how unhappy I was, and they comped one night, which I suppose was the right thing to do. Aside from of course, you know, not sell rooms you don’t have. I would have rather paid in full and received what I booked, but alas.
The room itself could use some updating, but the bathroom was very nice. We faced the front of the property, which offered a stunning view of the Allegheny Mountains.
Our room also had a porch. It’s shared with nearby rooms, but it’s large enough that it doesn’t matter. We loved sitting out there, dogs included.
We should’ve known from our room issue not to deal with the front desk anymore. However, stupid me called them the next morning to let them know we’d be taking the dogs for an extended walk, and to please make up the room during this time. I should’ve called housekeeping directly, but I don’t know… I felt like after last night the front desk would push to have our room done immediately. They said it was no problem, and it would be made up within the hour. Perfect.
So we took the dogs on an extended walk around the property, which was fabulous. We ran into other dogs, and it’s truly this perfect pet friendly hotel in a gorgeous setting. There’s even pet relief areas and bags! There are hiking trails to the mineral springs, and I just loved it here! The dogs loved going for walks, except once their paws got too dirty on the trails they didn’t want to walk anymore. It’s my fault for spoiling them so much.
So we returned to our room just over an hour later, and it was untouched. I called the front desk, and they said they’d send housekeeping right up. But it was too late now. The dogs were already tired from their long walk, and I didn’t want to go back out. I felt so defeated by this hotel at this point. Like they just couldn’t get anything right. So I told them to just bring clean towels, and housekeeping quickly dropped them off. We went to bring them the old ones to remove, but they rushed off before we had the chance, which was so annoying! It’s the little things, right? So we went on with our day, and came back later to find a housekeeping card underneath the door. It seemed as though they came normal time, which leads me to believe the front desk never contacted them to begin with.
Nevertheless, we had a fabulous time exploring this resort. There’s so much to do! I’m sad I didn’t get to utilize the spa. Unfortunately, coming here was so spur of the moment that there were no appointments available. We did spend our day at the outdoor pool, which overlooks the golf course.
Major props to the pool staff here. They were amazing, and so attentive! From bringing food and drinks, to a cool towelette, we felt so very pampered!
We spent one evening in the (very) large indoor pool. It’s not only historic, but gorgeous. It was too cold to go in, but the setting is so relaxing.
The Omni Bedford Springs Resort has four onsite restaurants. Honestly, I’m eager to return and try them all. We ate at the tavern one night, and did room service the other. I only wish we had one more night to test out the steakhouse!
The resort also offers historic tours to hotel guests. It’s only $10pp, but honestly, I wouldn’t bother.
There’s nothing on the tour that you can’t see/learn yourself just by walking around and reading the captions, etc. Or, just turn on the TV and watch the hotel’s channel.
The guided tour takes guests around to the restaurants, and then walks around to some public areas to point out a few specific pictures hanging on the walls. There’s apparently a bunker of some sort in the basement of Swiss Cottage (where we stayed). I asked our guide about it (I learned about it on the TV channel). She said no one is allowed down there. It would have been neat to be taken to an off limit area on the tour, even if they charge more.
We encountered even more front desk issues at check out. While we didn’t have a lot of luggage, we asked for assistance since we had the dogs too. Twenty minutes later, we were still waiting for someone to come help after being told they would be right up. We decided to take the dogs down, since they had to go out, and leave our bags. On our way out, we told the front desk no one had come yet. They said they are busy, and it’s taking about 30 minutes for bell services. That would have been a better answer than, “someone will be right up.” So since we already waited over twenty minutes we figured they would be by us soon. We had the valet get our car meanwhile. So I took the dogs for one last walk, and by now ANOTHER 20 minutes had passed, and still no luggage.
We were getting annoyed, especially if the ride home was going to take as long as it did on the way here. After another ten minutes, we ended up going inside to see what was taking so long. The line at the front desk was insane, so Mr. ADOL went back to our room. The bags were still in there. He brought them down, and we were finally on our way.
Then, fast forward to after we got home, it took over a week for them to release the hold on our credit card. It was for FOUR TIMES THE AMOUNT OF OUR ACTUAL BILL. After Amex said it looks like the pending charge was going to go through, I had to call the hotel and ask them to release it. Hot mess!!!
With that said, and even with all the issues, there are still plenty of great staff members around this resort.
Overall, the Omni Bedford Springs Resort is gorgeous, but seriously, please work on your front desk!
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