The Umstead Hotel and Spa♡

Wonderful Stay for People and Dogs

10.0

Lovely stay and dog friendly! The spa is exceptional. The service is spot on. The bar has great food and drinks. The pool is heated. Hiking trails nearby.

A luxurious getaway at a beautiful spot!

10.0

We always have such a wonderful time at the splendid Umstead Hotel! It is a luxurious splurge for dinner, drinks and/or staying in their beautiful rooms. We recently celebrated our anniversary there, and as always the staff was over the top friendly and efficient. Our first room had an issue with the heat, and they swiftly upgraded us to a suite and took a substantial amount off of the hotel charge for the initial room...it was above and beyond kind of them. We love having drinks and dinner in the bar area, and we always splurge on breakfast at Herons, their lovely dining room. Highly recommend!

Worth every penny!

10.0

Every year since my wife and I got married (5 years) I choose a 5 star hotel and spa to visit every year around her birthday in December. This year I chose Umstead and what a good choice I made! Awesome customer service, attention to detail in the rooms and Herons was amazing along with the Bar service too! In room dining was great and the customer service with in room dining took the cake! The Spa experience was top notch all the way around! My wife and I got massages and facials, and we were so relaxed afterwards! Even the turn down service was immaculate! I definitely recommend this great Hotel!

Pleasant Surprise While Attending Conference

10.0

The Umstead was a special surprise! I was attending a conference so hadn’t done any research ahead of time. Upon arriving, the staff was amazing. The room was very nice, but it was the special touches I appreciated like them leaving a bookmark on my book, a cleaning cloth for my sunglasses, a phone charger cord keeper and some amazing chocolates. Just a wonderful experience!

Memororable Experience

10.0

My husband and I celebrated my birthday at the hotel. It was truly a wonderful way to commemorate another year. The hotel staff, from the valet, to the lobby/check-in personnel, to the service crew in the restaurants, all were professional, genuine, and accommodating. I highly recommend this establishment to anyone to celebrating a special event, or to simply get away and relax.

Not how it used to be

2.0

We were really looking forward to our stay and could not have been more disappointed. We made our reservations by phone about 3 months in advance and the lovely reservation agent asked if we were celebrating anything. I said our anniversary and she said she'd make a note of it. We also made reservations for Herons, the onsite restaurant, and the Umstead Spa so she had both of our names. At check in, the reservation was under my name and "guest". Hmmm... small error but that can be fixed. But it wasn't. After a terrible dining experience at Herons - that gets its own review - we returned to our room to find that housekeeping had left a little card on the bed addressed to me and guest. Are you serious? We are celebrating our anniversary and we let you know that when making the reservation and at check in. The hotel itself is lovely, the pool was relaxing, the spa was delightful but the staff needs a lot more training if they want to keep their reputation. I did learn after our stay that the Umstead has a new general manager. Hope he can either get things back in shape or is replaced. I did reach out to him following our stay. At first I did not receive a response to my email. When I followed up, I received a curt phone call thanking me for my "constructive criticism". No apology, no what can we do to make this up to you, nothing. We were also surprised at the number of dogs on the property. There is a large lawn behind the hotel for weddings and events and a little sign saying not to allow dogs on the grass. So guests were walking their dogs around the edges and letting them relief themselves in the planting beds. I imagine on a hot day, this probably gets a little stinky. We would go back for the spa, the pool (though if you visit the spa, you can also go to the pool!) and we did enjoy drinks and lunch the next day at the more casual patio bar. Those experiences were great and helped make the weekend not a complete loss. But for the money we paid, nope, not again unless I hear things have changed.