Packed2Go

My husband and I headed to the Mt. Washington Hotel last week intending to have a "special" lunch and consider the property for a stay at Christmas time. We were halted however at a newly constructed guard house at the driveway entrance. They now charge $10 to enter and leave your car in the car park at the base of the hotel drive. The attendant explained "The management feels the facilities should be for the folks who are spending $300 a night". In other words... even though they are in the hospitality business, and have restaurants open to the public, they really don't want you there. NO PROBLEM...we won't ever bother them again!

Ackislander

Have you sent a copy of this letter to the hotel?

That will do a lot more good than posting here, because I can assure you that hotel managers are not reading this website.

J62

I suspect the policy is because so many people parked on the hotel grounds and went off hiking for the day. The hotel and their guests likely tired of being used as a free parking lot. There is a similar policy (but even more expensive) at the Mohonk Mtn House.

Did you have a reservation and show up on a list? Not sure how it works, but it would be very easy for anyone to simply say "I'm going to lunch" then bug off into the woods.

The hotel policy seems like a reasonable policy to me, especially if $300/nt guests have been complaining about facilities being overrun with the 'public', having to wait for tables, etc.

janewb

While I agree it is not a good policy to not allow folks on the property, I do not think that people would use it as a place to park in order to go hiking. All of the popular hiking trails in that area have ample parking at the trailheads. There are no 'major' trailheads located at the Mt. Washington Hotel.

I think management should reconsider their policy because the hotel is as much a historical site/attraction as it is an accomodation. I think the hotel was sold recently and this could be a result of being under new management.

sylvia3

They SHOULD say: we will be happy to refund the parking fee if you have a restaurant/gift shop/hotel receipt(with a reasonable time stamp, of course).
This was supposed to be the case at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park (where we brought guests to dine for many years); however, a surly young man at the new guardhouse forgot to mention it, and I refused to pay for parking (after all the money I'd spend over the years!). A letter to the GM resulted in "oops, sorry, that's our new policy." I wasn't satisfied, and we haven't been there since.

NeoPatrick

I imagine if you had called ahead and had a reservation for lunch they would have let you in, no? I applaud their policy. The first I encountered it was at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, where they had so many tourists parading through it had become a horrible place to stay, so they instituted a "pay to see" policy, which improved things immeasurably.

On the other hand, if you were unwilling to pay $10 to park your car and go have lunch in a historic hotel, I doubt very much that you would have happily forked over $300 a night plus meals to stay there. You can't afford $10 to park for lunch? What? Sorry to offend, but I think they figured out that people who feel $10 is too much to pay to park to have lunch are NEVER going to spend any money there anyway. How many "grand" hotels in the US have free parking to begin with? $10 sounds like a bargain.

AJPeabody

A "fee to see" policy is not at all new. The casino in Monte Carlo has had such a policy for decades.

Jaya

I live in NH and this is not a standard practice, but I'm not up in the north country so maybe it's changed up there. There's been articles here and there in the local papers about the cost of running the Mt. Washington, BUT...they should not get too big for their britches.

After reading your post I went to the Mt. Washington Resort website and they have an on-line satisfaction survey with space for comments!!!
Incidentally there is nothing about a parking fee mentioned!

I'm sure you paid enough for lunch that you didn't need to also pay the $10. There are plenty of "upscale" hotel/dining facilities in NH (with no parking fee).

NeoPatrick

jaya, unless I misread the post, the poster did not have lunch there -- it seems they were "thinking about it" but the $10 parking fee turned them off. Imagine what would have happened if they saw the lunch prices.

Jaya

Good question. To me it looked like they went up last week to have lunch and to check the place out for Christmas.

If Packed2Go checks back, please clarify. Thanks.

NeoPatrick

I'm sorry to beat this dead horse, but how many people do you know who would spend $600 for a couple of nights in a hotel plus untold hundreds more for meals and incidentals, and even tax, but yet would storm off in a snit if asked to pay $10 for parking for a "special lunch"? Heck if I were checking out a place that "special" for a future stay, I sure as hell wouldn't mind paying $10 to do so and having lunch at the same time. Sorry, but I think the chances that the hotel lost a sale is pretty minimal.

By the way, I recall paying $30 (plus tip) for parking to eat at Asia de Cuba in LA. What's $10?

Jaya

Living here in the "Live Free or Die" state, we still have it pretty good. Parking is either free or quite cheap anywhere you go.
A $300/night hotel in NH is really pricey.
I can relate to Packed2Go's reaction to the $10 because it's really unusual to unheard of to find that kind of a parking fee - unless you're trying to park close to the Verizon Wireless Arena on event night in Manchester, but I digress. It's just what you're used to. I suspect Packed2Go is from around here too.

NeoPatrick

But Jaya, I think you missed the point. It isn't so much a parking fee as a way to keep hundreds of "sightseers" away from tromping through the hotel bothering all the guests. While there may be many other beautiful and even more upscale hotels, this historic one draws tourists who want to walk through it by the droves. It sounds like this was one case where their plan worked.

lcuy

Ten dollars parking fee, in addition to a high priced lunch? And they didn't offer to validate the parking ticket if you stayed for lunch?

I have no problem spending big money on hotels, meals, or daily hotel parking fees, but I don't recall ever having to pay- other than valet fees & tips - at a restaurant with their own parking. That would be irritating.

NeoPatrick

Icuy, the $30 parking fee at Asia de Cuba in LA I mentioned was for the restaurant/hotel's own parking. And no there was no validation or refund. But that is LA.

Still, again you are missing the point. They don't charge this fee strictly to park -- they charge it to keep the hotel from being one big tourist attraction with dozens of people wandering through reducing the experience for their guests. Why is that so hard to understand?

And besides, as I said in my very first post: I wonder if the OP had called and made a reservation and given that name to them at the gate, if the fee would have been waived. Anyone can say "we're thinking of having lunch" -- yea, right. But if they had a reservation perhaps there would have been no fee for "parking"?

lcuy

I got your point perfectly well, Patrick. I just wanted to make my own point....

P.S. The parking fee at Asia de Cuba is $15.

Binthair

My family and I have stayed at this hotel and understand. Many guests took a meal plan when we visited, and the resort is meant to be a destination rather than a lunch spot. It has gorgeous vistas and may attract some lookie-loos. One of the worst hotels for this phenomenon (at which we have stayed) is the Chateau Lake Louise in the summer months; like Grand Central Station in the Canadian Rockies. In the winter months when the tour buses are absent, it is not so bad.

NeoPatrick

Icuy, when we went to Asia de Cuba on Sunset in LA we paid $30 to park, trust me. When I asked why so much when we were having dinner, I was told rather coldly "because if you don't want to there are plenty more who do" or something to that effect. It was true -- we had to make a reservation over a month ahead and were lucky to get that. And the parking was also for the even more expensive and popular Sky Bar at the same location. If it is now $15 then they have reduced it. That was some 5 or 6 years ago when we paid $30.

And yes, I guess you were making a point too. But yours seemed to be about the hotel charging a parking fee. My point was that it isn't really a parking fee.

wyatt92

I really don't have a problem with the $10 parking fee.

What I have a problem with is their food, I think it's awful. Be glad you didn't eat there.