Colonels Suites — Hotel in Mount Desert

I found Colonel's on Hotels dot com while booking assorted accommodations for our trip up the Maine coast. It had decent reviews online--decent; not great. So I kind of felt like I was taking a chance when I booked and I didn't have huge expectations.

When we arrived, we had a moment's uncertainty about whether we were in the right place. But the first floor of Colonel's is given over to their bakery and their restaurant, and it is indeed to the bakery that guests must make their way upon arrival. As seems often to be the case at small Maine hotels and cottages, check-in was rather informal. I gave our name to the bakery cashier. She pulled out a piece of scrap paper, found my companion's first name written on it beside the succinct note "#1" and asked us to write down our address and phone number before she retrieved a key for us from behind the register.

We went up the interior stairs to the 2nd floor, where the guest rooms are located. The hotel was rebuilt recently after having suffered a total loss by fire. How the rebuild was accomplished without meeting ADA guidelines is beyond me, so beware if you cannot handle stairs because you would have a problem here. In our case, it was no issue. So up we went to room #1. Based on what I'd seen online, I was expecting a so-so affair with a tiny kitchenette. Not so!

We opened the door onto a long, wide hallway. There was tons of room to put our baggage and take off our shoes. Down the hall to the right was a large, well lit, well ventilated, and attractively appointed bathroom. The hall opened into the living room, where there was a flat panel TV, coffee table, and comfortable pullout sofa bed. To one side was the kitchenette--no stove/oven (microwave, yes). It was contemporary and clean, with a Keurig coffee maker, a big fridge for such a place, and plenty of counter and cupboard space. The bedroom was handsome with good-looking linens/blankets and window dressing and substantial furniture. There was an adequately sized closet and another flat panel TV on the bureau. The king bed was comfortable. Our favorite discovery, though, was the bound journal on the coffee table, where guests had written notes to both the staff, other guests, and even to themselves to be read in future visits. That was really so charming.

We had reserved 2 nights and when we wanted to stay for a third, the staff juggled the schedule a bit so that we wouldn't need to change rooms. This place was one of the best finds of our tip to Maine and surely we'll be back. The bakery, restaurant, and locale merit their own reviews, which will all be positive. One note, though: have yourself a lobster omelette in the restaurant for breakfast. I have to say that that option is probably the best "breakfast included" I've ever had at a small hotel (and there is all the usual fare if somehow you're into Maine but not so...

The good:||the room was spacious and clean.  the sitting area was great.  the kitchenette was useful.  king size bed.||this was a convenient launching pad to hikes at Jordan Pond and the two gardens (highly recommend all).  We also did the Beech Cliffs trail (further west), so it was well positioned for that, too.  Not too much of a drive to Bar Harbor.||||The not-so-great:||we booked thru expedia, no mention of the 20 steps you need to climb with all your luggage to your room.  We had hiked Mt. Katahdin the day before, so those steps were rough.||the "parking" - which is on their website as "we offer parking for one car per suite" - is not actually true - it's street parking, so hit or miss.  We were there at the end of the season while a lot of stuff was closed, so we did not have any trouble, but I did specifically check out the parking before booking and felt mislead by this.||the breakfast that wasn't.  If you google this place you will see it comes up as a "bed and breakfast", and one of their website pages says it is a B&B.  there is a $15 fee per night per person when booking through expedia, which I stupidly assumed was for breakfast.  Not only is there no breakfast, there is nowhere to get breakfast, and no info in the room about what you might like to do regarding this.  If it had just been made clear beforehand, we could have brought breakfast.  For some reason, the bakery over which this is located doesn't open until 11 am, so that's not the answer either.  Also, what was the $15 per additional person per night charge for??||hardly any restaurants are open here at the end of September, so you need to drive elsewhere for some variety.  We were able to walk to the Nor'Easter on the night it was open, but there was a pretty decent wait because not much else was open.||||Also, if you like to chat up the front desk, this place is not for you. We never spoke to a person. We got a text telling us the code to our room, which we were asked to acknowledge - it took us hours of trying to confirm in the park, as cell reception is terrible. At some point a receipt appeared under our door. We never spoke to anyone. That worked out fine, but that may not be your style.||||As you can see by the overall 4 star rating, the nice nature of the room and the comfy bed more than offset the...

We booked and paid for 4 nights with Vacasa. Got the entry code to the room. When we arrived around dinner time, there was no one available to tell us how to get into the building. The bakery clerk finally brought the restaurant manager. She instructed us that there was no parking on the street overnight and we had to park behind businesses about 75 yards down the road. When we left in the AM we found several cars parked overnight I stayed here 8 years ago, and access to the rooms all on 2nd floor was behind a locked outside door. That is no longer the case. The public has access to the floor the rooms are on, concerning me on safety. Opening the public access door there was an immediate musty odor. The main hallway was very stained and could not place the odor I was smelling. I'm assuming it was garbage from the open hallway alleyway windows. There was a countertop ice maker near the washer/dryer, which was not working and looked dirty. Entering the room the odors continued. The bed was rock hard and the comforter felt and smelled dirty. The microwave for the 'kitchen' was on a shelf in the bedroom. We found in the AM that the coffee pot was not working. There were coffee pods and some creamer/sugar but no cups. There were no tissues in the room. Although not advertised, we would have hoped for some basic toiletries like soap, shampoo and conditioner. None were found. We made a decision, after only a largely a few sleepless hours, to pack up and leave at 3:30 AM. I knew is was unlikely we would be able to recoup any of our $1200. We interchanged with Vacasa customer service, who documented all of our concerns. By the time we were out the door at 5:30am , Vacasa indicated they would check how leaving/cancelling the remainder of our stay would potentially be handled monetarily. Only after me calling Vacasa 2 days later, they indicated there would be no reimbursement because we didn't give them the opportunity to rectify the problems. There was no rectifying what we encountered. The unsafe, unclean and very below expectations of my experience versus 8 years ago, was well worth walking away from $1200. This hotel has gone very downhill. Something has obviously happened over the 5/5 reviews from a year ago, as things have...