Black Bear Inn, Ascend Hotel Collection — Hotel in Orono

This is a budget hotel but not at a budget price. The hotel is cool not recently renovated. In fact, it seems like repairs and updates are not being made at all. The plumbing and fixtures need some work. When we checked in, there was only one person working at the desk and we had to wait while she finished a phone call and she seemed overwhelmed. She did not advise us on any amenities of the hotel whatsoever such as breakfast, facilities, etc. On the positive side, our room was very clean. It had a table and chairs, but not comfortable chairs. The toilet was clogged and someone had to come and plunge it, and it did not work very well. The control for the shower required a great deal of finesse to operate so that the shower would run without water pouring out of the tub faucet. The shower curtain did not stay in place well. The rest of the hotel smelled fine, but our room definitely had a weird fragrance to it. It had the kind of smell like it had been previously smoked in, but retained that old stale smell. Our room was on the first floor, and you could hear people walking above which sounded like stomping. The wall made a weird popping sound from the people next-door leaning on it or the beds moving. The fan in the bathroom was very loud and didn't sound quite right. On the plus side, my towel was very thick and soft and felt like it might be fairly new. There were lots of pillows, the bed was very soft and comfortable and had plenty of bedding, and the air conditioning worked very well and kept the room very cold which we enjoyed. At one point our room card did not work, and the front desk basically just told us to try harder. That also took a bit of finesse to operate to get the door open. The continental breakfast was disappointing in comparison to other hotels I have stayed at. Everything was prepackaged for the most part, except the waffles. At other hotels there has been a continental buffet with actual cooked food not food that had to be heated or cooked ourselves. The juices were extremely watered down. I have stayed at this hotel before and I remember it being much better many years ago than it is now, and I was...

Disabled? Traveling with a Service Dog? Don’t Stay at the Black Bear Inn!

We just checked in. I am disabled and have a service dog. We informed the woman at the front desk that we have my service dog with us for this over-night stay.

When she assigned us a room on the 2nd floor, I asked for a 1st floor room because of my mobility challenges. She said that she could not move us, as this is the room assigned for travelers “with pets.” I informed her that service animals are not “pets” under the law.

She said that she is instructed to put all dogs (even service dogs) in this particular room for dogs/pets. Therefore, she could not move us.

A clear violation of the ADA service dog accommodation.

Then I asked how far from the elevator room 208 was because I couldn’t walk far. (The room assigned to us.) she checked and said “not far.”

In fact, it was the fourth furthest room from the elevator! It couldn’t be much further! Because I believed her when she said it wasn’t far from the elevator, I didn’t go back to the car for my cane. I would have taken it if she had been honest. (I use a cane for longer walks in addition to my mobility service dog. He was still in the car while we were addressing the room situation.)

She was anxious to leave. Anxious to shut down my concerns. She had left by the time my husband got downstairs to find her. He explained why the lie about the room proximity was a problem for a mobility disabled person. She shrugged and walked away.

I’ll address the ADA violation service animal and accommodation legal issues with the authorities. I will also address this with the Choice chain.

If you are disabled or if you have a service animal, stay somewhere else. It’s a shame that a hotel we used to love mistreats its...

The first time I've ever seen a bed bug or been bitten by one was at this hotel. When the bed bug was found I called the front desk crying and was able to move to a different room. Unfortunately the night staff did not have access to the dryer or management so I had to go to Walmart and spend $140 on new clothing as mine was in the room I evacuated and I had a training I had to attend. Work won't refund me as it's the hotel's fault and the hotel won't refund me as they found no evidence of an infestation.

When I returned the manager kept repeating "where you find one bed bug you find more" like a mantra, had a report from an outside company stating there was no bed bug infestation and no status on where that living bed bug went. They tried to blame me for dragging the bed bug in but everyone I was around that day I traveled to the hotel was bed bug free, as is my home and office I work at. It's more likely for bed bugs to spread in densely populated areas, like the area we were visiting.

If they had better policies in place my clothing could've been dried and returned to me quickly without forcing me to buy new clothing with a sorry we cannot dry clean your non-dryable clothing but it is suggested to freeze it for X amount of days to kill bed bugs. It was poor management of the incident. I'll drive from Bangor where they have hotels with dryers accessible to customers from now on and management that doesn't blame you. Even if it adds 15 minutes to my trips.

They tried to pin the bed bugs coming from my parents because they had them historically and I brought up I was talking to my mom for advice through this whole thing. They've been bed bug free for a long time now, I'm...