This place is for people who are tired of the Holiday Inns and the textbook motor hotel experience. It is quaint, although the facility is large, and the rooms remind you of staying at a grandparent's or great uncle's old farm house. Conveniently located by Green Gables, Cavendish beaches and numerous other activities, this hotel offers something different and fun only 20 minutes north of Charlottetown. I would certainly return! If you are looking for something more "cookie-cutter", then this place would not be for you.

When one is spending close to $800 for a long weekend getaway, one expects pretty good accomodations. The best that I can say about the Clarion Collection Gateway Cavendish was that it was okay. No major issues or problems, but not great value for the price. The beds and furniture have seen better days and while adequate, one expects more when one is paying premium prices (in the local market). Perhaps this explains why at a peak tourism time in Prince Edward Island's premier tourist destination, this resort appeared to be running less than 50% occupancy while other accomodations in the area seemed close to overflowing. The owners need to either invest in perking the place up so that is worth the price being paid or lower the price to be in line with the quality of accomodations. There is a lot of unrealized potential for this resort that isn't being acted upon.

We had planned a trip to PEI for several years because of our love of the Lucy Maud Montgomery stories of "Anne of Green Gables" The location of the hotel allows you to drive to most of the places associated with the stories. Even though designated by Clarion as a "Gateway Resort" it is an average hotel with additional family style cottages to rent. Since we arrived near the end of the summer season, there were few families as guests.

The breakfast ($5.99 pp) was low quality and we ate in town at other restaurants after the first morning. The room was clean and the personnel at the front desk were helpful.

We enjoyed our visit to PEI (Potatoes Every Inch) and the beautiful scenery. The red clay, and rocky beaches were lovely. The seafood mussels growing in the inlet farms are an informative part of the agriculture on the Island. Cavendish and the surrounding area is very agrarian and rural except for the Green Gabbles tourist industry.

We had potatoes served at every restaurant meal while on PEI, and in my opinion, the boiled plain potatoes needed salt, pepper and butter to be more appealing. Other side dishes served regularly here are boiled cabbage, carrots and turnips.

The hotel is a good central lodging, but beware when returning to the location at night because there is very poor lighting and signage at the entry. We had difficulty locating it with the GPS..

We got the romance package, and it was the best holiday I've ever had. The staff were very helpful and friendly, the sights were amazing, and the lobster dinner just topped it all off. We will be going back again next year!!!