My bf booked a night for us here after receiving a targeted Instagram ad. He's an absolute sucker for targeted ads, and I must congratulate Farmhouse Catskills on their marketing prowess; however, the marketing strategy gives you a pretty good idea of what you can expect. This place is definitely instagrammable... but unfortunately not much more than that (at least for now).
Pros:
They've done a seriously beautiful job on the decor- lots of grays and moody dark blues, mid-century furnishings, and prolific use of some of the best artificial tropical plants I've ever seen. All of it is as pretty in person as it is in those Instagram ads. When you walk in, there's ambient music that matches the vibe perfectly.
We didn't take a dip in the pool because it was kind of chilly, but I thought it was neat that there was a poolside DJ. It's also worth mentioning that this place is clearly very dog friendly, and as a dog-lover-but-not-owner I was happy to be able to pet so many pups on the property. And there's a decent pool table, yay!
Cons:
It's pretty clear that this place was sort of hastily opened in an attempt to pull in some cash before the end of the summer, without being adequately prepared and staffed. (It kind of reminded me of one of those house-flipping shows on HGTV.)
In our room, one of the ceiling lights still had blue painter's tape around it. The door (which opened to the outdoors) stuck badly, and the knob was not really appropriate for the purpose- more of a closet or bathroom doorknob than something secure for a hotel room- no deadbolt, etc. We had the same troubles with the hot water that another reviewer mentioned.
We had to wait almost an hour to get a cocktail at the bar because it was understaffed. I imagine there were just one or two bartenders serving the bar, restaurant, and pool areas. (For the record, the cocktails were nice, though, as was the bartender.) At one point a man who seemed to be more or less in charge of things (but somewhat overwhelmed) was quite rude to us and another couple we were socializing with in the bar area.
The morning we were to check out, a housekeeping person opened the door to the room at around 8:30 AM when we were still asleep. She apologized and said, "Oh, my manager said you already checked out!" We said "No, isn't check out at noon?" She confirmed and went on her way. No big deal. But about an hour later, ANOTHER person barges into the room and says her manager told her we had already checked out. (I'm guessing that her manager was the aforementioned overwhelmed guy.)
In short:
This place has definite potential- again, so pretty!- but it seems the focus right now is aesthetics over experience. At a lower price point I'd probably call it four stars, but at $300/night in the middle of nowhere, I'd expect better management and service. I'd be interested to see if they work out some of the kinks next summer. read more