Cranwell Resort Earns Travel Awards

Print Story | Email Story
Lenox - Cranwell Resort, Spa and Golf Club was recently honored with top honors from two prestigious industry organizations. The World Travel Awards named Cranwell "Best Resort in Massachusetts." Readers of SpaFinder named Cranwell as "Best Spa for Golf." Cranwell Resort has also earned a "Four Diamonds" from the AAA for the past five years. These awards are in addition to a number of accolades Cranwell received in the past year, including the "Best Resort in Massachusetts" by Boston Magazine’s New England Travel and Life. Cranwell Resort was also featured in the book “100 Best Spas in the World,” and its golf course was included in “America’s Top 100 Golf Courses,” by Zagat’s reader survey. 13th Annual World Travel Awards The highly prestigious World Travel Awards – recently dubbed the “Oscars of the Travel Industry” by the Wall Street Journal – are granted annually by leading travel professionals around the globe. This year 167,000 voters, including 110,000 travel agents, participated in the balloting, and Cranwell was chosen Best Resort in Massachusetts from among an elite crop of finalists. Since 1993 the World Travel Awards have recognized the best the travel industry has to offer. Distinguished as one of the Historic Hotels of America, Cranwell Resort, Spa and Golf Club sits on a 380-acre site landscaped by Fredrick Law Olmsted, the famed designer of New York City’s Central Park and Boston’s Emerald Necklace. The elegant mansion, centerpiece of the Resort’s grounds, dates back to the Gilded Age of the late 19th century. SpaFinder Readers Choice Award Spafinder.com and Luxury SpaFinder attract millions of spa consumers annually. To construct their Best of List, patrons of both the magazine and website cast ballots for what turned out to be more than 1,000 different spa properties worldwide. Voters were asked to vote only for spas they’ve personally visited within the past three years and, as one of the most popular spots for golf in New England. Cranwell boasts a 6,200 yard, 18-hole golf course, and a 12-acre driving range, with breathtakingly beautiful views of the bucolic Berkshire hills. The course winds throughout the resort’s 380 acre property, and the golf course itself was designed and built in 1926 by Wayne Styles and John Van Kleek. Styles and Van Kleek were responsible for over 60 golf courses between 1924 and 1932, most of which were in New England. Additionally, Cranwell runs a prestigious Golf Digest school on its grounds, and top-tier instructors are available for private and group lessons. The golf course offers state-of-the-art amenities like GPS equipped carts, which provide golfers with yardage calculation and other resort communication. About Cranwell Resort, Spa and Golf Club Cranwell’s renowned spa is the only facility in New England that features the Carita Paris facial “The Renovateur”, as well as its signature treatment, “The Grand Mosaic Dry Float,” an ethereal two-hour body wrap, warm water immersion, and full body massage. The Spa also offers classes in Pilates, Yoga, Body Conditioning and Aerobics, as well as specialized yoga and other conditioning classes specifically for golfers. Additionally the resort provides an ideal setting for outdoor activities, including tennis, biking, hiking and Nordic walking, with the majestic Berkshires as your personal playground. The award-winning, 107-room, 380-acre resort is located at 55 Lee Road in Lenox, Massachusetts, approximately two and one-half hours from New York and two hours from Boston. For information about rate packages, of which Cranwell offers a variety, and reservations, call (800) 272-6935 or visit www.Cranwell.com.
If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

A Boutique Hotel is Bringing Guests a Luxury Stay in Lenox

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff

LENOX, Mass. — A new Inn is bringing a boutique-style stay for visitors and locals to enjoy.

Owners, Sullivan Capital LLC, purchased the property, located on 135 Main Street, in 2024. After a year or renovations, Garden Gables Inn is open for business. 

"Garden Gables started off as one of the many Berkshire cottages, 1790 was the date on that, and it's always operated as an inn," said Hospitality Manager Yvonne Walton. "It's just a great gathering place and relaxation spot for people to come and get the feel of Lenox, and just slow down and enjoy the nature and the surrounding area...get culture and art and see some great concerts. I think it'll be a wonderful place, definitely does more of the upper-scale hospitality." 

Owners Niko Giallouis and Eric Sullivan bought the property from the former owner. Sullivan had his eye on Lenox since attending a wedding almost 10 years ago.

"I came to a wedding in Lenox, probably six or seven years ago. Personally, just kind of fell in love with the area, and I guess that's kind of how it got on my radar. So you know from that perspective, as we got into the hotel business out towards an area, it was a place I was kind of monitoring and waiting for the right property to show up."

After purchasing the two underwent a full renovation, a project that cost around $1.5 million. The building, first built in 1780, required some TLC. Sullivan's wife, Jessica, who owns Jessica Sullivan Design, designed the inn.

Sullivan said they installed a new roof, repainted everything, renovated the bathrooms, installed new floors, a new HVAC system, and new plumbing.

"We really touched everything from the outside...I mean, all the aesthetics and layouts changed a bit," he said. "As I said, put about a million and a half into it. All new furniture, fixtures, everything. The design's completely different. It wasn't a full gut, but it was a heavy, heavy renovation."

The two like to collaborate with local businesses, and they make a point to direct visitors to local restaurants, businesses, and attractions.

"If guests are asking for recommendations, our customer service team, our guest services team, will relay that kind of information. Even if we can call and make a reservation for somebody, happy to do it," he said. "We aren't doing breakfast, but what we do is we have partnerships with a lot of the breakfast places downtown. We actually purchase a gift certificates for each person each day, so that they can use that to go downtown."

Sullivan hopes that guests don't see their inn as just a place to sleep and dump their bags, but make it an experience for anyone who stays.

"We really focus on kind of the experience side of things, so again, we want to give you the best experience you can have here...and we want that not just to be the place you put your bag and go do things. It's important to think of everything," he said.

Sullivan said partnerships are important to their business and are a way to connect with locals.

"The local partnerships, I can't stress that enough, because no matter how much and how great the room is, people are still going to want to go do other things," he said. "So, I think it just benefits everybody if we're all working together and so forth, and supporting the community, being neighborly too, because we are surrounded by residential homes...But we really try to put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, a lot of love into the building, all the details, really care about the senses," Sullivan said.

The Inn's check-in and reservations are completely online. When guests arrive, all they have to do is check in online and receive their code that they will use to enter their room. Sullivan hopes this helps create less stress for guests and gets them to their room as fast as possible, especially after a long trip.

View Full Story

More Lenox Stories