Katie Smith

Review of The Henderson, A Salamander Be...

Accomodations are excellent. Beautiful rooms, gor...

Accomodations are excellent. Beautiful rooms, gorgeous salt water pool (includes awesome lazy river), nice spa, clean grounds. I especially liked the bedding in the rooms and spacious bathroom with soaking tub. We had dinner a couple of nights at Horizon's and food and service was great. My husband is a big foodie, so for him to give a thumbs-up is significant. Overall, I give 3.5 - 4 stars because we spent a lot of time at pool and the service was not what I expected...1 bar tender who was slammed and lost patience when guests were irritated with the wait. One day for lunch the waitress for our area of the pool flat out said she was too busy to get to us when I said nicely (realizing she was busy, but getting hungry) "could you please swing by here when you can?" She passed us three times or more without ever making eye contact or stopping. I finally had to go up to the bar and order food and encountered a stressed-out bartender. Complimentary coffee ran out every morning. Spa was nice. Fyi - they automatically charge 20% tip. I am generally a very gracious tipper and often tip a great massage therapist over 20%. The therapist I had spoke too much during the massage about himself and this did not make for the best experience for me personally. I probably would have tipped anyway, because I do, but for it be automatically added was a bit irritating when I felt a little jipped with a massage. We stayed 5 nights and overall had a very nice time and would come back. I believe the hotel could improve guest experience by hiring more qualified staff for the pool, especially since busy months are ahead to accommodate all of the guests. If they were to come up with a better system for taking orders and having runners to bring orders to guests, it would make it more efficient and probably allow servers to make more tips. The actual hotel is in line with a Four Seasons or Ritz-Carlton as far as the accommodations, but the service is not quite up to par.