I am excited to share a hotel/travel review with you all today! While I don’t do these often, I enjoy writing them when I can. We visited Nemacolin, a resort about a hour and a half south of Pittsburgh over the weekend, and I wanted to share some tidbits with you all.
This review is my opinion, based off of the experience I had. All opinions are my own and Nemacolin is not affiliated with this post or my stay in any way (we paid for this stay ourselves). I also published a YouTube vlog of our stay, which you can watch here.
If you’re looking to book your own stay at Nemacolin, you can do so here!
Nemacolin History
I don’t want to get too deep into the “Nemacolin lore” if you will, but I will give you the “SparkNotes” version. Nemacolin, under the family of ownership it has today, opened back in the 80’s. However, there was history with the property under different ownership prior to that. The Hardy family purchased the property in the late 80’s with the plan to reopen it as a luxury resort, and that they did. The 84 Lumber owner, Joseph Hardy, and his heirs, mainly his eldest daughter Maggie, worked on the property for decades for it to be what it is today.
The property is over 2,000 acres and has three hotels, golf courses, private homes, ski slopes, a runway for private planes, and so much more. It is truly a “billionaire’s playground,” if you will. They recently underwent a massive renovation in some larger chunks of the property – mainly at The Chateau and The Grand Lodge. And to be honest, that is what really drew my interest.
I had visited Nemacolin as a child, but it has probably been 15 years since I had last stepped foot on the property. Its claim to fame as of late, besides the renovations which have taken place over the past ~2 years, is the fact they hosted The Bachelor Season 25. Yes, THE Bachelor…. Since then, prices for the resort have skyrocketed and it has definitely turned heads on a local level.
Booking & Arriving
I went into this having high expectations. Since we live locally, we are constantly getting ads for Nemacolin. They are truly billing themselves as a major destination that is “Real Life Magic.” Plus, when you charge between $600-$1,200+ for a room per night, it’s reasonable to expect a certain level of attention to detail and an overall great experience. So maybe, my expectations really weren’t high, just reasonable?
We booked this as a last-minute trip for my husband’s birthday weekend. And since we only live about an hour and a half away, we decided one night was good enough for us to get a feel for everything. Over the past few years, we’ve been stuck too many places on travels people have recommended to us (and we didn’t enjoy), so we wanted to be safe, rather than sorry.
I was pleasantly surprised that the day after we booked, we received a phone call from an employee stating they were excited for our upcoming stay. They asked us if we needed help booking dining reservations or if we had any questions. That alone got some brownie points in our book. A week out from our stay, we received an email asking for any preferences, allergies, our pillow requests, and what time we would be arriving. From my experience, this is all very routine in the luxury hotel space. But it was still a good sign!
We arrived at our stated time – around 11am – as we wanted to make the most of the short amount of time we were there. We checked in and while our room wasn’t ready, which was totally fine, we were assured they’d get housekeeping on it so we could check in earlier than the 4pm guarantee.
Free Activities
Since we had some time on our hands, we decided to explore the property and what it had to offer. And we did notice that while they claim they have a large number of things to do, the majority of them are paid/you need to reserve beforehand. However, there were some elements that were included: mini golf, bike rentals, sports equipment rentals, and many pool options (including an all-year outdoor pool). They also advertise their “car museum” of sorts and an airplane hangar – both of which were lackluster to us and can be confusing to get to.
Another item of interest for some people is the fact they house wild animals – tigers, mountain lion, lions, wolves, goats, and more. We peaked at this ourselves, and I was extremely disappointed to see no caretakers actively out with any of the animals. That gave me a bit of an “ick,” and I’m hoping it was just coincidence. I’m not a “zoo hater” by any means, but that whole situation did feel a bit icky to me.
During our trip, we did end up going to the year-round outdoor pool and really enjoyed it! Our weather was in the 50s and the water was great. There was also a hot tub if the pool wasn’t warm enough. I was very impressed that they had hot robes and warm towels easily accessible at the pool, plus a few saunas.
Paid Activities
We looked into some of the paid activities, and they do have a lot! I do think that is an area where there is something for everyone. While we didn’t partake in any on this trip specifically, there were things that interested us. I also loved that this is truly a family resort – they even offer paid childcare. But there are also opportunities to have an adults only escape, with spa services, an adults only pool, and even one hotel (Falling Rock) that is 16+ only.
Overall, I think there is a good mix of activities. However, if you go for more than a night, I would plan on spending some dough on things to do. We noticed some activities were super reasonably priced, like bowling at $15/person, while other things were extremely overpriced (a 90 minute session in their version of a trampoline park was $80/person). Those sort of discrepancies were hard for me to wrap my head around, and happened a lot during our stay.
Food
Upon arrival, we grabbed a quick lunch at The Patisserie. This is more of a coffee shop, but it served some grab-and-go style breakfast and lunch options. We grabbed some sandwiches/wraps – and they were good! However, I did feel this was a bit expensive for what is was, especially compared to our other meals at Nemacolin that were at sit-down establishments.
We had a dinner reservation at a recently renovated restaurant that just reopened a few weeks ago, Gusto! This was a fabulous experience with great food, great service, and (in my opinion) a great bang for your buck. Not one thing we ordered was bad. And a great service staff made it that much more enjoyable. Having a great experience there is what we needed after a rough time checking in, which I will get to shortly.
Before heading home on day 2, we grabbed lunch at The Peak. The Peak is typically where you go to ski, but that is also where the year-round outdoor pool is, as well as the home base for some other outdoor activities. They serve items like sandwiches and pizza, and basically have a sports bar vibe. I got the shrimp tacos, and my husband Grant got a smash burger – both of which were great! The service was great as well.
Overall, our dining experiences were great! Good quality food and good staff. The only note is that pricing made sense more at some places rather than others.
Check-In
As I mentioned earlier, we arrived around 11am to The Chateau. While our room wasn’t ready, we were told that housekeeping would get on it so we could get into our room ASAP. I never expect a room to be ready before check-in time. Nemacolin contacted us a week prior to as about our arrival time, which ended up being accurate. The hotel was not busy at all, so I figured our room would be ready earlier than stated.
Around 3:15pm, we made our way to the front desk to ask about any room updates. They said it still wasn’t ready… 45+ minutes go by – it was after 4pm, which is the guaranteed check-in time – and our room still wasn’t ready. After talking with the front desk a third time, they said it would be “no more than 30 minutes more.” As we began to question them, a butler appeared and suddenly took us to our room after 4:15pm. We were not offered any explanation or a late check out option.
This may make me sound like a “Karen,” but considering this is a luxury hotel, I was extremely disappointed in the way that situation was handled by the front desk team. Plus, I have a hard time believing there were no other rooms they could have put us into instead, whether it was the room type we booked or not.
Lodging
Thankfully, once we got to our room it was *mostly* smooth sailing. Our room was gorgeous! The butler service was fabulous. And we had an amazing night’s rest. I should note again, we stayed at The Chateau – which I think is the most preferable hotel option on property. The rooms made me feel like I was in Europe. I loved that the butler service also included complimentary aromatherapy baths set up in your tub, which I did take advantage of!
The one little annoyance I had was that our requested pillows were not in our room upon arrival. While that’s not really a big deal, they did ask what we preferred the week prior, and why ask if it won’t be in there? However, we were easily able to request them with no problem. We requested hypoallergenic pillows due to my husband’s allergies – which is why the requested pillows were more “necessity” rather than simply preference.
Nemacolin has three hotel options; The Chateau, The Grand Lodge, and Falling Rock. Plus, they also have homes that can be rented out as well. Falling Rock is not currently renovated, so unless you are a golfer I would hesitate to book there first. The Grand Lodge could be a good option, as it is connected to The Chateau and both are in a great location on the property.
Other Details
There were times things that didn’t feel like I was at a luxury resort when it came to the staff. I saw employees taking personal phone calls in the guest restrooms. And maintenance took up road space for extended periods of time so we couldn’t get through narrow roads. Little things like that throughout our stay tend to bring you back to reality. These are easily fixable with better training and management being on top of things.
Parking, Valet, & Shuttles
You are required to valet park at the hotels, which honestly isn’t my preference. I do understand valet for destinations where space is limited. However, I feel like for somewhere like Nemacolin (where land is not lacking) that it is unnecessary.
Many spots on Nemacolin property are spread out, and you need to drive to be able to take advantage of everything on property. Having to valet just makes me feel like my car is held hostage, and it slows things down having to request the car often.
While the valet was overall quick and on top of things, there were small notes I had. Each time we got in/exited the vehicle, my door was never opened for me. They would open my husband’s (driver) door, but not mine…? I just thought that was bizarre for a luxury hotel. Also, when we checked out and they pulled the car around, they didn’t load our bags for us. While both of those aren’t a big deal, for a luxury resort, that should be protocol.
They do offer resort shuttles for free if you prefer not to drive. We took one to dinner and it was quick and efficient. However, the next day when we were requesting one, we waited 15 minutes and nothing ever showed. Compare this experience to the day before, where we saw shuttles constantly and never even had to request one. Again, not a huge deal. But little things add up! Plus, if you had kids or something and needed the shuttle and it doesn’t show up, that would be frustrating.
Pros // Cons
So overall, what are the pros and cons of Nemacolin?
Pros:
– Something for everyone’s interests
– An all-year destination
– Family-friendly luxury
– Good dining options
– Included on-property transportation and select activities
Cons:
– This is the destination, but is in a secluded area – not much to do outside of the property
– Service isn’t always up to par for the price per night
Final Thoughts
So, will we be going back to Nemacolin? The answer is… maybe. I think there are some comparable resorts I’d like to visit first before making a return. Overall, we had a good time. However, I think there is room for improvement when it comes to the service and the aesthetic of the resort. All of this being said, these are my thoughts at the price point it is currently being offered at. If the price per night went down, I would have less bones to pick.
At this point in time, they aren’t “wowing” me. If you bill yourself as luxury, the expectation is to be “wowed.” I also didn’t necessarily experience “real life magic.” There was especially no magic involved in making sure our room was ready on time…
So with that, I leave this open-ended in that sense. Nemacolin, can you work on “wowing” me? Spend less time and resources on over-the-top ads, and more on training to get the “luxury” experience perfected.
xoxo,
Jayme
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