A 99-year-old resort near Digby has shut its doors, leaving staff unemployed and guests out of luck.

The Mountain Gap Inn closed its doors and the owners placed the business in bankruptcy on July 25, but some customers said they didn't get the news until they got to the inn's front gate.

Cathy Crosby, of Halifax, said she had a reservation to stay at the Mountain Gap Inn beginning Wednesday.

"Our check-in time was 3 p.m. so we timed our trip so we'd get there just after 3 p.m. We pulled into the driveway and there was a chain across the driveway with a sign that said, 'Closed,'" she said Thursday.

"Totally confused, we didn't know what to do at that point so we turned around and went back to a motel across the road. They had no vacancy."

Crosby said she was lucky to find other accommodation and she worries other people, from further away, won't find it so easy.

"It's not a good thing to happen. And the fact that we weren't notified — and I'm sure there were lots of people that weren't notified — we were out of luck," she said.

Crosby booked her reservation through a Groupon deal on the internet.

A message on the Mountain Gap Inn's answering machine directs creditors to Grant Thornton LLP and guests to other nearby hotels and resorts.

The inn employed between 10 and 20 staff.

Biking rally caught in a lurch

Organizers of the Wharf Rat Rally on the Labour Day weekend had booked 20 rooms at the inn for invited guests and entertainers. Andy Kerr, the rally's spokesperson, said he only found out about the closure by accident.

Andy Kerr, a spokesman for the Wharf Rat Rally, said organizers had booked 20 rooms at the Mountain Gap Inn for invited guests and entertainers. (CBC)

"We're going to all lengths to try and accommodate this. We're talking to the RV suppliers, we're talking to the movie cast trailer people that we can park somewhere and have them conveniently located," he said.

"Right now Yarmouth is looking good but that's really far for us."

Simone Wilson, a resident of Bear River, said she found out about the closure when she tried to book rooms for friends.

"It's unfortunate. It's really an anchor of this area and it's such a beautiful spot and they had cabins and rooms for everybody so it's really a shame that it's closed down," she said.

According the inn's website, the Mountain Gap Inn has been in business since 1915.