Perched on a difficult-to-find granite ledge west of town, arguably the area's top choice for golfers and mountain climbers, this hotel is wedged between a golf-course community and Echo Lake State Park's famed granite walls. This subdued version of the commercial Grand lies in a spectacular setting, but travelers expecting anything resembling luxury are in for a big disappointment. Comfortable and cozy with commercial accents sums up this place. As popular with locals as it is with midrange tourists, this white, three-story clapboard building boasts dramatic views of Cranmore and other peaks.
In the lobby, a brass chandelier, plump sofa and fancy window treatments display a modicum of taste. Similar style carries through the remainder of the limited public areas. The highlight of the attractive lobby is the grand fieldstone fireplace. The semicircular dining room has dramatic valley and mountain vistas. All meals are served here, except in winter and spring when guests must lunch elsewhere. The overwhelming Sunday brunch buffet proves popular, and a bar is adjacent.
Active vacationers take advantage of a health club with sauna, an outdoor pool, year-round heated 
whirlpool and scenic nine-hole golf course. The function room holds 150 people, and free parking is ample.
Fitted with dark, federal-style appointments and country fabrics and patterns, the well-maintained accommodations are not as impressive as those at the Grand. Still, these are pleasant, on a par with those in an average urban Hilton. All have blackout drapes with valances, pile carpeting, brass lamps, sofas, TVs with local reception only, phones with data ports and voice mail, four-poster beds and tiled baths. Housekeeping is good, but maintenance could be better.
Rooms are available for nonsmokers and guests with disabilities. Room service serves breakfast and dinner only. Pets are not permitted.
This hotel has carved a serene and secure niche for itself in a little more than a decade, where some of the competition has languished for centuries.
