Snowy Owl Inn And Resort

Appears modest at first blush but rooms are clean and comfortable and on a par with typical "ski lodging" hotels. Facilities include sitting rooms, in house restaurant/bar, passes to use community indoor pool and fitness center, and literally across the street from shops and restaurants in Waterville town square. The perceived shortcomings in certain recent reviews were nowhere in evidence. Rates are reasonable, and includes breakfast. Having stayed in other Waterville lodgings, which may appear to be more modern but are typically overpriced. This place is a keeper.

Go anywhere else. We stayed at the Snowy Owl during a hockey tournament with three other teams, as it was required lodging for the event. Unfortunately, the experience was terrible from start to finish. The hotel was dirty, dated, and smelled awful throughout. The staff were incredibly rude and unaccommodating, making an already what we thought would be a fun trip, stressful and disappointing. Basic amenities like towels and toilet paper were hard to come by, we had to fight just to get those. Although we were offered daily housekeeping, they never once cleaned our room, and our trash bins were overflowing. The conference room, which their website refers to as a “knee hockey room,” was dirty, uncomfortably hot, and overpriced for use. Despite advertising the space, they refused to let anyone use it and didn’t allow knee hockey in any part of the hotel. Quiet hours began at 10 PM, even on weekends, which seems extreme for a family-oriented hotel hosting youth sports teams. We were repeatedly kicked out of common areas for simply chatting or having kids use iPads. The front desk even called the police on guests multiple times, creating an unwelcoming and tense environment. During our stay, we lost power, and there was no emergency lighting in the rooms, including those with lofts and steep stairs. Navigating in total darkness was dangerous, and the lack of functioning emergency exits was a serious safety hazard. The one elevator was out of service for most of our four-day stay, with an expired inspection certificate to boot. Breakfast was a joke. For the $1,000 we paid for four nights, we were offered a waffle maker that couldn’t cook properly, Hostess cupcakes, and dirty water from a gross communal Keurig. Rooms lacked coffee makers, and even if they had them, there were hardly any outlets to plug anything in. The showers were broken, and everything about this hotel felt neglected and poorly maintained. I strongly recommend that any teams or travelers avoid the Snowy Owl at all costs. For the price, there are undoubtedly far better options in the area. Save yourself the frustration, and stay elsewhere.

My family used to stay at the Snowy Owl in the mid-90’s and it was fabulous. We switched to another property that could better handle our family. Decided to give the Snowy Owl a try as it was only my wife and I traveling. It appears that there yet again new owners and all attempts at modernizing the place have ceased. The rooms, while clean enough, date from the 1970’s and it shows. Everything is worn. Rooms are lacking the basics such room darkening blinds ( they have cheap mini blinds) so you can forget sleeping in if light bothers you. The offered “ Continental” breakfast consists of stale looking bread and mini donuts and week old apples and bananas. Dining area was not clean. Hard pass on that. Hockey kids were in the hotel, but were fairly well behaved for a change. There are no pools at the hotel anymore, they have shut both the indoor and outdoor pool down. All in all, if you want to stay in WV, I would do a VRBO or before any of the hotels in the valley, because they all have the same problems.

I completed my 6th stay here on Labor Day weekend 2024. I have been staying here twice a year around Memorial Day and Labor day for the past 3 years. I use the hotel as a base for my White Mountains day hiking. It is very convenient to all the trailheads in the Sandwich Range Wilderness area along Highway 49 and Sandwich Notch Rd and the Waterville Valley trailheads along Tripoli Rd. Its also somewhat convenient to the Pemigewasset Wilderness, whether you enter it from the south side on the Kancamagus at the Lincoln Woods trailhead, or the north side at Zealand Notch with travel time being around 30 minutes and 45 minutes. The close proximity of the hotel and its parking to the Town Square is a huge bonus. After a long 8-11 hours of hiking from sunrise to early evening, it's nice to park, get some takeout at the pizza place and walk back to the room without having to make an extra stop. As others have said, the hotel is a bit worn and dated, but that's fine with me. I don't need magazine cover worthy rooms with the latest modern decor and accessories. If this is what you want, look elsewhere. If you want a clean comfortable room, then yes, give this hotel a try. Improvements have been made over time, but since its business is largely seasonal and not owned by a billion dollar corporation with unlimited cash flow, it won't happen overnight. I have stayed in both the classic and premium queen rooms. I am a light sleeper, so I prefer the premium rooms since they are on a wing of the hotel made with thick concrete floors, so activity in rooms above cannot be heard at night. The classics are in a wood framed section, so sometimes people moving around in rooms above can be heard. After 6 stays now, I only have 2 suggestions for future improvements. Replace the worn out blinds with blackout curtains, and put brighter lighting in the rooms. Overall, I have not been disappointed with any of my stays. I am looking forward to returning next year for Memorial Day weekend.

We had a group of five adults that needed a place to stay overnight on a roadtrip between ME and VT. We wanted to hike at Franconia Notch and made this reservation without knowing anything about the area. I saw a few reviews had me concerned that the accomodations were remote and outdated. We were pleasantly surprised to see that it was part of a resort complex. There was so much to do with the Freedom Pass, but unfortunately we were just there for a quick stay. We did enjoy the breakfast, which was nothing fancy but worked for all of us. We would have loved to have stayed longer. The building is older, but it is clearly being taken care of- and the new owner told us about his plans to continue to improve the place. There was a slight mildew smell- which often comes with older places. We didn’t complain about it- but the owner did tell us that he has plans to replace the carpeting soon. I would love to return!