Hallowell Rooming House — Hotel in Hallowell

The listings for this place are confusing and misleading, as a result we were very disappointed.

To start with, it's not a rooming house per se. It's more like a residential building divided into 2 or maybe 3 apartments - one on each floor. We were given one bedroom inside of a 2-bedroom apartment. We had no idea if someone else was staying in the other bedroom, so that was very uncomfortable. When one thinks of a rooming house, they imagine a place where all of the bedrooms open onto common hallways, and typically there is an owner or caretaker living on site. That was not the case here. In this place you are locked inside of a private apartment with a random stranger and expected to share a very small bathroom with them.

And we had no key for our bedroom, you could only lock it from the inside. So if you leave the bedroom - say to take a shower - you have to leave your belongings unsecured. We found this arrangement to be very unsafe for both ourselves and our belongings. If you're alone do you have to take your wallet and laptop into the shower with you? Although in the end there didn't seem to be anyone else staying there with us, we never knew that for sure and the many, many signs everywhere made it clear that the two bedrooms were set up to be rented out to separate guests.

The apartment itself is in an old house, which is to be expected in Hallowell, but the subsidence was so bad there were places where the floor bowed 6 or more inches. It was actually quite shocking. It was furnished with a lot of old, shabby second-hand stuff. We love thrift shopping, but this stuff was shabby without the chic.

But our biggest problem with the furnishings was the clutter. It bordered on a hoarding situation. There was virtually no place to set down any of our things so we had to leave our bags on the floor. We didn't dare unpack or use the closet as it didn't inspire a lot of confidence. The whole place reminded of us our off-campus student housing days - but not in a good way.

We were glad that this was only a short stay. (And we're also glad that we only brought our small car with us. As others have noted, the parking is very tight and if we'd brought our big van our our trailer we never would have fit in the assigned space. Just another example of how the advertising for this place didn't prepare us for what we...

I have never stayed in a place with more asinine rules. For starters, shoes off at the front door, 3 stories below my room and had to be left there. Because of particulates? Lol arrived into our room with a host of other rules. Rules that were written in a scolding way. If we used AC we'd be charged extra. There was a timer on the shower! 15 min and the water would shut off! It's took 5 min for the water to get warm. I wake up early before my family. At 5am every minute that I was in the shower it would announce a shrill beep letting the room know that I had one minute less. Then on the last minute it would beep every ten seconds then the last ten seconds it peeled every second. How obnoxious. Then, while showering the light in the bathroom would stay on for one minute at a time. I had to continually open the shower door to reach across the room to turn it back on. Honestly, don't stay here. It's not pleasant in any way. And it's announced in placards all throughout the building that cameras are watching. As I put my shoes on this morning at the bottom of the stairs a camera kept snapping videos of me. I know it was because the light would come on and light me up. Do not stay here. I repeat, don't do it.

PS. I do not know the owner and have zero retaliation for anything. Lol. The room was certainly affordable. I have nothing but honest reviews online. Suggesting that because someone loathed their experience at your establishment because they hate the earth is hilarious. Typical response from the global...

We tried to park our rental truck in the appropriate spot from our confirmation email. However it was so tight we felt our rental would be damaged if 3 more vehicles parked back there, as one already was parked. We called the owner and her phone went straight to voice-mail. we decided to leave town and cancel the booking. She then only called back after the booking qas cancelled and told me I would not get my money back because she's a "small business owner." She proceeded to say I was in room B and could have parked in the front of the building where there was more room. she said "I'll even check the email while you are on the phone with me. Yup I had you in room B. I have someone else calling." she then hung up on me. I checked my email right away and confirmed that my confirmation email stated I was in F and not to park else where because it causes issues for other guests. I tried calling back multiple times and did not hear back. once home from vacation I called 2 more times and have emailed her without any response back. She was not professional in any aspect and I do not understand how someone can run a business when their phone always goes to voice-mail and they only return calls to tell someone they won't get their money back due to being a small business. It was pathetic and I hope this saves someone from the same issue. We stayed here due to good reviews, however all of the reviews about the terrible parking situation were dead last.... ironic....