Peppers Cradle Mountain Lodge

The location is fantastic for access to the National Park. We stayed in a spa cabin, which was warm, comfortable and well-appointed. The restaurant is good, but overpriced. The bar food in the tavern is much better value. The only downside was that if you want more than one coffee at breakfast, you have to pay extra on top of the breakfast charge. Really?!! So little expense there for major goodwill from travelers, Peppers!

While obviously in the best location on the mountain, this is clearly resting on its laurels. Not having wifi in the room or main breakfast room and restaurant when it’s 2 degrees outside and pelting simply isn’t fun and while the well meaning staff has been recruited from part time workers from all around the world that somehow doesn’t gel with a wine cellar with hundreds of different bottles and fine dining ambitions in the kitchen. The rooms are heated by a wood imitation gas fire flickering through the night and everything looks like Covid hasn’t been kind to the updating program. Altogether a big disconnect between price and offering.

We checked in on a relatively quiet Monday afternoon. As I had made the reservations for the 2 couples, they were listed under my name. That's when the issues started. The very friendly, but slightly incompetent gentleman helping us (whose name I remember but will not mention), seemed fine with separating the reservations, but when it actually came to doing it, it took forever. It took so long in fact, that 2 couples that came in after us, and were helped by other staff, left before us. We finally got the keys, and as the rooms were literally the two closest to reception, our stuff was ready to go. As soon as I entered the room, which was pretty dingy and dark, I noticed something - we didn't have balconies, as was written on my hard copy reservation. I immediately went back and showed another staff member this, as the previous gentleman helping us was busy, and she said we'll upgrade you to a premium room. Now, they must have had my room type on their reservation screen, and what room I was to have but sold them out and hoped I didn't remember. I hope that wasn't the case, but the way the gentleman reacted when I came back and said something, makes me believe he did know. It was not a great way to start out. We did finally get to our rooms, which were definitely a step up in size and airiness. Our rooms were further back on the property and next to each other which was great. We had lots of privacy due to all the trees outside our balcony. The room had a king sized bed, fireplace and kitchenette. Now from the website photos, it looks like there are some renovated, modern rooms, which ours were definitely NOT. While comfortable, they ( ours and our friends next door) rooms were on the rustic side. We did have a hearty breakfast each morning - good selection of choices of all kinds, and in the evening one night we went casual for pizza (quite good) and a game of pool, and one night more formal, which was also very good. The restaurant staff were all helpful and cheery. It is nice that there are no TV's or wifi in the rooms. We, like everyone else it seemed, took a few minutes after breakfast to catch up on news in the reception area.

A lovely position but not worth the cost and it was too hard to access the lodge in the rain and wind that we had for 3 days. My husband uses a walking frame, so we booked an accessible room. The room was fine, except we couldn’t get the heater going and had 3 visits from maintenance over 2 days to get it going again. The place is not setup for anyone with mobility issues, with the walk from our room difficult, even though it was reasonably close to the main building, it was gravelly had holes in the road, so had to drive back and forth to eat. We were told there were disability access walks close by, but the board walks around the lodge, except one to reception were too skinny and had no side boards. Very dangerous for anyone with a walking frame or wheelchair. If you have a disability don’t stay here.😞

This was our third stay at Cradle Mountain Lodge. How sad to see it so poorly managed. Massive investment is needed to bring it back to the luxury standard that the prices suggest. My first reaction on entering our cabin was that someone had stolen the furniture. Compared to the photos on the website it looked empty. There were two small very uncomfortable chairs next to a small round table which was half covered by the minibar. No coffee table, no standard lamp, no shelves and no cushions on the third and unnecessary bed. As for the bathroom if this is contemporary it can only be to the 80s. A minute wash basin and cabinet, a newish small shower unit with a dangerously slippery floor and a ludicrous old fashioned triangular spa bath. The entrance to the Lodge is good and the biggest positive of our stay was two dinners in the Highland restaurant. That had been a weakness on our previous visit but the current chef is doing a good job. Breakfast was another matter. Almost mind blowing in its inefficiency. Plain tables - find your own cutlery and napkins. An acceptable buffet spread but no one tasked with making sure it was refreshed. At various times, no teaspoons, no spoons, no water glasses, no soft cheese, no scrambled eggs at the same time as there were no sausages and no tomatoes and two of the three selections of coffee pods not available. If you want tea it’s water from an urn into a cup but no saucers. Seriously understaffed and under trained. The Tavern has lost its atmosphere after a big extension has turned it into a cafe. Again understaffed, duties unclear and possibly the worst pub dinner we’ve ever had. The burger patties were unpleasant and came first, followed by soup. Apparently our fault for not telling the girl behind the bar which order to bring them in. What???? Infrastructure is decaying with large potholes in the road and part of the fascia of our cabin falling off. The property was put on the market eighteen months ago and does not appear to have sold which may explain the lack of desperately needed capital investment. And if the property is still managed by Peppers they need to send in a quality auditor immediately. The Cradle Mountain Lodge website mentions Elanor, the owners, but not Peppers but the Peppers website still includes the property. Having just stayed at the very high quality Peppers Silo, CML taints the brand badly.