Smugglers' Notch Resort

Smuggler's Notch is great. I've visited a few times in both summer and winter, and my kids love it. The problem is the Wyndham sales team, especially Jeremy. They wasted my time and pressured me to make a major financial decision right then, without even letting me sleep on it. When I declined, they became aloof and hostile, pushing fake urgency with "exploding" offers that had to be signed immediately. I've owned with Wyndham since it was Fairfield, more than 20 years ago. In the past I've usually sat through the "updates" because the hard sell has always been part of it. But today I spent time with the team because I really was considering adding points to my account. I guess that was a mistake. Now I'm more likely to leave than spend another dollar with this company, especially with all the closures as it struggles financially. Their acquisitions over the years also messed up my account, leaving me unable to use certain features. They say the only fix is to buy more points. This company is a fraud. That $125 gift card isn't worth the hassle.

We had a good time at Club Wyndham Smugglers' Notch on both of our visits. Neither was during winter, so I can't speak to skiing, but the mountain looks huge. Each room has a ski locker, and some buildings are trailside, where you can ski straight from your door and back. In summer, we drove to the resort from Stowe through the notch. It's a beautiful route, though it's closed for part of the year, meaning you have to come from the west. The kids loved the three pool areas, two with waterslides, which we could use with the $5-per-person Notch pass. Shuttles run around the resort, though plenty is walkable. There are restaurants on site and activity areas with zip lines and more. The local scenery makes this a great place to stay. Much of the resort is connected by dirt roads, though, and sidewalks would be a real improvement. If you're used to Wyndham properties, this one has a few differences, like not including drip coffee every day. The WiFi was terrible for us, though that might have been just our room.

The room was great, and the resort's skiing wasn't the best, but met expectations for the conditions. The trip was soured by the promised free gift for attending a timeshare presentation. We went through the presentation and never got an email about the gift. I contacted Tim, who said he'd follow up, but he didn't. He then ignored my later texts. Avoid the timeshare presentation nonsense.

Our getaway was a huge disappointment. We had specifically requested a first-floor room because someone in our group was 80 and had post-polio syndrome, but we were given a top-floor room. The front desk said they couldn't help. We were also told we'd have two queen beds in one room and a queen in the other, but one room actually had bunk beds, which weren't usable for our ages and needing to get up at night. Someone had to use the pullout couch, which had a huge blood stain. When we arrived, we found out using the pool would cost over $300. We'd asked about a pool when booking by phone and nobody mentioned that charge. The front desk also gave us inactive keys, so one person in our group was trying doors throughout the building. This was one of our worst vacations. We went in August and still haven't received any compensation for this nightmare.