The Woodcliff is one of the best venues in Rochester to host a wedding. Fantastic food, a great view, friendly and organized staff and a service level that rivals the best private clubs in Rochester. As a wedding planner, a venue has to be perfect and I feel confident every time I recommend The Woodcliff for a wedding or other type of event that everything will be flawless. One of my favorite places in Rochester and close to everything. The minute you enter the hotel, you can sense that you are somewhere special….

I recently stayed at the Woodcliff Hotel and Spa for a weekend with my Mother. I am not one to publicly write a review on an establishment unless I feel either a) the service was perfection beyond imagination or b) the service was horrible beyond belief or in completely preventable ways. Unfortunately the latter is why we are here. I will say the first red flag should have been that a week before we left we made appointments at the spa for facials and pedicures. We never received a confirmation so a few days prior my Mom called to confirm. They said they could not accommodate us for the services we initially booked and we could either each get a pedicure or one of us could get a facial. Once we arrived, we were greeted by very friendly bellmen and valets as well as a a fine receptionist. However, I quickly noticed that I was in the same age-range of everyone (except for one bellman) who worked at this hotel. But that's fine. Things seemed to be fine until we went down to the spa for our pedicures. The girl came in to get me from the waiting area - did not introduce herself (I know her name was "Meaghann" thanks to her name tag) and told me to sit in the chair where I then proceeded to burn my feet in what can only be described as boiling water. With nothing even close to a sorry she carried on and began my pedicure. My Mom came in and was getting her pedicure done by another girl who was very polite and quite nice. Then out of nowhere Meaghann tapped my leg and said "girlfriend your feet need some love" ... now, I don't really have a reaction to that. I still don't know what to say. It was just plain rude. She rushed through the entire service while doing the bare minimum of everything. Then she put the polish on my toes and all I can say is that clearly colouring between the lines was not her strongpoint in school because that nail polish was all over my cuticles, under my nail, on the side of my toes. Just horrible. So needless to say, that did not impress me. The next day we checked out of the hotel and my Mom said that she was going to pay a portion of the bill in traveler's cheques. Now, as I said earlier a majority of the staff is my age and definitely have not been in this industry very long at all. However, there is no excuse for the argument that then followed. She insisted that they did not take "CHEQUES" and only took credit cards. After we tried to explain to her that a traveler's cheque is basically cash, similar to a money order, she continued to argue and say "well we don't take them". Finally she called accounting but instead of actually asking the question, she said "Hi. We don't take traveler's cheques, right?" ...then there came a very long silence during which her face started to change. Then I hear a slight "Oh" come out of her mouth and I knew she had been told otherwise. Here's the thing - I understand that people mainly use credit cards now and you may have never seen a traveler's cheque before. But rule #1 in your training should have been not to be rude to guests. I will say that this is not completely her fault because whoever trained her did a horrible job. She clearly did not received the information she needed. So all this plus the fact that this hotel really wants to be a five star but they clearly do not have the capital nor the staff to make it come even close, makes for a disappointing stay. I am thankful to all the other staff, who were indeed very nice and pleasant to deal with. But I will never stay there again. There needs to be some serious restructuring going on at this place.

If you’re anything like me, and you’re interested in the Woodcliff for your wedding because of its elegance, then please be warned…When I booked the Woodcliff for my reception I envisioned that it would be classy, elegant, and beautiful. I couldn’t have ended up more disappointed… In the middle of my reception I was HORRIFIED when a group of trashy strangers in jeans entered my ballroom. They somehow made it past the front desk, past my open bar (I’m sure they got a free drink), and past the banquet manager (wherever he was). I as the bride had to PHYSCIALLY remove them from my ballroom, and one of my friends had to go around and close all of the doors to the ballroom. I can’t explain what a mortifying feeling this was. I spent a portion of my wedding night crying in the lobby of the hotel thanks to the complete disregard of the Woodcliff. It breaks my heart to look back and realize that if someone would have closed the doors to the ballroom, or someone on staff would have noticed this obvious group of people that didn’t belong walking through the lobby into my ballroom, that my night could have been as perfect as every brides should be. If it weren’t for my family, friends, and amazing DJS (Showcase Sound) I probably would have just called it a night at that point. Thanks to the efforts of everyone around me except for the Woodcliff I can say that I had a perfect day despite them. I’m also very lucky that I had a family member empty out my cardbox before this all took place because the wedding crashers would have walked right by it to get into my ballroom. It has been 2 weeks and I have not had any attempt at contact from the Woodcliff. No apology, no explanation, no follow up. My dad said it best when he said that if they aren’t trying to get money from you, they don’t care about you. At this point, I expect nothing from the Woodcliff and only want to get my story out there to save any future brides from the humiliation. So, if you’re like me and want to have your wedding at the Woodcliff because you trust them to provide you with a beautiful day and great service then PLEASE, make sure that someone is closing the doors to your ballroom or on the lookout for wedding crashers. Also, be SURE to have someone stay close to your cardbox. If these people were able to make it into my ballroom unnoticed I would hate to think about how easy it would have been for them to get to the cards. I hope that no bride ever has to go through what I went through.

I have been recommending and staying at this hotel for years. The dining room was our family's "go to" for Easter, Mother's Day, Christmas Brunches, and romantic dinners. A place for visiting guests, and family events. A few years ago it changed ownership and chefs. It is NOT the same property! The rooms are small like they have always been but they now feel shabby & dated. Nothing is well cleaned and the bedding is not up to today's hotel standards. The service is rude & not knowledgeable of their jobs. Worst of all for us is the terrible remodeling of the lobby and dining room which used to have the feel of Tuscany. It now is reminiscent of a 1960's "Rat Pack" gambling club. It is terrible! The decorator should be sued. Many locals are very sad over the changes in Woodcliff & Horizons. It was a local place to take friends and family, put up guests & enjoy fine dining. If ownership or management changes we may be back, but until then; never. Sad!

I took my wife to the hotel for her birthday . We stayed the night and then part of the package I bought was a spa treatment . The next morning I had to leave for work and she stayed to be pampered . Unfortunately they didn t properly book her appointment and she had to leave ! They offered another day , we took a refund instead . Id never consider going back . I felt terrible that I left her there and they ruined our plans . Oh and its expensive