We've driven by the Mount Washington Hotel several times in the past, and, from the highway, the huge building makes a most impressive picture, especially if the visibility's good and you can see the hotel's namesake mountain in the background.
Finally, this fall we had an opportunity to spend a night at the hotel on our way from Boothbay Harbor, Maine, to Woodstock, Vermont.
Alas, what a disappointment overall.
However, step by step:
Initial greeting: great greeting by the valets and baggage people at the entrance -- friendly, cheerful, efficient.
Front desk: well, okay, but certainly nothing outstanding. In fact, our room key didn't work; the clerk had given us a wrong key. "Sorry about that," was all she said.
The room: large with high ceiling but otherwise a real disappointment, stark, old furniture, old carpet. My wife says "shabby," and that pretty much explains it. Someone with Holiday Inn taste remodeled the bathroom several years ago: drop-down Celotex ceiling and new tub and bath fixtures, but no heater, vent, or other amenities of any sort. Incidentally, we were on the "sunset" side, away from views of Mount Washington. Could the "mountain" side rooms be better?
Rosebrook Lounge (lobby bar): comfortable feel with a friendly bartender and prompt delivery of cheese and crackers.
The Conservatory, off the main lobby: also comfortable with large fireplace. That was a nice touch on a cloudy, cold, gray day. Alas, clouds covered Mount Washington, but, on a clear day, the Conservatory would be a great place to sit and view the mountain.
Gift shop: standard items, a bit overpriced.
Post office: a great feature.
Internet access: high speed Internet available in a small room across from the post office. There may have been other public-access computers in other parts of the hotel, but we didn't see any. It's hard to believe that the hotel had only one public-access computer for the entire building.
Dinner: we booked the modified American plan, with dinner and breakfast included. Dinner actually was quite good. Two of us had steaks (cooked to our desires), and we can't remember what the other two had as entrees, but we had no complaints. Service was very good. The sommelier recommended a good wine at a reasonable price and returned after a while to ask about his choice.
Breakfast: buffet style and pretty standard buffet items. Pleasant young chap at the omelet bar was on an internship from the Culinary Institute of America.
Checkout: ordinary.
Summary: for a hefty expense -- some $450 per couple for room, dinner, and breakfast -- there wasn't a lot of value. We were pretty disappointed.
We'll enjoy the Mount Washington Hotel just in passing it by on the highway from now on.

My husband and I stayed at the Mount Washington Hotel from October 11 to the 16th. This 104 year old hotel was awesome! We were met at the door by several doormen willing to take our luggage, park our car (free!) and wait while we checked in. We then took the elevator (1st one in a hotel-ever!) run by Eddie (very kind and friendly). Our room was old - of course! - spacious with high ceilings, steam heat, and a sloping floor. I felt like I was back in my grandma's house...(just the room). We had an adjoining room that we used only for luggage. That room was accompanied by a ghost who was afraid of the dark... every night the overhead lights would turn on. One night, we woke up and the lights were on. My husband went in and turned them off. He climbed back in bed and before we could close our eyes, the lights turned back on! We didn't want to agitate the ghost, so we left the lights on for the night!

The grounds are beautiful! The golf course was lovely, the hike to the waterfalls (about 3 miles roundtrip) was exhilerating and the mountain was touched by snow. We sat on the veranda several days and read. We also relaxed by the fireplace with a glass of wine.

We didn't eat at the hotel every meal, but we did have the lunch buffet one day and it was delicious! Lots of salads, make your own sandwich; creamy rutabaga soup; salmon, pasta and 3 kinds of dessert. We had a few dinners there as well and they were delicious. We had drinks in the Princess Lounge and were well taken care of. We had dinner at Fabians one night and it wasn't my favorite.

If you go expecting a brand new hotel, you will be disappointed. There are a few cracks in the wall, the door knobs are original, the wallpaper was peeling in a few places and the carpet looks very old as well. That's the appeal!!! It's 104 years old!!!! Go on the tour to truly appreciate this unique hotel. We loved it!

We stayed here on 4th Oct ' 2006 and paid $550 for dinner, room and breakfast. The room was Superior with Queen bed.
First impressions
Carried our cases up the front steps to the check in. No sign of porters. Check in fine. Off to bedroom, again with no offer if help. To be fair, we did not need help. Very old lift with very bored student type driving it. Old design demands driver. Rather tatty huge corridor to room, like an airport runway.
Room
Fine but the overhead plumbing for sprinklers is weird! Must it be 3 ft below the ceiling? No coffee facilities here.
Time for tea.
Wonderful, wonderful aspects for sitting and enjoying late PM BUT,
it was not possible to get served and there were no self service coffee/tea facilities in the lounge, balcony area. There were two staff present, both rushed off their feet (1 serving, one behind the counter), both totally incompetant. What a shame.
Time for dinner
The dress code is jackets, fine, but dont need ties, wierd.
Lovely bar off the dining room, but cant get served. Have to go to bar and wait for 10 minutes. Two barmen, one fully employed on dining room business, the other incompetant - never heard of Long Island Iced Tea! Expensive too.
Called for dinner 15 mins early (just got drinks!) but as it was 8-15 went anyway. Sat down to be told it was not us and go away again. No, we are here now!!
Dinner service was very slow 2.25 hours! and the food OK but not special. No silver service.
Breakfast was very good buffet.
We left as we atrrived with no offers of help.

The access to internet was poor. One PC in a room with no printer.

Wildly overpriced and unless they wake up they will die.

They need a new expert restaurant manager and lots of training all round. They are running the place with untrained young chaps and girls.

My partner and I stayed at the Mt. Wash Hotel for three nights in Sept. The hotel structure and the setting are magnificient. The hotel is worn - adequately clean but the room was a little shabby - everthing in working condition. This old girl needs a renovation! The bathroom was a little rough - tubs/showers are plastic inserts and bathroom ceiling was a drop ceiling from the 70s. My business is commerical real estate development so I'm sympathetic to the cost of "making over" buildings of historic importance. I'm always happy to sacrifice amenities and convenience in favor of choosing a historic hotel property. What is difficult to overlook is the lack of staff training and focus on costomer-service. We encountered multiple instances of staff walking by us without offering any greeting or acknowledgement. Staff seemed to have a hard time answering basic questions. When inquiring about hiking options at the "Experience Center", we were handed mulitple sheets describing the trails themselves but there were no directions as to how to reach the trails from the hotel. When we pressed on the issue of directions, the staff member was very vague. It would have helped to have printed directions on each sheet. Most of the reataurants in Bretton Woods area are affiliated with Mt. Wash Hotel. The staff seemed reluctant to recommend restaurants other than those affiliated with the hotel, despite the fact we premised our query about other dining options by saying we had already eaten at several of the "resort restaurants". As a result, we drove 35 mins. into North Conway and looked for a place on our own. The resort is clearly geared towards golfers and if golf is your game you won't be disappointed - the course is amazing. Loving historic hotel like I do, I can usually overlook wear and tear in favor of the experience. A friendly, well-trained staff always makes this kind of experience worth the while. Without the staff and service level, it's just shabby. Hopefully, management can turn this around because the building and setting deserve better.