The Cave

A historical place where delegates from 44 nations created the International Monetary Fund, known as the Bretton Woods system in 1944.Built in an excellent location near White Mountain.

Beautiful old hotel with excellent restaurants, but they are pricey. Rooms are small. Closet can only hold about 6 items. Grounds are beautiful, as are the views of Mt. Washington. Cog railway only goes to the 4, 000 foot level of Mt. Washington after November 1.

Unfortunately, this is not my first experience with an Omni hotel that is in a beautiful historic building but needs major renovations on the inside. The views can’t be beat, but the rooms are problematic. I could not sleep the two nights I was there because of the extremely old radiator in the room. It had a cycle of loud banging every half hour (throughout the entire night), and when it wasn’t banging, it produced a loud whistle. In addition, the hair dryer in my room could not emit hot air- only cold air. Not nice. Finally, my experience at the 1902 Main Dining Room left much to be desired in terms of food (dinner and dessert.) I’m not sure I could recommend this hotel based on my experience, unfortunately.

For the record I am a Marriott Bonvoy Lifetime Platinum Elite member, an IHG Platinum Elite member, and a Leading Hotels Access member. I travel a lot, and stay in5 star hotels around the world. My wife and I just finished a wonderful one week stay. In my opinion this is a superb hotel. We stayed in a Presidential Wing room, and can vouch for the fact that you will not find a nicer room at any Ritz Carlton. The rooms are modern, super clean and have all the modern conveniences (USB outlets and plugs galore). The maid service was excellent and timely. I really cannot understand some of the previous reviews on this site. The overall level of service in the hotel is superb. Employees went out of their way to provide for any request. I read a previous comment about the breakfast buffet being insufficient. Whoever wrote that review must have missed part of the buffet, as it takes two rooms to hold everything offered. In short, this hotel was a huge surprise. Is one of the great historic hotels of America, where the world leaders met in 1944to design the monetary system that has ruled the world since WWII. The ambiance is unique. The views are superb from mostly everywhere in the hotel. The golf facilities are excellent, and the various trails are beautiful. I will definitely return.

Beautiful hotel, but rooms are not clean. The carpet in my room never saw a vacuum cleaner. I kept stepping on rocks the whole time I was in there. However, the restaurants are fabulous. Maybe someone would be put off by the 32 ounce steak for $160!

Just stayed two nights at the Omni and it was my first time visiting/staying at the hotel and the area. I enjoyed my stay and how the hotel has kept its historic charm. The hotel was well staffed and every person I met was friendly and helpful. Also, the view coming up to the hotel is stunning (even though it rained the whole weekend)! While overall it was a good experience the room in the main building was tight, a little run down, and in need of a deep clean. The decor in the room kept with the hotel's aesthetic but it was worn in areas and could use some updates. (rips in curtains, the bathroom sink had loose parts, and the light fixture only worked half the time). We were traveling with two people and the bathroom sink was a pedestal sink so no real place to store our toiletries. I may return in the winter to Ski Bretton Woods but for a mountain getaway, I might find a cheaper alternative with more space and updates.

The property has stunning and expansive views and it is fun to view the historical building, enjoy the lobby with the large roaring fireplace and antiques in the resort. However, I wouldn't stay here again, just visit and have a drink and walk the grounds, etc. Stay somewhere else. You pay a premium price for the room and the value isn't there. We paid extra for a room with a mountain view. Unfortunately, the windows were so dingy and dirty you really couldn't appreciate the view. The room was not luxurious by any means. It was small. The chairs were stained, the two pillows per person were flat, the older small television didn't work, the phone didn't work, there was a light bulb out over the bathroom sink and we couldn't get the heat to work properly. We stayed two nights and there was no shampoo, lotions, soap or water replenished after the first night. Although it was expensive, the food at Stickney's was very good. However, it was close to an hour before we actually got the meal.

Really cool little spot with a lot of history. I feel like being a speakeasy, they should’ve had a cocktail list with a more extensive bourbon, beer, and cider selection. The staff was very friendly.

Lisa is an awesome bartender, very cool spot overall

Kudos to Lisa exceptional bartender, overall great

Atmosphere: 5

Service: 5

Its a strange tale of 2 very different hotels mixed in one! On the one hand, there's the grand setting in a picturesque location. The grandiose setting can be matched only by a few others in US, maybe even in the world. Maybe Fairmont Banff. Now the services, that's a different story altogether. Long lines to get in or even order takeout at each of the restaurants at dinner. Ordered a drink at the bar (Stickney), waited 30 mins for the drink to arrive and then gave up. Any enquiry on order status both at Stickney as well as Switchback (at Gondola top) at was met with a rude retort. The thermostat in the room is just a show it seems and you have to call the staff to turn on the heat! Its a mess. They need to invest 10x more in hiring and training the services staff to be anywhere close to be able to fairly command the $1K-$2k per night that they want to charge. On the other hand, the alpine center and the activities there are very good. (Gondola, zipline etc). A better plan (in hindsight) would be to directly book the alpine center activities and stay somewhere else.

My recommendation is to visit the hotel for the STUNNING view, but don’t stay or eat here. I understand that the hotel is old and historic, but everything here feels like a cash grab. The room and food were very expensive, but the room hadnt been thoroughly cleaned or taken care of (blinds didn’t fit the window, and children’s stickers were on the upholstered chair), and the food (at Stickneys) was fair at best. For this price point, you would expect some sort of breakfast included and better hospitality services by staff. Honestly, save your money and stay somewhere else, but do visit for the history and the view!!

Dangerous and indifferent We stayed three nights at the Omni in early October, and had a very less than desirable experience. From the time that we arrived, the people that worked there, including at the front desk, seemed very much indifferent and honestly confused whenever we tried to ask them any questions. John did not understand English well and therefore would not answer accurately. The room was OK but as to be expected, it was very old and it was not very clean. There were black hairs all over the bathroom and we do not have black hair. The floors were very creaky. The walls were very thin and the temperature was very hard to control. Now, with all of this being said, the worst part was the fact that when we went down to use the hot tub, I stepped in, and it’s scolded my foot. The hot tub was so dangerously hot, and no one that worked there seemed to be aware that there was any issue. I called the emergency phone and eventually one person came down to look at it. He called an engineer down who confirmed through a thermometer that the temperature was around 120° . We then proceeded to go to the front desk where they called a security guard who gave me ice for my foot. I asked him if he was going to be writing an incident report and told him that I wanted a copy of it, and that was some thing that I never received. I was also told that there was no manager on duty for me to speak to about any of this. Michael was the person at the front desk at the time and he is the one that called the security guard. The next morning the head of security, Tim, came to our room because I had asked the front desk person when I went to check out if I could speak to somebody about getting a copy of the incident report. Well, Tim told me that they do not give copies of their internal reports and that he was sorry that I was misinformed last night. I asked him if I could please speak to a manager because I was told yet again there was no manager on duty. He said that he would speak to a manager on my behalf which he did, and that she would be calling me the next day. That never happened. It’s been over a week now since we’ve checked out and we have not heard anything from Omni, from the hotel, or from their insurance company. This is all very disconcerting because this could have gone so much worse and I don’t feel like anybody there really cares. My foot was injured, and that is something that needs to be dealt with and not just brushed under the rug and ignored like I felt has been. Be careful when you’re at this hotel. It doesn’t seem like they take very good care of its facilities, and when you bring it to their attention, they seem less than bothered by it even if you get hurt.

For context, I’m currently at the Omni Mt Washington with family, staying in one of their Presidential Wing suites. It’s pretty, for sure, but we’ve only been here for 4 hours & have already had to navigate several issues that we should not have to deal with at this price point. The Pres wing is the newest part of the hotel, but apparently designed by somebody who has no idea how to optimize the space for guests. Inadequate storage, no hangers, nowhere to hang coats (in NH?!), not a single USB port in the entire suite, one sink in an otherwise spacious bathroom, no stocked mini-bar. My arugula salad (the only meal I’ve eaten here so far) was yellow & slimy & had to be sent back. I get it, these are “1st world” problems, and if I were in a Holiday Inn I would blow them off; but this isn’t a Holiday Inn (sorry, Holiday Inn). We’ll see how the next few days go, but right now I’m feeling decidedly “meh”.

The Omni Mt. Washington hotel is in a beautiful setting and we could sit for hours on the veranda with a drink taking it all in. There are also a lot of family friendly activities, no matter the season. This year, my son tried his hand at flyfishing. As others have noted, the original part of the hotel shows some wear. We also noted that the pool bar seemed understaffed and there were no clean towels in the pool area. Someone covering at the concierge desk gave us the wrong location for disc golf (it's across the street - not at the golf course). This was our fourth visit and we will be back, but it would be nice, for the increasing room prices, to see a refresh and some of the service details attended to more closely.