Christmas Farm Inn and Spa, Jackson

Poor customer service, forgot dates of booking, changed rooms (and as another writer reviews--staff's response is "oh, it's just like the original room"), cheap furniture and bedding, ceiling fans broke. good food, terrible service. Waitstaff had very little product knowledge. Room did not get cleaned thoroughly each day. As several reviewers have stated, could not book at spa either (too busy--always). There are many nice places to stay in Jackson, do not stay here. Read reviews...there is a common thread in each one. Path to pool not shoveled and inaccessible.

Everyone at the inn was wonderful from the beginning, especially DEB. We went up, my girlfriends and myself. We went up first during Feb.Vacation. We enjoyed it soo much we went back for the scrap booking weekend they had in April with a couple of more friends we had a blast and going bk inOct. for another fun weekend. Breakfast was awesome everything was clean, they(staff) were very attentive with everything. Mary G

We stayed in the Log Cabin cottage. The cabin was very cozy and private. The staff was great both at the front desk and in the dining room. The food was yummy. We can't wait to go back. PS Our dog was welcome also.

My wife and several of her girlfriends recently stayed over for two nights and they had nothing but wonderful things to say about their experience. They stated that the quality and presentation of the accommodations was superb. The staff was quite courteous and sought to satisfy every request. They also spoke highly of the spa and the variety of options it presented. There was some confusion over the timing of some of the spa treatments but the General Manager Mr James Hartley took it upon himself to straighten out the situation. The ladies also had only good things to say about their meals and they thought that the prices were reasonable. They are excited about going back next year! Thank you!

Just returned from a weekend stay at the Christmas Farm Inn, we had a fantastictime. Glad we didn't pay attention to the previous reviews, certainly not indicative of the stay we experienced. Our cabin was clean and very cute. There are a few maintenance issues, but all very minor. We visited with the new General Manager, and he explained that the inn has been under new mgmt since 12/1/09, which probably explains the bad reviews that were written prior to that time, and that they owners of the Inn were devastated by the bad reviews, and are working hard to improve service and expect to spend much of the spring renovating and sprucing the place up. Everyone was so nice and accommodating - Mary, Paul, and Deb was just fantastic. First time we've ever seen maple trees "tapped", a local farmer collects the "sap": and makes it into syrup that they use for their breakfast. Jackson is a wonderful little town, we ate at the Thompson House and Yesterday's, and then went out for apres ski at the Red Parka (a top 10 ski bar, really cool!). We skied at Cranmore and Bretton Woods, and relaxed at the Inn's pool and hot-tub, which was spotless. We didn't have a chance to experience the Spa (everyone we spoke to said it was the best in the area) but we'll come back this summer and check it out for sure. Not sure what the previous manager's deal was, but we had a great time! We'd live there if they'd let us!! The Family Floyd

I can’t add much to the other bad reviews because we never made it past the idiot working the front desk to check in. We tried to book our spa appointments several times in the week before our stay but were told each time that the staff was too busy to help and would call back. Of course they never did. When we tried to check on the status when we checked in the desk attendant became discourteous and hostile towards us. I have stayed in many inn’s and hotels around the world but I have never been treated as poorly as I was here. Even at the risk of losing our deposit we decided not to stay here. When I talked to Dennis the owner several days latter it became apparent that he was the one who had trained this guy in customer relations because he was just as condescending and rude. If this place is not on its way to going out of business then it should be. DO NOT STAY AT THE XMAS FARM INN!! There are many other alternatives in Jackson where you will be treated like they want your business

This is not the place to stay...it is a shame too because it has the perfect location. It is settled in the mountains of Jackson, New Hampshire and has a beautiful view of Mount Washington. It is only minutes from the Tax Free Shopping, Waterfall Hikes and local activities. However, that is all that it has going for it. While it looks like it once was a beautiful inn...it has fallen into serious disrepair. The buildings look old and falling apart. Only one or two buildings have paint....the rest of them are in dreadful need of a coat of paint. Whoever takes care of the pools needs a lesson or two as they are dirty and smell funny. The room we stayed in was really old. It needed paint new furniture, new sheets, bedspreads, mattresses and pillows. The bed we slept it was really uncomfortable and the pillows smelled funny. There were stains on the bedspreads and the sheets were worn thin. We found mouse poop under the bed. Breakfast…was interesting. They must buy all their food precooked. It wasn’t any good. In fact it reminded me of something you would get at MacDonald’s. My husband and I don’t like to argue or complain. We find it makes us much happier. So, instead of getting upset about the food we actually found the whole thing rather amusing. It was like being in a mad house. The staff we untrained and did not know what they were doing. They were really rude to the guests next to us who were complaining about their food being cold. After breakfast we decided against going to dinner. But, we later talked t two other couples that were staying there as well and that told us about the horrible experiences they had….but since it wasn’t our experience I won’t repeat it. But I will say we were very glad we didn’t chance it. The next day we skipped breakfast (even though we were paying for it) and went into town to a restaurant called “Peach’s”. It was one of the best breakfasts I have ever had! We tried to get spa reservations. My husband has a bad back and I love to get Manicures and Pedicures. You would have thought the spa was a 10 star snobby place because we couldn’t get reservations. We later found out that the reason we couldn’t get anyone was because the staff didn’t feel like working that day. I had been watching the trip advisor reviews beforehand. I noticed a few times where as soon as they got a bad review an amazing review would be posted right afterwards. A few times those reviews were taken down. I know now that the reason those reviews were taken down was because they were written by the owners of the Christmas Farm. I think it says something when you have to write your own good reviews to be able to get guests to come to your place. I went back and reread some of the reviews before posting mine. If you read some of the good reviews it’s almost like reading an ad piece. I wonder if they had some of their friends write them…? Oh, I almost forgot about the staff. They need someone to come in and train them in customer service. Most of them are rude and don’t know what they are doing. I wish we had canceled our reservation like the people who wrote the bed review before us. But I guess we get what we pay for….the Christmas Farm Inn was super cheap….and a rip off. We love the area so we will be back. We are going to stay at a real Inn this time…either the Inn at Thorn Hill or the Wentworth Inn. Do yourself a favor….if you have reservations cancel them. If you don’t and are thinking of staying here….stay someplace elese!

So, here we go. I find the bad reviews very easy to believe. Let me say this: my impression was so bad over the phone I cancelled my stay. We initially made reservations for Sept. in July. The guy we spoke with (Dave) was nice, knowledgable and helpful. Breakfast was included. We mentioned we were looking forward to the restaurant. We were excited about our first vacation in four years. Flash forward to a week and a half before our reservations. I called about spa reservations. First phone call in the morning: (after about 10 rings) would I call back? They were having a radio promotion and were swamped. Here's my name and number, please call me back. Hours later, no call. Second call: overwhelmed, frustrated woman (Sherry). Well, could I repeat my whole story, they were having a shift change and it was crazy. Spa? I can't help you, they're separate and you'd have to talk to them. Dietary needs? That's the restaurant, you'd have to talk to them, but they're going to be closed. What?? It turns out she's been there less than a month; that exchange ends with her telling me I don't need to cop an attitude. So, apparently, the restaurant will be closed until the day we leave, and then only open on the weekends until October. I call my husband, who also has a bad feeling about this. I check the website, no mention of the restaurant being open only certain times of the year. Third call: could I speak to the general manager? I'm transfered. 10 rings, no voice mail. I call back to find out well, their voice mail is down, any other manager? Front Desk manager is busy. You get the picture. One or two more calls later, I get the front desk manager, and he is completely unapologetic and dripping with a level of snootiness and snobbery worthy of the finest Parisian resorts. But this is NH. The website doesn't have this information because it was just decided by the general manager last week. If it doesn't pay them to have it open, they're going to close it. But they'll have breakfast. What it is will depend on how busy they are. Now, nothing says "financial problems" more than an undertrained staff and closing down your restaurant with less than a week's notice for a few weeks. Nothing says "organizational problems" more than not updating your website by saying the restaurant you're touting will be closed, and not knowing what your restaurant is doing for breakfast (when you're offering it for packages) two weeks ahead of time. We cancelled.

If you looking for a nice getaway in the beautiful town of Jackson DO NOT put Christmas Farm Inn on your list. I have stayed here in previous years and enjoyed myself the staff the food the overall feeling of the Inn was magical. But on our last visit to the Inn there had been many changes. None of the same friendly staff was there, we were told it was under new ownership and to be honest its really very obvious. Seems as though someone bought this inn with no experience what so ever. I honestly cant say one good thing about this inn. Front Desk Manager was extremely rude, quality does not match the price tag. As far as the rooms please dont be fooled by there website beds are extremly uncomfortable and not nearly worth half the price per night. So if you looking for a nice getaway in jackson try one of the many other inns in the area.

Many of the other people who have wrote about the Christmas Farm have compared it to chain restaurants or hotels. At least with the a chain place you know what you are getting. With the Christmas Farm it looks like a beautiful resort online. What you can't see is the dump that it really is...I have never been so disappointed. I was expecting a wonderful place for my girlfriends and I to getaway to....a place where we could relax, talk, have great meals and drinks, maybe some spa services, and maybe go out and do some shopping and hiking. The only thing we did was the hiking and shopping and that was because we didn't want to spend any time at the Christmas Farm. The neglected to tell us that they had decided to close their restaurant for dinner. So instead of being able to walk down for dinner we had to drive out (This turned out to be a plus because breakfast was so horrible that we wouldn't have wanted to waste our money there....and we found some really cute restaurants!). The spa is not really a spa. They never have anyone there and it is impossible to really get any services. The services we got were really expense and not worth the money. We found out later we could have gone to another spa for half the money. The beautiful looking cottage we had picked online turned out to be dirty, stained, outdated and had a really funny smell....and I'm not positive but I thought I heard mice. The entire place had a feeling of being run down. The owner was not there. The staff didn't seem happy to be working there and were not helpful. And as I said breakfast was bad...really bad. The service was horrible. You couldn't find anyone to help you. And as some of the other reviewers said you could find better food at a IHOP. This place claims to be a five star resort. I would not even give it 1 star. This place is not worth your money. Try the Inn at Thorn Hill or Wentworth Inn if you are looking for a Inn and the Carter North Inn or Snowflake Inn if you are looking for a B&B. We live the area and will be coming back BUT we will NOT be staying at the Christmas Farm Inn. I think we will stay either at the Inn at Thorn Hill or Wentworth. Do yourself a favor and read all the reviews if you are thinking of going to the Christmas Farm...I normally take reviews with a grain of salt...but with over 12 1 star reviews...do you really want to take that chance? I wish I had paid head to the reviews!!