Inn at St John — Hotel in Portland

The outside was a tad bit bit dingier than the website photo and the immediate area surrounding was solidly sketchy--couple of vacant storefronts, dusty construction, homeless folks milling around.

I had booked through a travel agent (my cousin Julia) who apparently booked it through Expedia. I had told her we wanted b&b style. We checked in with Terry. He gave us a helpful overview & a map--fantastic! Then he dropped the bomb: Our room did not have a bathroom attached! He tried to sell it as a "European style." Sir, I've been to Europe plenty. Yes, I'm aware they do that sometimes. But I had never booked anything like that! But you know what? OK! I want to think of myself as a flexible, open-minded person, so let's check it out before we do anything else. We go up. The room, 9A, is totally OK: small, old, adequate, passably clean, has a mini fridge, closet, table and chairs. The Queen size bed wasn't very good (firm, bouncy), but fine. The bathroom for 9A, however, is all the way down a hall, tucked around a corner, squeezed under a stairway, and it was tiny! There was no room to leave even half of my makeup/our toiletries on the sink.

Honestly, the thought of needing to pee in the middle of the night and having to walk down that spooky, absolutely haunted hallway was more excitement than I needed but I was like, "Terrifying but I can deal." My husband was more like, "Abso-freaking-lutely not." He has 10 vacation days a year and I dragged him to a hotel with no attached bath for 20% of the precious days.

We go down to the desk. I also text my travel agent cousin who gets on the line with Expedia. She felt awful about it. She re-reviewed booking docs and she confirmed there was NOTHING about the unique bathroom situation. She said she felt Expedia duped her (and us!) and felt a refund for Saturday and upgrade at the same price for Sunday would be appropriate. They hit us with the "Can only cancel the day before." HOW WOULD I KNOW UNTIL I GOT THERE IF THEY DIDN'T TELL ME?!

I first ask Terry if we have another available room with a bathroom. They were fully booked up until the next night. I tell him I'm not sure what we are ultimately going to do but we needed to get some food and think about it as we just drove three hours from Bar Harbor. I don't think anyone would knowingly book this room with no attached bathroom when there are so many other options for the same money that far in advance (Booked in early Aug). It was Sat Nov 5, 2022, 70 degrees, so the entire beautiful City of Portland was packed. We talked it over and were just so disappointed we decided to go ahead and book a room at the Regency ($494 Saturday, $266 Sunday)--A gorgeous room with a much better bed and American style bathroom! We told the Regency desk ladies our story and they were horrified. Anyway, we go back to the Inn, pack up our stuff, and I stop by the desk to tell them we're out. I told Terry we wanted a refund because of the surprise bathroom situation. He told me, "YOU booked that bathroom option--it was obviously labeled as such!" He said there was nothing he could (would) do. This was after I explained the whole travel agent situation (I didn't look at or book anything), and that I WOULD NEVER pick that as an option, not even to save money, under no circumstances, ever, and neither would my travel agent cousin. He re-emphasized that I had booked this room myself and was adequately warned. I maintained I was absolutely NOT informed. His insistence that they disclosed the bathroom situation at the booking was very off-putting. I said, "you know what, it's just a simple misunderstanding, and I would be OK with paying for Saturday, but I want a refund for Sunday, 'cuz we ain't staing here!" That's how much we were unhappy. I am frugal but enjoying our stay was worth more." He said OK. 7:26 PM Mon 7/11, he has not approved my...

We stayed here 4 days in November. The hotel felt very warm and welcoming. The staff, at least most of them were all very chatty when you struck up a conversation. There was someone at the desk at all hours.

In the breakfast area they kept cookies and apple cider supplied all day. Breakfast was mostly just muffins, cereal, bagels, and granola, they did have yogurt and hard boiled eggs but that was it.

We stayed in room 105. The bedroom portion was on the small side but was very cozy and had everything you needed. The bathroom was really large, but felt empty. The bathroom also had padded walls for some reason. Insolation maybe? The only real downside for the room was its one window was occupied by a window unit. At 6"1' I had to stand on my tip toes to even barely see outside. The room had a mini fridge that had a door for the fridge and a separate door for the freezer and kept ice frozen without issue. There was not a closet, the only place you could hang anything was in the bathroom.

Location is pretty reasonable. It's in the northern corner of west end. Parkside is only a short walk up congress, and downtown is about a 20/30 min walk. When left our car at the hotel and just walked everywhere.

The biggest downside. Parking absolutely sucks. In our 4 days we could not find a spot in their ridiculously small parking lot a single time. They have some spaces reserved in the parking lot at the shopping center down the street. However, we were warned to not park in those spots before checking in by the front desk as the lot owner would have us towed before we could get back with the parking placard. We wound up just parking on the street, and moving the car regularly if we were there during the times where Portland does not provide free parking (street parking is free 6p-9a Mon-Sat and all day Sunday).

A quick note on my pictures. We forgot to take the pictures when we first got to the room. So we tossed things back together, it was much neater when we arrived.

TL;DR. Room was nice, peopler were nice, location was nice, cookies were nice and parking absolutely sucked. All and all I would stay here again if I found myself in Portland...

I specifically saut out a hotel room with a spa bath. Which was advertised but not pictured. Sorry, but parking was a nightmare. Their lot is so small and crowded I am blessed to have not dinged anyone trying to leave. The hotel itself is quaint and clean for the most part. My room was squished amongst 3 or 4 doors in a semi edged circle type wing. The room was maintained, comfortable, and equipped with simple amenities. I was made aware that the doors to the building will be locked by 11pm so I'd have to ring a bell if I stayed out later, which made me reevaluate my plans for the evening. I'm not one to typical like drawing attention to my whereabouts. The window curtains kept being blown apart enough for the patrons outside across the street to be aware of anyone in this particular room so I used some sort luggage stand to hold them shut while still being able to provide my room with enough ample heat. And then the whole reason for my stay at this specific hotel, the bathroom. Clean, yes-ish.. The tub was dirty or stained kinda which made me feel inclined to wash it down prior to using it. It was nothing to race about. Barely enough room for a large single person, thankfully I'm smaller in stature. But definitely not enough room for anyone else. And there were 4 basic jets I could rotate in any direction I wished within reason. The sink, was not properly cleaned, with some hair and toothpaste left behind but I provided myself with the service. But, in comparison to what I make do with at home, the bathroom was indeed a step up and comfortable to use. I did hear various conversations being had outside my room someplace, well past 11pm. Not sure their direction. No dvd/blue ray or smart capable tv, so slightly disappointed I had to settle for watching what was running for basic cable. I had brought DVDs to enjoy and Netflix or Redbox rental wasn't an option to choose from. Otherwise, all was well and enjoyed and left probably in better shape then how I had left it except for an unmade bed and small pile of dirty towels. I may consider another visit in the...