Brownings Full Suite

Avoid This Place
We stayed here in August 2023, and booked our room - the Pablo Neruda Room -- 11 months in advance. The owner required full payment at the time of booking. When we arrived to check in, we were told that the room we had booked and paid for 11 months earlier wasn't available and that we would be staying in a room that had no porch access. Then we were told that the 5-night dinner package that we had also paid for was not going to be offered. The physical condition of the hotel is quite poor (sagging porches, holes in the floor, furniture with missing hardware, etc.) and I wondered about the hotel's representation that it was a member of the Select Registry. I contacted the Select Registry and learned that The Spencer Hotel & Spa is NOT a member. The breakfasts served during our stay were awful. The owner served a hot casserole that she called "Strata" every day, along with an assortment of stale Danish and cinnamon rolls. We ended up getting breakfast at the Atheneum Hotel after enduring a few days of the owner's breakfast offering. At the end of our stay, we received an invoice that reflected that we were owed a refund. We asked the owner for the refund before we departed. Suddenly she was beset by bookkeeping issues back in her office and after waiting for 30 minutes for her to give us the refund, she told us that she would send us the check. And, no surprise, that check has never arrived.

- Yvonne G , Posted: 01/19/2024

Dear Yvonne Gibney,

I had to be away last summer during the Chautauqua summer season and the person in my place was here for about 6 weeks. What you have described as your experience is not who we are in the past or the future. It's most unfortunate that this was your experience. We would appreciate you coming back for a short stay so you can see how this place really operates solely for the benefit of our guests.

 

- Chautauqua staff, Posted: 01/25/2024