wow, surprised by some negative reviews

the avon was great, the staff pleasant and courteous (almost overly so... being addressed as sir for a few weeks grows a little tiresome after you've had a number of conversations with the person addressing you)

the drivers for the shuttle service were helpful and pleasant, and took exceptional care of me; booking taxis when they were unavailable, stowing items for later pickup, etc.

the food in the restaurant was good (except for the sandwiches they make for late-checkins). that is, i enjoyed the food, but there was certainly no iron chef competitor in the ktichen. fairly standard, and done well for what it was. again, the service in both the pub and the restaurant was pleasant and courteous

the room was comfortable and clean-- although i do share the complaint about the heater, it was loud, and difficult to control (but did provide more than simple hot/cold functionality)

The hotel is actually 2 separate buildings. Rooms in one building have exterior entrance doors. We had one of these rooms. Openning the door in December delivers a blast of cold Connecticut air. Rooms were large, had fluffy bed comforters and fluffy mattress covers. The "continental breakfast" is spartan: coffee, tea, hot cocoa, small muffins. Nothing else. No milk, no orange juice, no fruit, etc. Free Wi-Fi worked fine. Also the lobby has 2 nice PC's that were connected to the internet. Guests can select their free newspaper: the local Hartford one, NY Times, Boston Globe, and USA Today.

Despite my mediocre feelings of this place, I'd probably stay there again because it's the best price/quality deal in this expensive area. There's not many hotels. There's a new Marriott Residence Inn, but all the others are private non-chain ones and cost almost $150-200/night. Another review said they never saw a bellman. I never saw a bellman either.

My husband, 16 month old daughter and I checked into the Avon Old Farms Hotel for a 2 night stay last week. It's not really our kind of place, as we prefer large, modern hotels (we had just come from two nights at the Four Seasons New York), but we knew that going in so we felt prepared. Check-in went fine, and we drove to the building where our room was located. The rooms are located in at least two different buildings, some of them with doors to the outside like a motel. There is no bellman to help with your luggage, and no valet.

The room was alright - about what we expected - older, musty smelling, but seemed to be pretty clean and was a decent size. The bathroom was not luxurious by any stretch but was reasonably clean as far as I could tell. For some inexplicable reason, the heater was on "cool" and it was about 50 degrees in the room. The heater is an individual unit near the window that blows air out pretty forcefully. It is very loud and can be set only to hot or cold, not to a specific temperature.

When I booked our stay (2 months in advance), I specifically asked whether they would have a crib available for my daughter and was assured they would. When I called to confirm the reservation several days in advance, I was again assured that they would have a crib. When we got there, there was an old, stained/dirty pack 'n play folded up in the room. No sheet, no blanket, nothing. My husband called the front desk and they said no, they didn't have sheets for the pack 'n play. First off, I had specifically asked for a crib, NOT a pack 'n play. As it turns out, no hotel in the area (at least none that I called) have actual cribs, but it would have been nice to know that beforehand, as my daughter hates sleeping in pack 'n plays. What really bothered me, though, was that they expected my one year old to sleep on a BARE mattress, with not even a sheet! And when asked, they acted as if it was such a bizarre request, that I should want something between my daughter's face and some other baby's drool, spit up and who knows what else. Their best offer was to use a king sized sheet folded up and a bath towel for a blanket. We checked out. And when we returned the key, the front desk clerk informed us that actually, we were wrong, that the pack 'n play IS actually a crib. Huh?

Bottom line, if you don't have a baby, this hotel is OK, but no better than that. If you do have a baby, try the Marriott in Farmington. It's not exactly five star quality, but they upgraded us to a suite, set up the pack n play for us (along with a sheet and blanket!!) and otherwise had excellent and fast service, without the attitude.

I would highly recommend this quaint little place in Avon. The room was very clean and very spacious. In the Inn, there was a workout room as well as a restaurant and pub. I didn't try the food, so can't comment on that. But, the people were very friendly.