Briars Resort and Spa

The hotel was very musty smelling and we saw mold on the walls. We had to wash everything when we got home. Even clothes we hadn't worn. The room was okay but the bathroom needs work. The hotel is not accessible other than the ramp to get into the hotel. There is an elevator to go to the spa but there are stairs to get to it. The food was pretty good and reasonably priced. The pool was nice but you had to go down a flight of stairs to get to it. Overall the building needs a fair amount of work. On the upside service was very good.

The location is beautiful and the staff is super friendly. They treated us well and the food was great. However, the indoor pool was chilling! It was not heated at all. The front desk overcharged us (they charged taxes over the total amount already with taxes, plus another $192 with no explanation whatsoever). They did not reply to my question about the taxes and did not refund.

My husband and I have been to the Briars many times in the past before the new owner took over. We had certain expectations. We looked forward to dining in the large dining room with linen tablecloths. Instead we were told we would be dining in Drinkwaters which is basically a pub. Our table was beside a window which was filthy and covered in bird droppings. The inside of the window frame was stained from water leaking in. Certainly not the class I expected from The Briars. I will say that the dinner was very good but I didn’t go to The Briars to eat in a pub. So many things were in disrepair. The stair carpets were torn and threadbare. In the games room downstairs the covers were off the electric baseboard heaters and just lying on the floor exposing all the wiring. In our room which had been renovated we were supposed to have a clock radio, an iron and ironing board and a safe. These were all missing. The screen door to the balcony was broken. There were no drawers in the room. There was a new table/desk with no drawers. It was a deluxe room with only 1 chair. One of the things I was particularly looking forward to from my past visits was sitting in one of the cozy sitting rooms with the fireplace going and making a cup of tea or coffee from the selection they always had available on the buffet. They no longer make tea and coffee available in those sitting rooms. You have to buy it and carry it to one of the sitting rooms. Every resort I’ve been to has free tea or coffee available at all times. In summary, the class I always attributed to The Briars is gone. It was very disappointing. We will not be back and I hope this review helps people like ourselves who have fond memories of The Briars of the past.

We had a wonderful stay at the Briars resort for new years eve (3 couples). The food was excellent! The staff were all very friendly and accommodating. I found the prices were good for what we got (2 nights in a suite, 2 breakfasts & 2 dinners and a DJ for new year's eve). This was my 3rd time going and I absolutely love it there. I want to thank all the staff for giving up their new years eve by working, we all had an amazing time !

Great location for the area but its definitely time for some reno's. Very dated from Lobby to rooms. They were clean just old. Staff were amazing and friendly. The grounds landscaping is very well done. The best part is the Golf course. I play a lot around the area and this is quite the well maintained course and a good challenge. I highly recommend coming here if your a golfer its really amazing and in pristine shape.

I was in Room 212. The carpet was dated and stained. To top it all, after I checked out, I realized that I left my coat in my room in the closet. So I reported it to the front desk who gave me the key to my room, but there was no coat and the room was cleaned. Three days now and they tell me they've made a report but don't have my coat. Sad.

We stayed in room #208, from Sunday, October 8 to Monday, October 9, 2023. We paid $379 ($435 total) for bed and breakfast, and we believe that it is an absolute rip-off. At that price, we expected to receive a certain level of service and, unfortunately, our expectations were not met. Our intention was to spend a nice and relaxing time in what is announced as a "luxurious resort" and a "4-star hotel", rating seen when looking up the resort on the Internet. In our opinion, it is anything but luxurious or highly rated: we have traveled a lot (and stayed in about 90 hotel rooms!) and we KNOW what luxurious or "4-star" hotel means. Upon entering the room, we were immediately struck by the tired furniture and worn-out carpeting. The bathroom was a remnant of the 1970's : everything was old and past its due date. When we used the shower, there were 2 inches of water at our feet. The A/C system was so noisy that I had to turn it off after hours of not sleeping. There was a bug in one of the drawers. The overall condition of the room was very disappointing and left us feeling uncomfortable during our stay. Finally, we paid an extra $30 for a "lakeview room", and were truly shocked that we could see only a small parcel of Lake Simcoe between a few trees. This is plain false advertising, and the room was absolutely not worth the extra money. At around 5:30 pm on the evening of October 8, we went to the restaurant, and were told to make reservations for dinner with the Front desk. What an odd practice... We were told that our reservation would be at 7 pm, which was too late for us. What kind of luxury resort cannot offer dinner to its guests when the restaurant was clearly open and empty? We were hoping that breakfast would save the trip, as we had looked at the menu in advance. Unfortunately, only an ordinary buffet option was offered - again, what kind of luxury resort doesn't offer its own à-la-carte breakfast menu? I wrote to the Management and nobody ever got back to me. Stay at the Ramada Jackson's Point : there you get what you pay for.

The staff are very nice and as always the grounds are beautiful and the food was good. the venue for the dining room is oppressive but the bar is very nice. However the maintenance on this property is substandard. Some of the rooms were not clean and the common areas were not properly maintained. The outdoor pool has been broken for some time and 2 years in a row it has not been operative. The indoor pool also did not work when we were there and it was closed. This resort used to be the jewel of the region. Unfortunately it is no longer the case.