The property is beautiful and has such promise but our stay was uncomfortable, the owners did not address the situation appropriately and our room was littered with prohibition signs.
We arrived at the inn at 5:00. Our room was 57 degrees when we arrived. I jumped into a hot bath just so I could feel my feet and hands again. The bath tub contained signs telling you which handles you must use to assist you in exiting the tub. After the bath, I saw a sign instructing guests to use the black towel to remove makeup and that you would be charged for any stains that could not be removed from a towel. The bathroom had some basic essentials such as razors, combs, etc. with yet another sign explaining that these items are "only to tide you over". Too many instructions for me while I am vacationing in an igloo.
It appeared as though the owners had attempted to increase the temperature before we checked in but it was not done in enough time. We came to understand that the owners had recently installed chiller type equipment below our room which caused the room to be frigid. It took more than 2 hours for the room to reach 70 degrees and that was only with the addition of a portable heater. When the heater was moved to the bathroom or shut off, the room immediately began dropping in temperature. Upon check-out, the owners explained that they would no longer be renting the room out. We received no concession to our bill. For over $300/night, this outcome is unprofessional.
The high points were the breakfast and the owners' lovely daughter who assisted us at breakfast and with our boarding passes.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
25 January 2012
As owners of the Black Walnut Inn, we always take our guest's concerns seriously. Arriving at a cold room would certainly not rate high on our list either, however, we were not made aware of this problem until the guests were leaving for their dinner reservations. We let them know that we would try to fix the heat issue but they could also change suites if they were not happy with the heat when they returned.
We went to the suite as soon as they were gone to dinner and added a space heater and turned up the furnace which is an in-room control that guests can operate. Unfortunately, the heat had apparently not been turned up for guest arrival when the room was checked by housekeeping on the morning of these guest's check in date. We have since added checking the heat to the housekeeping check list. As the owners, we did not feel a monitary adjustment necessary since we had offered a change of suites for these guests.
We have never had guests dislike our information that we provide for them in the rooms and many guests have actually thanked us for the extra information provided, not looking at it as prohibition signs but as helpful information. We are sorry that it was felt that it was negative by these guests.
We also receive many compliments on the special basket of amenities in each room as our inn is located in a rural area about 3 miles from the nearest store and most stores close by 9:00 pm. so if guests have forgotten some toiletry or personal item we do not want them to have to leave the inn or do without until morning. These items are "to tide them over" until they can pick up what they need. We never charge for these items and do not care how much is used out of the basket by our guests.
We would hope that these guests have the chance to return to Black Walnut and experience a warm stay in any of our suites as they are all working well and carefully checked for the heat to be turned up early in the day of guest's arrival.
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of TripAdvisor LLC