The Algonquin Resort St. Andrews by-the-Sea, Autograph Collection

A great historic resort with character. Staff are responsive and friendly. Great restaurant and bar. But room for improvement. Room was spacious but shower in the ensuite was far too small, water pressure in shower was insufficient. One has to reach through the path of the water to start the shower. Toilet paper in ensuite was low end. No fan in the ensuite bathroom. Staff ignored the privacy door hanger prior to checkout. Late checkout request was not really sufficiently accommodated for no cited reason. No survey sent soon after stay and no clear way to offer the feedback via the loyalty website or app.

As we watch the sunrise over the Bay of Fundy, I am reflecting on the wonderful 4-day experience we have had in the quaint bayside resort town of St. Andrews, New Brunswick (population 2,048) just over the Canadian border. Our oasis, The Algonquin opened in 1889 as a resting point along the Canadian Pacific Railway. It was destroyed by fire in 1914, but rebuilt and reopened in less than a year. It’s only a short walk down to the waterfront on the Bay of Fundy that has the most extreme tides in the world (24’ from low to high) which provides very different perspectives based on time of day. From chilling on the resorts veranda to sitting around a lawn fire pit to sitting by a lobby fireplace to taking the hotel’s ghost tour to taking some short shoreline and mountain hikes to walking into and exploring the little town to simply watching the sunrise over the bay from our room, it has been a rejuvenating adventure. We definitely plan to return someday.

Was here for meetings/conference. The room was very nice, newly upgraded with nice TV and bathroom. However, the old carpet is hard to look past. The resort grounds were beautiful with great seating outside and all around. The worst thing about the resort was the food served at Braxton's and at the conferences. Steak was overcooked at Braxtons and the Tofu dish was a horrible option with no flavor. The conference options were horrible with no nut free/dairy free/gluten options unless asked for and then we all got the same Tofu dish as served in the resturant. The resort was made aware of restrictions prior to coming and we were not accommodated at all.

We paid over $700 ($775 CAD) for a king bed room with a partial view of the parking lot. However, we did have a lovely view of the building that held the indoor swimming pool. The carpet in the room had several obvious and noticeable stains. The bathroom was adequate but there was a strange phenomenon with the water faucets. We almost never had cold water in the lavatory and the toilet had hot water as well. It was also difficult to regulate the water in the shower in that it was either ice cold or scalding hot. We took a pass on the $25 CAD per person breakfast buffet. The hotel is about a 12 to 15 minute walk to St. Andrews where there are several good restaurants for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Most everyone who has written a review here has commented on the need to update the hotel so we will add our vote for a refurbishment as well. The only reason I gave this hotel 1 star is because of the free coffee service in the lobby by the fire place and the free parking. I hope Marriott is paying attention to the reviews here. We stay quite few times per year at Marriott and this has to be the most overrated one we have experienced.

Beautiful old hotel. Our room was comfortable and spacious, and we loved how easy it was to walk into town-St. Andrews is so charming! A highlight for us was relaxing on the front porch with a drink before dinner. It’s a 4/5 for me just for little things-as others have noted, the whole place really needs new carpet (furnishings were fine otherwise), and new bed linens. Breakfast was fine, but would benefit from touches like real maple syrup, fresh berries, etc. to be a 5 star experience. Hopefully we’ll get to return someday!