Bryn Mawr Mountain Retreat and Conference Center

This past weekend, my colleagues and I facilitated our Annual Leadership Retreat at Bryn Mawr Mountain Retreat and Conference Center. We took 26 students from our institution. We arrived on Friday evening and departed on Sunday afternoon. The location is three hours away from Center City Philadelphia. There’s plenty to review. I’ll talk about the overall facility, meeting areas, food, rooms, activity areas and the staff.
Overall, the facility is nice. There are a large number of windows, which allows for great natural light. The main meeting room, which is known as the Trophy Room, has enough space to comfortably seat around 30 – 40 people, depending on the setup. The meeting area directly outside of the Trophy Room is very open and can seat more than 50 people.
The dining area is very large and open with an extremely high ceiling. The food is not bad. It can certainly be better. I did not starve, so I have nothing to complain about. Before arriving at Bryn Mawr, we had the opportunity to pick the menu for the weekend.
The rooms staff stayed in are certainly outdated and can use a few upgrades. It’s not a five star hotel, so I won’t hold it to extremely high standards. The brown sheets used to cover should probably be replaced now. My sheet looked as if it has been used for many years.
The game lounge has a very nice 50+ inch LCD TV. On Saturday night, we all watched Captain Phillips on the couches, which show signs of wear. The lounge area is a little cold and can definitely use some heat. The paddles for ping pong need to be replaced. In addition, new pool sticks need to be purchased. The only pool stick available was broken.
The gym is extremely cold because it’s not heated. It’s probably fine during summer camp, but in the middle of winter, it’s rough trying to shoot a basketball when your hands are cold and stiff. However, we did have a great time playing dodgeball.
The staff are very friendly. Pilar, Sheema, Josh and the rest of the crew were very helpful and accommodating throughout the weekend. The crew led a great team building activity and answered any questions we had. If a certain area was too cold, they made sure to warm it up for us and even supply extra blankets.
Overall, this facility and it’s staff deserve 3.5 stars. We will return again next year. Hopefully, the game lounge and the rooms will be slightly updated. If so, a 4 – 4.5 star rating is warranted.