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A beautiful and historic waterfront resort destination for vacations, reunions, weddings, conferences, banquets and more. Enjoy casual fine dining in Shipman's Dining Room or a pint and pub fare in Smuggler's Lounge. Relax in our indoor pool and hot tub, or unwind in the sun in our outdoor riverside pool. Spa services, bicycle and boat rentals and fitness centre also available. Featuring an 18-hole championship golf course, Smuggler's Glen, in the heart of Ontario, Canada's 1000 Islands! Nominated "Best New Golf Course in Canada" (Golf Digest, 2006), and host of 2012's Canadian Tour. A 1000 Islands favourite since 1896.
Star ratings are intended to indicate the general level of features, amenities, and services to expect. This property is classified according to Giata.
Our party of four arrived at The Glen House last Monday. Our friends arrived one hour prior to check in, but seeing how it was a Monday decided to ask the front desk of the chalet was ready, and to just make them aware that they have arrived. The Front desk attendant was dismissive and rude, seemed very annoyed that they had even asked. The interaction was less than pleasant and for them being third time visitors to The Glen house they were pretty upset with the less than friendly and welcoming they received. When my husband and I arrived, we joined our friends on an outdoor picnic table, my husband went in to use the washroom, politely asked to be pointed in the direction of the facilities and the front desk attendants response was “are you even staying here?”
The unpleasant interactions with the front desk continued For the entire 3 days of our stay. We called because our electricity wasn’t working in our chalet, we were told “find the reboot button and it should work” We never did find the “reboot” button but rather than have another unpleasant conversation with the drink desk we decided to just use our two lamps instead. Our husbands went down to the bar area to have a quick beer before golfing they were told by the front desk it’s not open for that, if you don’t have a reservation you can’t go. They mentioned it was just a quick drink, they still said no. The server was by the door they asked her and she said “oh yes come on in, we have lots of room”
Now just to point out we are not high maintenance people. We are very aware of the pandemic we are living in and I myself am a restaurant owner and fully understand the stress of running a business during these times. But I also know how critical it is to provide friendly, quality customer service during a time when the survival of small businesses is unknown.
Our husbands golfed at smugglers glen and said it was night and day how they were treated there compared to The Glen House. Employees were friendly and helpful. Their time at the golf course was a great experience and would highly recommend.
Although our chalet was a little dated, it was clean and equipped with everything we needed. The calming atmosphere and beautiful views surrounding our chalet was wonderful. We dined at The Shipman’s restaurant on-site our first night and had a great time. Elissa our server provided great service and was very attentive especially because of how busy she was. Food and wine was excellent and our patio table was just perfect. The wait time for dinner is a bit longer because of the pandemic but it is completely worth the wait and the staff did an amazing job.
In conclusion, The front desk need to focus more on providing a friendly welcoming atmosphere, because for some folks first impressions can make or break an experience. And for us We will be back! We will be planning our next trip in September:)
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Date of stay: August 2020Trip type: Travelled with friends
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.
Response from GlenHouse Resort, General Manager at Glen House Resort
Responded 2 Feb 2021
Hello Worldroamer85, Firstly, thank you so much for keeping us informed regarding what our business is doing right and, more importantly, where there is clear room for improvement. I'd like to thank you and your friends immensely for your past and future patronage. I'm very pleased to hear that your meals were excellent, the service from Elissa great (she's a superstar) and the golf enjoyable! Positive feedback, speaking to a fellow business owner, is what spurs us on and reminds us that what we do matters and is appreciated. Thank you. Next, I'd like to apologize greatly for the apparent sub par service you and your friends received from the front desk. First impressions are invaluable in this industry, and to be met by an unwelcoming member of our team is always difficult and frustrating to hear. Myself and my team are sorry for letting you all down and will work our hardest to treat every guest with the attention and care they demand. Thank you for pointing out the incredibly stressful (now there's an understatement!) situation we've found ourselves in as small business owners and operators. With that in mind, while I never like to provide excuses for shortcomings, I will say that the COVID-19 situation had a serious impact on our front desk crew last season in terms of staffing and moral. Without getting into too many details, our valued, hard-working front desk team often bore the brunt of, quite frankly, verbally abusive behaviour from the kind of guest we'd like to avoid at our resort, the kind that gleefully ignored queues to be respectful of others' boundaries during this pandemic (i.e. wear a mask, be patient, don't swear/yell, wait outside for your turn to check in, etc.). I myself had to intervene during a number of occasions when,completely unprovoked, a member of my team was openly berated or harassed by customers (fortunately in the very, very tiny minority) who refused to accept our changed pandemic-era reality. While support and encouragement was given to any effected coworkers, clearly these encounters left an impression on certain staff members' levels of patience that season. And this stress-induced performance issue trickled down to my primary department, maintenance, as I and my team were not made aware of the breaker issue in your chalet. Please know that, were I made aware of the issue in your room, I would have been more than happy to address it promptly. I'm happy to hear that we're doing many things right, and I want you to know that, as always, we will work on our shortcomings. Thanks for your patronage, and stay healthy! Sean :)
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Beautiful view. Loved looking out at the lake every morning. Unfortunately the weather didn’t cooperate with us so we couldn’t enjoy all it had to offer. The beds were comfortable and the room was clean, and reasonably updated. Pillows could use replacing though. Although housekeeping seemed to skip making one of the beds every time they came. A microwave would be a great addition to the rooms. My elderly parents were in the room next to us and their room had a significant slant to the floor making it difficult for them to walk on. My only complaint was the parking. It’s terrible. We were involved in a fender bender due to very little room to manoeuvre a bigger vehicle. When going to the front desk to ask for a pen, the lady who hit me was told “oh don’t feel bad it happens all the time here” clearly they are aware of the parking issues.
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Date of stay: August 2023Trip type: Travelled with family
Room Tip: Parking is hard to find at night and it’s a tight squeeze no matter where you park.
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.
We stayed at Glen House years ago and thought we would return with family to celebrate a birthday. We know of many businesses that have held conferences here as well. On the plus side the grounds, the location in the Thousand Islands the pool and restaurant were wonderful. However the overpriced chalet we rented was a huge disappointment. Tired and worn down .... from old carpets in the bedroom that were rippled to old noisy air conditioners in the bedrooms ,we were shocked when we arrived . The televisions were probably from the 70’s in the bedrooms. The old toaster oven didn’t work properly and there was mould on the wall under the kitchen sink. We didn’t notice that until we were leaving and checking cupboards. The internet was very unreliable . It rarely worked . Because the kids were having so much fun fishing and swimming ,we didn’t want t o complain and ruin their holiday. I did mention when we were leaving that an old air conditioner wasn’t working properly and the toaster oven was not working well either. Because people were lined up to check in I didn’t continue with my list of woes because I really got the impression they knew exactly the condition of the chalet. We do a lot of travelling all over the world and I have to say that we didn’t expect this kind of accommodation at the price we paid. Fortunately the kids had a great time .
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Date of stay: July 2020
Value
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Service
Room Tip:Â Ask for upgraded accommodation if possible.
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.
Response from GlenHouse Resort, General Manager at Glen House Resort
Responded 2 Feb 2021
Hello Darby7716, Thank you so much for your review and your patronage during these very uncertain times! I can say that now, more than ever, we are grateful for every customer thoughtful enough to pay us a visit. We depend on feedback like yours to keep us on our toes. We're pleased to hear that your kids had a great time; while you didn't bring it up in your review, I would like to apologize for the absence of a number of our guest amenities that had to be closed due to COVID-19 restrictions, particularly our newly renovated Games Room, as well as our indoor pool and hot tub. We eagerly await an improvement to the COVID-19 situation that would allow us to offer greater value to our guests. As you noted, we are certainly aware that our chalets are in need of an upgrade and have yet to receive the attention that the majority of our other guest rooms have received over the years--I apologize that we let you down. Wall-mounted flat screens in the bedrooms were included in the 2020 budget created earlier that year to replace the 90s bedroom tube TVs; all the family rooms, fortunately, do feature brand new Samsung or RCA smart TVs. Unfortunately, severe revenue loses due to (you guessed it) the pandemic starting that March forced us to reevaluate, or scrap all together, exciting improvement plans that we had. I don't mean to sound as though I'm explaining away our faults as a small family-run company. I merely intend to be honest and candid regarding the reasons why certain things require attention. I can assure you that it's not due to a lack of will power or passion for our work. Once again, thanks for your feedback! Myself and my team will work our hardest, within the constraints of time and our budget, to work through this vital list of improvements. Wishing you and your family good health, Sean
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We stayed at Glen House for a wedding, although the grounds are beautiful the room definitely needs a facelift. The window unit AC was not on making the room extremely hot on a +30C day. As soon as we walked into our room the musty smell hit us hard. some of our clothes still smells of the musty wet smell. The green carpet needs to be replace. The tub and toilet had brown stains. And so did one of our sheets. Not to mention the creepy sound of the plumbing on the 2nd floor in the middle of the night. On Sunday morning they only offer a small breakfast buffet of scrambled eggs and pancake. We ended up going elsewhere given I can't have eggs and do not eat pancakes. The restaurant staff and bar staff did not look like they wanted to be there or be bothered. The nightly rate ($258/night + taxes) is fairly high considering this hotel is dated and smells. Felt like we were staying at a motel along a highway. Not to mention the lack of parking.
The plus, the room was big, we had a patio door to help air out some of the musty smell, the view of the water was nice. The owners need to put some money into renovating / upkeeping the hotel, or lower your price.
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Date of stay: September 2024
Value
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Location
Cleanliness
Service
Sleep Quality
Trip type: Travelled as a couple
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.
I don't usually write negative reviews unless absolutely necessary but feel the need to. This the the third time we booked a boys golf getaway (large group) at Glen House/Smugglers Glen and the worst experience to date. Upon check in the front desk staff is incredibly rude, disrespectful, and condescending. It is almost like we were a burden staying at the resort. Reading through other reviews seems like the same complaints of dated rooms and overall cleanliness issues, many of our groups rooms were filthy. So we booked a gentleman's dinner for 8 pm and believe it or not waited 2.5 hours for our orders to finally arrive. The food was absolutely terrible after waiting 2.5 hours for our orders to be served. Just a very unpleasant 3rd experience at this resort and have come to a consensus that this will be the last time we book here. Management/ownership need to take a hard look at the operations of this resort and make significant changes but unfortunately it looks like nothing has changed and only worse. Too bad such a beautiful property and golf course.
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Date of stay: June 2023Trip type: Travelled with friends
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.
I stayed two nights at The Glen House Resort and was very disappointed. The location on the St Lawrence is a lovely quiet bay, but it seems the owners have forgotten to maintain this resort. The internet is not reliable, the rooms are musty and 30 plus years furnishings. Dated furnishings are fine if cleaned and repaired, but in the three days we were there housekeeping never cleaned any outdoor chairs, vacuumed the carpeted deck or regularly picked up the restaurant take out containers. This location could be such a gem.
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Date of stay: July 2021
Value
Location
Service
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.
My boyfriend was trying to book a room at the Glen House in NH, USA and somehow it brought him to this other Glen House in Canada and he noticed right away after making the payment. He called the hotel and told the representative about the mistake he just made and they wouldn’t refund the money. The date he booked for us still a month away it’s not like he called last minute. Just wanted to bring to light that this place is run by sleaze balls.
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Date of stay: September 2023
Value
Location
Service
Trip type: Travelled solo
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.
Our spacious room had a beautiful view of the river and chairs to sit on the porch area to enjoy. Staff were friendly. The property is nice with an outdoor pool in summer, a small swimming area and indoor pool (not open due to COVID). It is nicely located 20 minutes outside Gananoque and right along the biking trail. The onsite restaurant has pretty good selection of food for breakfast and dinner and decent food (need to reserve ahead for 2 seatings for dinner). Be prepared to pay for your meals each time with the restaurant instead of having charged to the room to pay at the end. The resort caters to groups of golfers who stay over on the weekend so they will be a little loud before and after dinner until around 11 p.m. then they will quiet. Golfers and groups on weekends will be in the restaurant for dinners and can be a little loud.
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Date of stay: October 2020
Value
Rooms
Service
Room Tip:Â Riverview and riverfront is worth the extra price
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.
Response from GlenHouse Resort, General Manager at Glen House Resort
Responded 2 Feb 2021
Hello Joyyy! My last review I have to respond to for the day and I'm happy that it's yours! Thanks for the great, detailed review. Very useful for prospective guests, and very encouraging to myself and my coworkers. Take care and good health to you and yours, Sean
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1.5 hours for drinks to be served night 1. Cold slimy food, no condiments (salt, vinegar). No hot water. No food for sale on resort - not a bag of chips, pack of gum or bottle of water. If they say restaurant kitchen closed there is zero option and zero concern from staff. Called front desk to ask where nearest gas station was, 'no clue' was answer. Called to ask if any delivery services came out to the resort, concierge answers "why would I know that?" Resort has a full on visible garbage dump at the front entrance (pictured) and all the wood has been neglected so it is rotting. They comped our golf since our pro Jamie told us to wait to head onto course, 30 min later I walk in pro shop and he is on a call. 22 minutes later he kicks our group from hole 1 to hole 4 rained out on 6... smugglers felt totally unwelcoming to me as a novice female golfer. Not a good pick for a business booking.
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Date of stay: August 2021Trip type: Travelled on business
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.
Response from GlenHouse Resort, Marketing at Glen House Resort
Responded 16 Sept 2021
Hello 178dawnq, Thank you so much for your thoroughly damning review. We take negative reviews incredibly seriously here; we never like to hear that a guest has had a (far) less than stellar experience, and any highlighted shortcomings are duly noted and will be addressed. Apologies for the apparently slow service in our dining room. Eastern Ontario has experienced a severe labour shortage as a result of the pandemic, which has effected the hospitality industry disproportionately. CBC and various news outlets have covered the story for our region, but I'm assuming this isn't a valid excuse in your books. Sorry you found your food subpar. Specificity is always appreciated. As to the condiments--I'm sure all you had to do was ask? And as to the hot water: apologies, but it was a temporary issue and remedied by our maintenance crew accordingly. These things happen at a busy resort. As to the lack of snacks at the resort: this season we created a special picnic basket bundle (advertised on our website and across the resort on posters) specifically to accommodate guests looking to snack outside of our restaurant's dining hours. Individual items in the basket are also available to buy if a guest does not wish to purchase an entire basket. Although we have a fully stocked Pepsi machine (to which we are given zero credit in this fab review), our snack vending machine is currently being serviced, its repair held back due to ordered parts that have been delayed due to, yep, you guessed it, the pandemic. We're not happy about this either, but then the world isn't perfect it, is it? I've talked to our Front Desk team. All of them are familiar with our region and its services; I personally observed their interactions with customers daily and, if what you are saying is true, what you were told sounds completely out of character with our team. But it has been noted and discussed with them. Thank you. It has been an incredibly busy season at our golf course. Again, we struggled through the summer with a smaller than usual staff at the course, largely due to the pandemic and the diminished workforce in our region. The sluggish service you encountered is by no means emblematic of our usual welcoming, streamlined staff, and for that I apologize. And then there's your claims that there's a "visible garbage dump at the front entrance." Always nice to have to respond to flat-out lies levied against our small business, particularly during one of the most challenging seasons we've ever had, so I thank you for that. And your photos. Oh boy! You don't strike me as the kind of person who would want or appreciate any explanations based on your (cough) spicy review--complete with photos of bizarre subjects--but here it goes. It's a grounds keeping shed that's off limits to guests and typically blocked from view by our work truck. And, as anyone who cares to waste their time looking at your little snapshots can tell, there are no bags of garbage at this "dump" site. I see neatly stacked wood used for repairs (repairs which, according to you, we're negligent in performing), neatly stacked bins used for leaf collection, stacked patio furniture, etc. And the candid shot of the decorative wood trim: Seriously? It's 40' above the parking lot. Zoom in on any inaccessible architectural element dozens of feet up in the air with a zoom lens and you may see some discoloured wood or metal, or even--gasp--cobwebs. Not everything can look 100% perfect 100% of the time. When you selectively highlight very specific, temporary blemishes, you have to wonder at your photo's intentions. Comes across as a little petty, no? We hope that the pandemic will be kinder to you in the future and that you may find some measure of happiness in your life. Regards S. Seal
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Management needs to open their eyes to the neglect and overall shabbiness of this once lovely resort.
Most every external entrance (except for the office one!) was coated in cobwebs and hadn't been swept down. Our room (at $194+ ) had visible dirt on the en suite floor plus a cobweb ! The screen door to out patio was ripped away from the frame at the side and bottom.
As we were on the ground floor there was a deck above and there were occupied spider webs all across the rafters. Doesn't housekeeping see this? How can they miss it?
The patio chairs deserved to be in the dump and I had to wipe them and the table down as the had not been wiped by housekeeping . The inside furniture, carpets etc were shabby and dated.
The parking was chaotic as well as dangerous for guests trying to get back and forth. The only positive thing I can say about the Glen House is it's wonderful location.
But the neglect, dated furnishings uncleanliness, rude front desk staff etc . NOT everything can be blamed on COVID 19.
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Date of stay: August 2020
Rooms
Service
Sleep Quality
Room Tip:Â I don't recommend ANYONE staying ANYWHERE at this hotel
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.
Response from GlenHouse Resort, General Manager at Glen House Resort
Responded 2 Feb 2021
Hello breezygirl3346, Member of the management here! Myself and my family are more than aware of our property's shortcomings, but thank you so much for the public accusations of neglect and blindness regarding our "once lovely" resort. Constructive criticism is always appreciated, but there's no stopping someone from being unabashedly nasty, either. Please keep in mind for future reviews that family-owned and operated small businesses are staffed by human beings who are passionate, believe it or not, about the service they provide and rely on useful reviews to improve said services. Not only are reviews like this damaging to a business's reputation, they're also hard to not take personal. Contrary to what you believe, my family and other members of management are not blind, nor are we negligent. We haven't operated this resort for 60 years blindly fumbling along, resting on our laurels, forgetting what hard work is and taking for granted our returning, and new, customers. Somehow we've made it work. Could it be through... hard work? Gasp. Gosh, maybe. Here's a little fable worthy of Aesop that may or may not demonstrate our supposed negligence. My mom and I drove an hour and a half to Ottawa to pick up some 50 aluminum bistro chairs for our guest patios to phase out the worn patio furniture mentioned in your review. Shocking, I know. It's almost as if we cared. Will we buy more, yes. Can everything be done at once? Realistically? No. There isn't a bottomless budget to spend on a constantly rotating array of new furniture, etc., but we make due within our constraints, we plan, and we are grateful for the staff that assist us in realizing any improvements. While I could go on about how I, personally, swept away cobwebs everyday (no joke) in the heat and humidity, collapsing at lunch from heat exhaustion numerous times (excuses, I know), I will admit that I, nor my coworkers, can sweep the entire resort's exterior on a daily basis; we are literally a stone's throw from a body of fresh water, where insects and the spiders that feed on them hatch daily by the millions (more excuses). Furthermore, the bit about every entrance into the resort being infested with cobwebs except for the main door is patently untrue, hyperbolic garbage. Nuff said on the spider thing. I apologize that we were not up to your standards, although I get the sense that the list of establishments that are is quite limited--and those that don't have the pleasure of being publicly eviscerated. I'm not writing this to try to get you to understand where I'm coming from. This is for the thoughtful, compassionate, prospective customer who understands that life isn't perfect, but will hopefully recognize that myself and my team work our hardest to provide a quality service. Reading the above review, you'd think that operating a resort was a breeze and that we at the Glen House are woefully unqualified, blind country bumpkins, completely unaware of improvements needed. Seriously? We have eyes. They operate. We know, and we're working on it, all of it, as we're able. Needless to say, we will have a new Head of Housekeeping this coming season to assist me with the perennial cobweb sweeping, a move that probably isn't in keeping with my supposed "negligence" of the property, but there you have it. Yours truly, Sean
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Hi, Kim and James V. Thanks so much for your interest in our resort! Our outdoor pool is not heated and is opened from (generally speaking) mid-May til about late September/early October, weather dependent. Our indoor pool is heated. Take care and stay safe!
Hi, JeanDoots. We offer a breakfast buffet when the hotel has 30 or more house guests; for your convenience, we would encourage you to call in advance as to whether we will be offering a buffet on a particular date. The buffet is $12/person and features scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, home fries and toast. Pancakes and french toast are also offered, each on alternating days. We also have a full breakfast menu that can be found on our website (glenhouseresort) under the "Dining" tab.
There are more places to choose from in the Ivy Lea area.
ALSO KNOWN AS
glen house hotel gananoque, glen hotel ontario, glen resort ontario, glen house resort
LOCATION
CanadaOntarioIvy Lea
NUMBER OF ROOMS
73
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