Touchstone Resort

Touchstone Resort is advertised as a four-star property, but it feels dated and, in our view, does not deserve its four-star rating. Its lakeside location is the only aspect that justifies the high room rate of CAD 1,140 for two nights. We stayed in a twin room in the main building. The room was spacious and offered a wonderful view of the lake. However, housekeeping appeared rushed and superficial. A so-called “concierge” contacted us by text message with updated opening hours for the spa and pool facilities and encouraged us to share any requests. Yet our request for an additional coffee capsule for the in-room coffee machine went unanswered — there was only one capsule provided for two people for a two-night stay. Although Touchstone promotes itself as a resort, it does not offer breakfast. The closest thing to breakfast was pre-brewed coffee and packaged muffins available at reception. The Touchstone Grill restaurant looked somewhat shabby, and the tables were not clean. The service also leaves room for improvement. The food was good, but not outstanding. Overall, the resort does not live up to a four-star standard.

Spent a pretty good week here last week. The resort is beautiful! The room has everything you need for cooking—they even have washer and dryer. But I wasn’t there to cook however it’s not far from the town so you could get groceries for yourself. I’ve never stayed in this Help-Yourself type of resort, as there’s no food no bottled water no drinks and snacks. It’s more of a managed Air B&B to me. There’s only one restaurant in this resort to eat, price is fair but not cheap. The view is outstanding. The singer/saxophone player is incredible as well. I enjoyed staying at the docks, they have beautiful views and you can also fish but sadly you can’t bring any drinks. Had a fun kayaking as well, not too busy and they have plenty of canoes, kayaks, paddle boards etc for anyone interested. Here comes the criticism: The boathouse restaurant is closed, the main pool was closed( also very far from our room). The only pool we could access was the small one near the main lodge but was busy most of the time with kids and parents. The hot tub was busy most of the time as well. Overall, it was good but with the value of $1630 for 4 nights, I didn’t think it worths the dollars I spent.

We arrived to find the entryway filthy, with visible dust and dirt suggesting the unit hadn't been cleaned before our check-in. The carpet throughout has noticeable stains everywhere. There is no WiFi and no cell service. Since we're here for a full week and need to work remotely, this has been a major problem. Dishes were still sitting dirty in the dishwasher, never washed or unloaded from a previous stay. We also found animal feces on our balcony, and the front of the unit has people smoking and leaving behind beer cans. None of this reflects a luxury experience. At $1,315 per night, this level of neglect is unacceptable. The lake view is genuinely beautiful, but that's the only thing this property has going for it. I will say I'm grateful to the staff. When we demanded a refund and left within 12 hours of checking in, they understood our frustration completely and gave us a full refund without a fight. To senior management: do better. Your marketing photos make this look like a Ritz, but the reality is closer to a Homewood Suites at best. Your employees shouldn't have to absorb the fallout from your false advertising.

My husband and I spent 3 nights at Touchstone this week following our wedding and enjoyed it a lot! Highlights and things we loved: The check in process was quick and easy and the staff at the front desk were friendly. We had 2 dinners at the restaurant and enjoyed both, although the portions were on the smaller size given the cost. Both servers we had were great, shoutout to Merika! We really enjoyed spending time sitting at the dock and there was always lots of seating available. We enjoyed using the kayaks, canoes and paddle boards and appreciated them being included with the stay. Our room was wonderful and the bed and bedding were unbelievably comfy! We had 2 small issues with the room (no smoke detector wired in on the ceiling, and room keys not working) and both issues were fixed very quickly by maintenance staff. The not so great: The pool by the beach is closed and seems to have been for quite some time. This was disappointing as the infinity pool is quite small and was very busy all throughout the day, especially with young kids. Having the second pool would’ve been nice and cut down on the amount of people using the one pool. Also, RMT massages are only available on Saturdays so we did not get them at the spa like we were planning to. Overall we enjoyed our stay!