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Reviewed March 7, 2012

Our family has stayed at hills two years in a row and last year was better than year but not much. We decided to back to the hills this year as my daughter was learning to ski and it's a nice small hill where you can watch from the chalets. She was excited to go but needed lessons which we were told ran throughout the weekend we had four kids in our group two could ski two needed lessons. Can't forget the front staff at the desks rude attitude not a great first impression. Went to the ski lodge and asked about lessons in the morning and they said no lessons were on for the day. I'm thinking a staff shortage but I believe we were speaking to the owner he offered lessons for the next day at three o'clock in the afternoon so we could get maybe an hour of daylight skiing in. Remember the kids don't ski. I said the forecast is for rain and I am worried it will get to icy. We settled for tube park. Lift person was uninterested and treated the kids rudely on both days as tubing was our only option. The lounge is dirty plus plus. The tea was weak and the server unhappy. Throughout the weekend we heard many staff complain about working there. The sleigh ride was fun except the horses were mistreated. One horse was 35 and so skinny I could see his hips and ribs and he had no belly. We had to get off the sled and walk up hills as the horses couldn't make it up. They were frothing at the mouth I was so upset to see this. The chalets nasty dirty is all I could say. Mothballs and mousetraps everywhere. Under the sinks and in closets. The carpets were so dirty and stained I was shocked. Described as rustic is an understatement. Our stove worked kind off. The fridge had to be held closed with a pop can. Garbage was never emptied daily so it sat overflowing all weekend Our tub had paint peeling off the walls mold and generally dirty condtion. The beds need replacing they are so uncomfortable.The cleaning crew drove around crazy fast in a van and looked like nobody I would let into my cabin. The pool is so dirty and cloudy one hot tub 105 one 85. Dirty. Most times we were asked to leave the pool for classes so basically we spent almost 1000 getting here renting a cabin to swim in dirty pool and tube down a hill and add to the suffering if this poor horse. Never returning so disappointed. I felt as though the place is struggling to stay open but with service like this it's no wonder. The setting is so nice the only thing I could rate high but that is mother nature for you.

Date of stay: March 2012
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2  Thank Hulls
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
patcorbett, Owner at Spruce Hill Resort & Spa, responded to this reviewResponded March 11, 2012

I am the owner, and I wish to respond in order to deal with the matters brought forward here, and certainly as a relatively small resort with only 45 rooms/units, it sure would have been nice if we could have been spoken to as some of the items mentioned herein need major clarification. The party involved came to the ski shop late in the late afternoon/evening upon their check-in to arrange some lessons as reported, and we said yes, we can book you for 3pm tomorrow, as all prior lesson times had been booked already. We know our guests love coming here to enjoy our extensive list of outdoor adventure experiences and services in both winter and summer, and we encourage our staff to help make those dreams come true. The customer was upset, we apologized and said we would try to see if we could arrange some changes with some other customers, which we could not do. Its unfortunate that our guest did not advise upon making the reservation that they wanted lessons in their 1st morning, and then we could have ensured that happened. But with no advance lesson reservation, we confirmed that we could do the lesson the next day as they wanted, not at 10am or 11am, but at 3pm, keeping in mind our ski hill is open till 9pm nightly under night lights, so 3pm lessons are also very common here. This is not usually a problem, we have never had someone blow us out of the water that we had poor service because a ski lesson was going to be 4 hours later than their perfect time. We wish we could have done it, but we just did not have the notice that we needed, so for that we are very sorry. On the issue of lift attendants at the tubehill being rude, we will look into this , but we can honestly say that we have not had any complaints or even comments, that our lift attendants are rude, as if we had heard such a thing we would have had a meeting with them and ensured otherwise. We are however starting to check regularly with guests at the skishop counter to ensure that we can hear of any such comments and act on them before we read something in TripAdvisor , we certainly don't want rude lift attendants. In terms of a "weak tea" complaint, its very important for us to share facts here. We serve 27 different teas in our tea parlour and resort , and people have the chance to "steep" the tea themselves to their own taste and strength, so I have no idea how we can be blamed for weak tea??? On the family chalet (as opposed to our hotel style spa rooms) which this family stayed in, we have held 3 inspections. Here is what we found in that chalet (keeping in mind it was occupied immediately before, and after this guest), the stove is a new stove, and all aspects of the stove were in perfect order. The fridge complaint about using a "coke can" to keep the door closed is ridiculous at minimum! The fridge including the door, is in perfect condition, the door opens and closes as it should. We tried to make the door to not stay closed, but it always stayed closed as it should. And guests before and since have not said such comments as well. The bath tub is in perfect condition c/w no chips in the enamel, the tub surround is not chipped, broken, altered, cracked, or any other such imperfection. The clay tiling on the floor is in perfect condition. In terms of the living room carpet, we found 1 stain, about 7 inches across, and it is now removed, as well as ensuring that the rest of the carpet was steam cleaned just to be sure. The beds ...there are 3 bedrooms, a master bedroom with a queen bed (new last year), a second upstairs bedroom c/w 2 single beds (new the year before). There is a floor level bedroom as well with a double size bed, and that one is older at 5 years , so we are looking at replacing that one; so 3 of the 4 beds are new, the 4th one is not old, but we'll replace it. The fireplace works normally, the microwave works normally, the double stainless steel sink and taps all work normally, all the LED lighting through-out the chalet were in perfect condition, the sliding doors onto the large balcony with the view of 10,000 acres works normally, the decks and railings are fine, the entry deck is perfect except the exterior paint on the deck is worn from the winter snow shoveling, and sand & salt that wears the paint off each winter, and these decks are all re-painted every spring. The pool...,we keep the pool at 83F, the pool is officially checked & conditions recorded 3 times daily, it is/was not cloudy when these guests were here, and yes we do keep one hot tub at 104F and the other one at 86F as per guests requests over the years. We do have one fitness class each day in the pool (from 11am to 12 noon), for our aquafit class so during that time the hot-tubs are still open to be enjoyed but the pool is full for the class, one hour per day and the pool is open 14 hours daily (8am to 10pm daily). Concluding, as the owner, I can handle all guest comments, complaints, ideas, recommendations, etc and I do this daily. I take all guest comments very, very serious & have done so for 28 years. My wife and I are doing what we have done for 28 years, and that is to listen to our customers, & respond by doing what the customer sais as best we can.. That won't stop. We certainly hope that these facts that we have brought forth & recorded herein will help clarify the items mentioned in this guest review, as its very important to help people know... "the rest of the story"....

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Reviewed March 6, 2012

I’ve stayed at the Hills many times in the past, but was disappointed this time to find that they seem to be focusing on the spa side of the business and no longer marketing themselves as a cross country ski destination. Only about a third of their trails are groomed regularly. Any competent skier could easily cover them all in a day. Fortunately, there’s another trail system on the far side of 100 Mile House, which could make for a full weekend of skiing. Silver Star Mountain or Sun Peaks would be better choices if xc skiing is your goal.

I didn’t make use of the spa facilities or services, so I can’t comment on them. However, we were subjected to a loud, drunken party with a few heated arguments in the room next to ours that went on until 3 am on our second night. Had it been our first, we’d have checked out the following morning. There was no easy way to contact staff during the night to help get the situation under control. Not quite what one would expect at a place that calls itself a “health ranch”.

Date of stay: March 2012
  • Trip type: Travelled as a couple
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3  Thank Waxer_11
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
patcorbett, Owner at Spruce Hill Resort & Spa, responded to this reviewResponded March 7, 2012

I am the owner and wish to reply. I wish to respond to the statement that we have reduced our commitment to the sport of cross country skiing with some pertinent facts. First; in fact we have made a major commitment to EXPAND our cross country ski system, and have commenced such trail building in October of 2011 in areas not ever skied before. These trails will be opened up next ski season so in fact our commitment to the sport is expanding not shrinking!!

Secondly, Further to this year, we are having a hard time keeping up with the grooming as we have had an additional 74 cm in the past 18 days, which is when our valued guest was here. Typically, we endeavour to groom every 2cm of snow in order to provide outstanding trail conditions for our guests. Because we have an unusually large trail system of 100 km, it takes us 12 machine hours to groom the entire system, and typically this takes us either 2 or 3 days which is our 28 year pattern of snowfall. We strive to open up about 30-35km each day after each snowfall and we groom the rest of the system until its done the next day. If it snows the next day 2cm or more each day which is what has been happening, we get 30-35km of trails perfectly and freshly opened, so its possible that only 1/3 of the system is "freshly groomed" within the first day of a snowfall. Most of our guests have been loving the daily snowfall and great skiing,

Third, If our guest herein had indicated to us that he would have liked more than 30 k m of trails made ready for him, we would have done it in a heart-beat, but its unusual to have someone who wants more than 30-35 km in one day, however we do want our guests to be happy, and thats why we would have provided more machine hours even for this one guest if we had understood that he wished more miles of freshly groomed trails.

Fifth, We are so very proud of our ongoing commitment to cross country skiers, and the sport of cross country skiing, which is why we are continuing to expand our trail system for the future! somehow we will figure out a way for guests to feel that they can come forward to us with any "special grooming requests", as this seems to be what happened in this case, that we did not know of this persons advanced skier abilities and desires. Had we known, we would have groomed more for him . Our system failure seems to be for us to figure out a way for guests to tell us daily, what their "ski dreams" are while here so we don;t miss helping people have the perfect ski experience. We'll figure this out so it doesn't happen again.

The good news is that its fantastic skiing on a great base, with wonderful late season unusually large snowfalls as I've noted. Lastly, as the owner, we are fully committed to delivering ongoing excellence in grooming for cross country skiers by providing the longest and best cross country ski trail system in the interior of BC, just as we have for the past 28 years!

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Reviewed March 5, 2012

My family just returned from a 4 night stay at Hills Ranch, and we all had a wonderful time! Every staff member we met was really friendly and went out of their way to ensure that we had a fun and comfortable stay. We upgraded to a chalet which was very clean and cozy, perfect for a family of four or more. My daughter and I took a 2 hour dog sledding tour that was the experience of a lifetime! We also cross country skied (tonnes of trails at every level from beginner up), tubed, snow mobiled, took a sleigh ride and swam in the pool, we were never bored. My other daughter had a manicure and loved her experience. Thanks Hills ranch for a great family holiday, we hope to come back again for both riding holidays and winter holidays!

Room tip: request a chalet from 1-10 as those have the best views
Date of stay: February 2012
  • Trip type: Travelled with family
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3  Thank janetgM4377QX
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
len_spabc, General Manager at Spruce Hill Resort & Spa, responded to this reviewResponded March 6, 2012

Thank you for your kind words. We are very pleased you had a great time and looking forward to your return. Our summers are every bit as spectacular as our winters, with over 20,000 acres of riding, hiking and biking. We also offer to our guest outdoor BBQ's and camp fires in the evening.
See you soon.
PS We will be clearing a few of the trees that are blocking the view in front of the chalets in the next couple of days. This will ensure a view from all the chalets not just 1 - 10
Cheers

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Reviewed February 22, 2012

We stayed at the Hills Health Ranch in November 2010 for the last week of our honeymoon. Whenever we have travelled we have always regretted not ventruing away from the big cities, which is why we ended up at the Hills. The drive from Whistler was lovely (albeit on the wrong side of the road for us Aussies!!). When we arrived at the Hills they didn't have our reservation (not sure if that was the travel agents mistake or theirs), regardless we were immeditately given a 3 bedroom chalet. We were originally booked for the honeymoon suite, which initally wasn't available for our whole stay, however later in the day they had made it available for us if we wanted. Given we were staying one week, we decided that the chalet was better suited as it had the kitchen facilities. Also, for our trouble we were delivered a lovely food and wine hamper. Overall our experience was fantastic! I had a great massage, we went on two horse rides, and were given a personal tour of the ranch and surrounding area by the owner Pat Corbett, who is very knowledgeable about the local history. More than once they knocked on our door and we went off with them to feed hay to the horses. It was wonderful service and we felt like part of the family, and was a highlight of our stay. We had one meal at the lodge, which was lovely, but chose to eat in our room or at 100mile mostly. 100mile being only a short drive away was great and we could purchase everything we needed. Another big highlight of the trip was experiencing our first ever snow! Unfortunately we left just before ski season, but we are currently saving up and will be back on day (hopefully with children) to spend a white Christmas at the Ranch.
We also went on a nighttime hay ride which was a hoot! Sing-a-long with a guitarist and hot chocolate or warmed red wine (can't remember what its called)
I have read other reviews and agree that the rooms might be basic, but they are clean (and cleaned everyday), and the opportunities and experiences on the Ranch are well worth it!
Thanks for a wonderful end to our honeymoon, being from a country town, the ranch felt a bit like home :)

Date of stay: March 2011
  • Trip type: Travelled as a couple
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2  Thank ChrystleU
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
len_spabc, General Manager at Spruce Hill Resort & Spa, responded to this reviewResponded February 23, 2012

Thank you for your great comments. We have had some great skiing conditions and Christmas and New Years eve was just simply magical this year. We look forward to you helping us celebrate a white Christmas in the future. We have uploaded some great winter pictures on our facebook page HillsHealthSpa. Thank you again and we look forward to your return with your children.

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Reviewed February 10, 2012

We had the privilege of staying at the ranch for almost a week in January of 2012, and right from the start I would say we are anxious to go back again.

My purpose there was to lose a few pounds, and the Ranch provided the activities to achieve that. I participated in as many of the exercise classes that I could, which included pilates, yoga, bootcamp, and aquafit , to name a few. All were staffed by enthusiastic and highly trained professionals who made the classes fun to participate in.

My husband and I also participated in several of their daily hikes. The hiking guide, Karen, took pains to take us on a different hike each day to give us a fresh view of the beautiful countryside around the ranch. A nice touch was bringing along her dog, Yogi, as an extra security measure in case we should encounter wildlife.

The first meal we had there was a total surprise. Since I was on the weight-loss plan, I was amazed at how generous the helpings were. I was equally surprised at how delicious and flavorful the food was. Not what I was expecting from the “diet plan”. I was also delighted to be able to get a copy of the ranch’s recipes for the dishes I really liked. They were more than willing to provide this information.

Over the course of the week, we ate breakfast and lunch in the Trails End dining room, with dinner in the 1871 Agnus McVee dining room. As the week wore on, it became a real curiosity of mine to see if they would be able to maintain that level of deliciousness that kept arriving at our tables. Even my husband, who was not on the diet plan, commented on how good the food was. They didn’t let us down!

As far as the service was concerned, I give the Ranch five stars. Since we knew we would be seeing a lot of the staff on a regular basis, we made it our business to get the staff’s names, give them ours, and get to know them. It became clear very early on that: the staff enjoyed working there, and also, that they were committed to making sure we had a great time. We also had the pleasure of meeting with the owner, Pat Corbett, and one of the managers, Len Doucette. Both of them came across as very down-to-earth and pleasant. In talking to their staff about them, it also became clear what a high level of respect and admiration the staff has for these two. If you’re a student of human nature, you know that if you like the people you are working for, you are going to give them 100%, the staff truly did!!

I would best describe the look of the ranch as rustic, and for us the ranch had a warm, “homey” feel, with old vintage machinery scattered around the property surroundings.

If you’re the caviar and champagne type, this is not the place for you. Go to a 5 star hotel in a big city. But if you want warm, personalized service in a rural setting where the staff really know how to make you feel welcome, this place will bring you back for more.

Date of stay: January 2012
  • Trip type: Travelled as a couple
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2  Thank MrsL1960
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
len_spabc, General Manager at Spruce Hill Resort & Spa, responded to this reviewResponded February 23, 2012

Thank you very much for the kind words. We look forward to seeing you again in the future. Myself, Pat , Juanita and all the staff thank you for your business and await your return.

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