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About
4.0
#1 of 2 hotels in Jacksons Point
Location
Cleanliness
Service
Value
An easy hour drive from Toronto, this beautiful all-season resort is nestled on the southern shores of Lake Simcoe. Our 50 room Inn is set amidst 200 acres of lush lawns, gardens, and towering trees. This unique property offers a championship golf course, full-service spa and excellent recreational programming. Enjoy traditional and contemporary favourites in our dining room and Drinkwaters Lounge where dishes are skillfully prepared for any palate.
Star ratings are intended to indicate the general level of features, amenities, and services to expect. This property is classified according to Giata.
HOTEL STYLE
Mid-range
Location
55 Hedge Rd, Jacksons Point, Georgina, Ontario L0E 1L0 Canada
The Briars Resort & Spa
651 reviews
Getting there
Somewhat walkable
Places to stay are graded on a 0-100 scale. The higher the grade, the easier it is for travellers to find restaurants and things to do within walking distance.
We recently held our wedding at The Briars Resort on February 22, 2020 and it was simply the best. The Briars is a beautiful spot to get married. It was a small intimate wedding with 40 guests all of whom booked rooms at the Briars. From our first meeting till the day of the wedding they were awesome to deal with. They took care of everything. The service was fantastic. I started dealing with Martha McCullam who went on maternity leave 3 weeks prior to our wedding so we were handed over to Michelle Poirer who did a fantastic job of handling our wedding. We had a rehearsal the night before and had 18 for dinner. They arranged a preset menu which was flexible and affordable. Friday night was fantastic. Then for the wedding I had a number of personal request ie: special vodka for the bar, special whiskey for the bar, recognizing one of our guests for his birthday etc. They took note of each request and everything was taken care of. Michelle was great about responding to all of my calls and taking care of all of my requests. We had guests welcome bags that we wanted placed in individual rooms prior to them arriving. They took care of this request with a smile. I never felt like I was bothering them with my calls and questions. They made us all feel comfortable and welcoming. The food was fabulous. The room looked amazing. The different rooms were fabulous for photographs. I can’t say enough about how pleased we were with the Briars. We would give them a 5 star rating and would highly recommend them as the place to host your wedding.
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Date of stay: February 2020Trip type: Travelled with friends
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
My partner and I stayed at The Briars on the Pay 2 Stay 3 package, including breakfast and dinner. While we enjoyed having the place mostly to ourselves on the two weekdays of our stay, we felt that the value for money - even on this package - was lacking.
Everything is a little tired, a little broken, a little slow, a little unprofessional. Soggy and worn out Christmas decorations sprinkled the grounds despite it being late March (we're talkin sleighs and elves, not just the occasional twinkle light). There was a ring of rust around the bathtub drain. The table on our balcony had one broken leg. Two trays of room service food were left in the hallway for 48hrs. The pool was out of service. The wifi was choppy. The TVs in the rooms were logged into past guests' Netflix/Crave/Prime accounts (the staff is aware of this and seems to think it's funny).
There was no cleaning service for the rooms, allegedly as a covid precaution. Not sure that argument flies in a place that's offering spa treatments and restaurant table service - seems more like a cost cutting measure. So we had to continually ask for fresh towels or a resupply of toilet paper (you've never seen such low quality toilet paper btw).
The staff were very friendly and accommodating, but service was slow and lacking in refinement. One night, our dinner order was messed up and we were offered a free beverage to make up for it; however, upon seeing that I was pregnant, they revoked the offer. One night we waited 5 minutes simply for spoons with which to eat our desserts.
Overall, we had a nice stay, the food was decent, the rooms met our needs. But even with the package deal, we felt we overpaid for the quality we received.
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Date of stay: March 2022
Value
Cleanliness
Service
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from The Briars Resort, Marketing at The Briars Resort & Spa
Responded Mar 21, 2023
Thank you for leaving a review for us. I am sorry to hear you felt it was not up to your standards. We always strive to keep our customers happy, and appreciate any feedback.
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Brier counter staff were informative, made good use of common sense thinking and were flexible where COVID protocols allowed. Our guest room and the multitude of small sitting rooms at the Brier have "authentic ambience" and are clean, well maintained and functional given that this is an historic and expansive building. Restaurant staff were professional, efficient and welcoming. The Brier Resort has much to offer for activities. The Gym is small but well appointed with multi station and cardio workout equipment. I would grade the recently updated pool, hot tub and sauna as A+. If you are looking for modern appointments in rooms and chrome and sparkle features of a high-end resort destination, you won't find much of that type of experience at the Brier. For my wife and I, the Brier checked off most of what we value in a short-stay winter getaway destination.
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Date of stay: February 2022
Value
Location
Service
Room Tip:The rooms that face Lake Simcoe will be quieter; others might prefer a view of the golf course...
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We arrived early evening and were handed a very confusing map that lead us through the loud dining room to our room. Literally walking through people’s dinner, while struggling with our luggage we turned around to ask for some guidance to our room as we couldn’t believe we were expected to walk through the dining room to get to our room. I have an injury and wasn’t able to walk the long hallway with all of our luggage which no one asked to assist us with nor were there any carts to assist. This is definitely not accessible or a welcoming place. The decor is extremely old and outdated as well as musty. Once we were finally lead to our room the lights weren’t working so we had to turn on our phone flashlights to find a switch and turn on the lamps, which I was very surprised weren’t plugged in or in working condition.
We asked for a king bed and were only given a queen. Not a big deal however just another disappointment to what we’re expecting Vs.Reality.
The room is literally the scariest and creepiest room I’ve ever seen. It literally send chills on my arms. It is located right beside the dining room which is basically a loud mess hall. Even in our room with the doors shut we could make out people’s conversations. Brutal. Our bathroom although spacious is very old and rusted and the vanity is in very rough shape and cheaply made. For a resort that isn’t cheap, this place is in dire need of an update and renovation.
We decided to stick it out and make the best of it as we drove a far distance to be here and have plans in the area. We went to the restaurant which was so loud we decided to eat in the lounge (drink waters) where it was more quiet and intimate. The service was terrible and slow. Took two hours to get our meals and eat them and all we ordered were entrees and one dessert. We asked for more sauce for our meal and were literally told that the kitchen is so busy by the time she came back the meal would be offer so we should just make due LOL 😂 we literally couldn’t even believe what we heard.
Dinner was OK nothing great. I had the gnocchi and it was so salty and ran out of water and waited over twenty minutes for a refill. Husband had the lamb which was OK.
Creme brûlée was incredible, I will give them that!
The chairs are old and ratty and ours had big holes in the backs.
So far we are not impressed and wouldn’t return....were actually thinking about cancelling the second night and staying elsewhere.
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Date of stay: February 2020Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
The Briars has the potential to be a great establishment. We stayed in the Leacock wing, which on first impression was musty smelling. The carpeting and wallpaper I’m sure were meant to be rustic and of the period of the Inn, but are just outdated. Our room was uninspired. Peeling paint, rotting shingles, broken and peeling shutters, rusting balcony railings....it has more of a flavor of decay then old world charm. The grounds could be outstanding, but instead there are rotting hockey sticks and trash on the courts. The viewing stands are a hazard due to rot. It appears the expansions were haphazard in their design, so roof lines are mismatched and give the building a piecemeal look. The food was adequate and while one of the overworked waitstaff was outstanding, his coworker was disinterested and distracted at best. When we asked for bread plates we were given dirty tea saucers in one instance. We found we had to make a number of requests that would have been anticipated by more seasoned servers. My understanding is that there is new ownership. I’m just not sure if there will be a large infusion of funds to bring it back to it’s glory, or whether it’s being allowed to slide into decay for its land value. I would certainly go back one day because there really is a charm about the place. But it is in desperate need of a caring owner who sees its potential.
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Date of stay: September 2020Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
I called to book a May birthday weekend in a cottage for our family. We have stayed there many times and the staff were wonderful, especially those dealing with reservations. The resort is under new ownership. This time I was told that they no longer have all of the lakeside cottages available for rent, with one exception, the 3 bedroom Sunrise cottage. The gentleman who appeared neither gracious or experienced, I spoke to quoted $2800 for two nights! That is $1400 a night! That day I had received an announcement that as a frequent past visitor I could join their exclusive club and receive discounts. I asked him if this was the discounted price but he said they were not offering discounts after all. He did however say it included Breakfast. Loyal guests such as our family will not longer frequent this establishment as I am sure the friendly welcome and atmosphere will be quite changed. They are pricing themselves out of the market and club or no club! The Sibbald family will be missed.
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Date of stay: February 2021
Value
Cleanliness
Service
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Bob Law, Innkeeper at The Briars Resort & Spa
Responded Mar 8, 2021
Dear Nelly, My sincere apologies for your recent experience, not handled well and I’m very sorry. I have a great favour to ask, I am hoping you could give me a few minutes of your time. I would like to talk in detail about the call and how we could have done better and get some thoughts on the resort from your prospective as a previous guest.
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We need to make it clear, right up front that the staff at this resort were very helpful and friendly. Our primary reason for giving only a 2 was the overall condition of the facilities relative to the price.
My wife and are retired and we travel a fair amount (6-8 trips per year). We recently stayed here for 3 nights. We are familiar with reasonable value. If this place was priced at $180 or even $200 per night we might be able to give it a 3.5 score but at $340/night (basic room) it was very poor value.
The room decor was very dated (looked like it was completed in the early 80's). The TV was only a 24" low budget model with only 2 channels (staff came 3 times to try to get it to access additional channels but were not successful). There was no elevator to the second story (expected in an older facility but not reflected in the price). Room service was provided (on time) but without silverware (they forgot) and with plastic tableware (again, we could expect this if the price was half what we paid).
The entire external grounds were overgrown and poorly kept. We could tell as we were entering the grounds that we were not entering a $350/night facility. The front awnings were loaded with mold and sagging. The eavestroughs had weeds growing out of them.
In looking closely at the facility I really dont think it can ever be properly renovated as there are far too many little rooms, strange hallways, different roof angles etc to complete a first class renovation. The only reasonable option would be tear the facility down and use the grounds to build something that matches at property potential.
So sorry... but we wont be staying here again. We wish the very best to the staff and owners as they try to improve the value of their offer.
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Date of stay: July 2021
Rooms
Cleanliness
Service
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from The Briars Resort, Marketing at The Briars Resort & Spa
Responded Oct 5, 2021
Hello, and thank you for expressing your concerns. We would like to let you know that we take your feedback very seriously. Our team is working hard to provide updates to our resort. We agree with you and are working hard everyday to make upgrades to the rooms, furniture and the overall appearance of The Briars. We want to apologize for your recent experience here and encourage you to reach out via telephone to discuss your concerns in more detail. We are committed to providing great experiences for our guests and apologize for your recent stay. We hope to discuss with you the changes we are in the midst of making here at The Briars.
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The state of this resort is a shame. Loads of lost potential caused by no concerns or upkeep. There were dead flies all over the place, the windows were filthy and everything in general was worn and in bad condition. The grounds are fantastic and the lakefront is pristine but the hotel itself is in rough shape. The pool is ice cold, the sauna was being used as a storage area, the hot tub was empty and roped off, there were no nobs on the swimming area showers, the plastic patio furniture was all stained, the washroom counter had obviously fallen off and been glued back on several times. The food was unfortunately just as bad; bland and expensive for the quality. If our server checked on us once we could have pointed out some of our concerns. The breakfast buffet was the most disappointing and reminded my significant other and I both of something you would get as a continental breakfast at various chain hotels, only this one cost just shy of $40.00. The Briars may have been a five star resort in the past but it is a solid 2 start now. I have resided in Georgina my entire life and the Briars has always had a reputation of being the jewel of the area, what an embarrassment.
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Date of stay: October 2021
Value
Cleanliness
Service
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from The Briars Resort, Marketing at The Briars Resort & Spa
Responded Oct 5, 2021
Dear Pam, We would like to thank you for expressing your concerns and let you know that we take your feedback very seriously. Our team is working hard to provide updates to our resort as well as get all of our amenities and facilities up and running. We are working to make upgrades to the rooms, furniture and the overall appearance of The Briars. We want to apologize for your recent experience here. Should you wish to speak to us, please do not hesitate to give us a call. We would be happy to discuss your concerns in more detail.
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One of the main reasons we booked this resort was because it included water sports such as kayaking, canoeing, and paddle boarding. However our first day there it was 23’C and cloudy with a 30% chance of thunderstorms so the rental facility was closed. It was the Monday of a long weekend too, so we had really expected it to be open and spend a good chunk of the day on the lake. The outdoor and indoor pools were closed. Our second day it was 14’C, so I understand we were out of luck then, however I don’t like that we still had to pay the full resort price. The spa is not included in the room price and quite pricey even with the guest discount. I also just want to mention that the place was very warm, we would wear shorts and tshirts inside (meals, game room, looking at art on walls) only to put on pants and a sweater to go outside. The ac in the room worked well. Our meals tasted absolutely amazing, the staff was polite, and the bed was probably the most comfortable I have ever been in. The grounds were large, beautiful, and full of picnic spots. We found that 3 of the 6 darts were broken, and the outdoor games also had broken or missing pieces. The gazebo was used as a storage facility which seemed a little unprofessional. The place was otherwise clean and the decor was spectacular, we loved the old maps!
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Date of stay: September 2020
Cleanliness
Service
Sleep Quality
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
I don’t usually write a review but I wanted to warn people. I came for a spa day and stayed overnight. The hotel is dated. The spa experience was very disappointing. It was not a relaxing environment (the staff were yelling across the room from each other (very unprofessional), the "spa" area was dated and didn't even feel like a spa, no tea offered, I felt rushed out, etc.). I had three treatments (massage, facial and a body treatment) and all were subpar compared to ones I have had in the past.
For the overnight stay, the hotel room itself was disappointing and looks like a motel (see pics of washroom). Even the quality of towels were rough and motel-like. The breakfast in the morning was abysmal (Saugy eggs and cold hard French toast buffet style). Spent almost 1000 dollars for the spa + a one night stay and it felt like I was in a motel.
Don’t be fooled by the nice pictures online on their website. The quality for what you pay is extremely low. There are many other nicer resorts and spas in Ontario that you can choose from that offer far higher quality for a similar price.
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Date of stay: March 2022
Value
Rooms
Service
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Very good points. We wondered the same thoughts. It appears to me that it may be time to replace this long standing resort to a condo of sorts. The problem is that visiting this area one may have real difficulty finding an upscale resort/hotel if you are not interested in a cottage or bnb type stay.
The Briars inside is smoke-free. A section of the lawn outside the dining rooms and Drinkwater's Lounge is available for smoking. And, of course, there is the out-of-doors-and lots of it!
There are more places to choose from in the Jacksons Point area.
PRICE RANGE
C$360 - C$441 (Based on Average Rates for a Standard Room)
ALSO KNOWN AS
the briars hotel jackson`s point, briars jacksons point, briars hotel jacksons point
LOCATION
CanadaOntarioGeorginaJacksons Point
NUMBER OF ROOMS
50
Prices are the average nightly price provided by our partners and may not include all taxes and fees. Taxes and fees that are shown are estimates only. Please see our partners for more details.
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