High Hampton Resort NC 28717

P

Paul Heidrich

my wife and I booked a special two day getaway, have been to High Hampton years ago and were excited about seeing the new edition of the resort. Dayton, the Belman greeted us with a welcoming smile and took care of our luggage to our room, later he delivered a bucket of ice with the same courteous smile. While the room was being cleaned , we decided to walk down to Halstead house to get a drink and check it out. The main dining area was absolutely full of members playing cards. So we took our drinks to a table in another room. Not long after that we were asked to move to another table so four people I assume members could use our table. I thought that was a bit rude and felt like A second class guest. We had booked dinner reservations for that night, but after looking at the menu online with four appetizers and four entrées We decided to go in town, The manager said it was not a problem and we would not be charged for that. Would’ve been nice to have had some type of orientation regarding all the amenities, Pool,kayaks, croquet( Couldn’t use it anyway, was jammed with members). etc. We found out the second day, only by walking around, that there was a very nice continental self serve breakfast with coffee, muffins, and fruit. Wish someone would’ve let us know at the beginning, At checkout we also found out there are cold drinks, and snacks available for guest by the front desk, Oh well, we were leaving. The big disappointment was the way my bill was handled at checkout, there were two charges one for $250 and the other for $50 that were not mine. Courtney The checkout person, assured me they would be removed from the bill and not a problem. Upon receiving my American Express statement there they were. Called the front desk and spoke to Justin the next morning. He said he would check into it and get back with me.. Never heard a word that day from anyone, called the next day and talked to Nicolina Telling her how disappointed I was in their follow-through, made her promise to get with the manager and get back to me. Later that afternoon she did that and I appreciated it. Poor Customer Service and a real pain in the rear trying to get things done. Nice place, well kept, rooms were clean, the old Field of the Lodge is still there, views are great But for $1300 a night in my opinion definitely not worth it. Definitely a members club and the guest seem to be secondary to that, would never return or recommend it. Management needs to work on a lot of things with the employees to make it five star, got a ways to go!!!

S

Sara Tipton

This is a beautiful place, but it is first and foremost a very elite country club. I didn’t get that from the website at all. When you stay as a hotel guest, you have access to the country club, but in the summer it is full of members and their guests, and there is no part that is for hotel guests only. We felt very out of place here. We knew the Blackberry Farm name was associated with High Hampton so we thought we would have that kind of experience, but it’s nothing like that. BF is an actual 5-star hotel for guests only, and High Hampton is primarily a member’s club crowded with hundred of members everyday who use their club every summer. During our stay we never received information about how to use the amenities. There is no spa, room service, minibar, or poolside service. There is nothing to eat or drink inside the room besides water and coffee. The pool, lake, canoes, kayaks, lounge areas, everything is crowded with members and their kids. If you want to play croquet, you have to wear all white. The price that you see when you book is misleading because there is a 20% charge on the entire bill. It is really nice to not ever have to tip, but $200/night service charge seemed excessive for the amount of service we actually received. It also costs $37 to valet your car each day, also subject to the 20% charge. We looked up the initiation fee to be a member at High Hampton, and found $200k. The most expensive country club where we live is $40k. On our first night my husband didn’t have a jacket to comply with the dining room dress code so we were taken to the member’s-only restaurant where we were denied service. We went back to the hotel and they still didn’t make an exception and let us eat dinner, they instead referred us to a place 15 minutes away where we would be allowed to eat. We paid $5k for 3 nights and the staff were snobs to us. It was really humiliating, especially when the hotel manager suggested a second-hand store as a place for us to buy a jacket. The decor throughout is beautiful but the pool chairs are from 1991. They’re old and uncomfortable and honestly they take away from the view of the lake and the mountains. Somehow they got overlooked during the update. I will add that our room in the Lake Cottage was gorgeous and so comfortable, but cleaning staff missed some hair in the shower, which happens, but because of our dinner experience we were hypersensitive to everything wrong with the place. If you want to walk around the property like my husband and I did, you will be the only people who are not in a golf cart and the members in their golf carts just kind of stared at us. There was a real sense of not belonging, maybe it was my own insecurity, but I’ve never felt that way at hotel. It just wasn’t a good experience for us as guests. We would never go back.

C

Carol Roe

The staff was very friendly and accommodating. Our room was very small. But beware! They have a 20% service charge on the room itself which for us was about $175 a night in addition to the cost of the room. This was never explained to us and when I questioned it at the end of our stay, they couldn’t tell me what the service charge went to. I asked them for more detail and they said well it’s tips, valet, other essentials. They were very vague as to what the service charge was for. The amenities and activities were very limited. We will not be returning to this resort. For the price that we paid it is very overrated.