alb (02/23/83)
The main purpose of this article is to warn you away from the place from which Black Flag obviously got the name ''Roach Motel''! However, I will start with some happy news: We went skiing at Hunter, NY, this past weekend, and conditions were surprisingly good for the holiday. It was too warm for them to make snow (high 40's every day, sometimes hitting 50), but it was warm enough so what they had stayed snow; though it was very soft and mushy, they groomed it very well, and conditions were fair to good throughout the weekend. Lift lines were 15 to 20 minutes (as to be expected due to the holiday), but they tapered out into a maximum of 5 minutes by noon Monday. All in all, it was the best skiing we've had there since about four years ago when we got snowed in and everyone else got snowed out! Now for the review: If you are planning to be at Hunter, stay AWAY (as far away as you can!) from the Villa Vosilla, a true rat's nest (though I doubt most rats would patronize it) The rooms were dingy and filthy (though you could get a room with a fair amount of sunshine for the price of not getting a crummy black and white TV in it (they didn't seem to have a semi-bright room with a TV in it at all)); the paint was peeling, the furniture was falling apart (either the dresser was too big for the drawers or the drawers were too big for the dresser, but the drawers kept falling out!), and the shower kept oscillating between freezing cold and scalding hot with no prompting from the nozzles. The dining room was terrible as well. Though the food was fair to midlin', they served no where near enough to satisfy you (I am not kidding you when I say that the prime rib was thinner than the bed blankets (which were not so hot themselves)!) Also, the service was terrible (on the first night, we waited 15 minutes before getting a menu, 9 minutes from then until our order was taken, and an additional 45 minutes before being blessed with our gruel (if you have to ask why I timed it, I had nothing better to do!)) Oh yes, let me not forget to mention the management's new entertainment idea: a discotheque Now, normally I would not complain (though my comments on disco are a bit on the crude side), however, they turned the music on at 8:00 PM and didn't turn it off until 12 midnight (try sleeping at Studio 54 and you'll see my trouble) When we complained, they said they were trying a new thing and it would be like that for a few hours every night. If the disco doesn't keep you up, the other guests will. There was one set of totally obnoxious, rude, vulgar guests (in their early 20's) which was up until 5:00 AM the first morning/night yelling, screaming, and being totally crude. Finally, at 4:00 AM, the house guard came up and asked that they quieted down. Now, 3 hours of sleep is not very much if you're going skiing that morning! The next night was no better, and at 3:00 AM we actually called the police, who showed up and shut them up. The only decent part of the hotel was the jacuzzi, which was really only set right the first day (about 108 to 110 degrees -- EXTREEEEEEMELY relaxing!), but it didn't make up for everything else. In closing, I would just like to offer my condolences to anyone who has stayed there before and repeat my warnings to all who plan to go there in the future.