Ellsworth Maine Golf Courses

Bar Harbor Golf Course
White Birches Country Club

Featured Golf Course Review:
White Birches Country Club -- Looking Good
Review by: Anonymous Nice 9 hole par 33
From Anonymous

Golf Courses: Additional Golf Course Reviews:
White Birches Country Club -- Don't STAY here if you play here
Review by: Anonymous I travel a good bit on business and even when I can pass along the lodging expense, I tend to be frugal. I've never been one to spend a whole lot of money on motel rooms, as I'd rather spend my money on something more lasting. Sometimes I don't have a specfic client I can pass along my motel bill to so, I often push the envelope picking budget lodging. Every now and then I push too hard and am sorry. The White Birches was such a regret. I was going to be in Hancock for two days on business so I got a a room at the White Birches (which is actually in Hancock, not Ellsworth) as there aren't a whole lot of lodging choices in Hancock. I had passed the White Birches many time on my travels down Route 1 and knew the exterior was very basic, but I thought "how bad could it be?" I found out. The room was sparsely decorated with old furniture, which was expected at that price. However, I didn't get the feeling that the room was clean. Nothing looked clean or shiny. The bathtub was either dirty or simply permanently stained. The lavatory was also permanently stained from an active leak which dripped the whole time I was there. The bedding was threadbare, as where the towels. I was given only one bath-sized towel. Which wasn't enough when I took a bath and washed my hair. The remote control--obviously an issue at this place :) --was a cheap replacement remote with buttons only for volume +/- and channel +/- I wanted to go back and forth between CNN (channel 30) and MSNBC (channel 59) for Hurricane Katrina coverage, but there was no keypad for numbers. So, I couldn't just enter 3-0 or 5-9. I had to go up 29 channels. Then back down 29 channels. Okay, not a huge issue, but just part of a cummulative bad experience. I actually did try to call around to find another motel room in town, and was having trouble getting a dial tone. (There was a sticker on the telephone receiver with dialing instructions, but half of the sticker had been ripped off, apparently a long time ago as what was left of the sticker was dirty. No one on the housekeeping staff felt it was necessary to remove the old sticker and put on a new one?) The curtains in my room should have been replaced long ago. The backside of the curtain had some sort of a plastic for room darkening, but much of the plastic had peeled off from repeated washings. So, light leaked through the curtains like the splotches on a dalmation. The light splotches should be apparent to the cleaning staff each time the room is cleaned. The last straw was that there was no hot water in the morning for a bath. I slept in the first morning there, got up at 9 and turned on the water and it was cold. "That's what you get for sleeping in" I scolded myself and waited 15 minutes for the water to warm up. Still no hot water. I called the front desk and they said it was because they had a "full house." The suggested I wait. They admitted to having prior hot water shortages when they had a full house, and didn't seem to think it was a big deal. I went to eat breakfast and came back and still no hot water. They offered $10 off the room rate. I balked and they upped it to $15 off. I balked again and the desk clerk said I'd have to wait until the manager came in if I wanted more. I would have changed motels immediately if I had time, but I'd already burned up too much time by sleeping in and by waiting for hot water. If I took time to find a new motel and checked in, I would have been late to my job, so in the interest of doing my job, I just decided to suck it up. The next morning the water was at best lukewarm. I waited about 15 minutes and it didn't get hotter. And, the parking lot was only about 2/3 full. This is not a country club, but an old, run-down, cheap motel in the you-get-what-pay-for category and anyone who can afford better, should definitely avoid it. It's really pretty awful.
From Maine