Hotel Thaxter — Hotel in Portsmouth

Hotel Thaxter is a well designed hotel in an excellent location, walkable to much of what Portsmouth has to offer. The design, decor, and overall ambiance are upscale and thoughtfully done. The staff we interacted with were polite and helpful within the constraints of hotel policy.

Unfortunately, our experience was soured by a major issue with noise. Despite booking one of the hotel’s upgraded rooms, we were placed in a room where the kitchen’s industrial extraction fans were located directly outside the window. These fans run all night (they can’t be turned off due to fire regulations), and the noise level was astonishing, it genuinely sounded like a jet engine was roaring outside our room at 3am. Nowhere in the booking process was this mentioned as a possible disturbance. It’s hard to understand why a hotel would designate a room with such a significant flaw as an upgrade.

When we raised our concerns, it became clear that because we had booked through a third-party site, the hotel was not interested in helping in any meaningful way. We were not offered a refund so we could move to another hotel. Instead, we were offered a downgraded room for the same price we had paid for the upgrade.

To make matters worse, my wife suffers from a hearing condition that makes loud or persistent noise extremely painful. The staff’s response to this was disappointing, they offered earplugs, which we already know are ineffective for her. If they worked, we would carry them ourselves. There was no real understanding or accommodation for her disability from either staff or management.

In short: while Hotel Thaxter has many positives in terms of design and location, travelers with noise sensitivity, or those booking through third-party sites, should be cautious. We had hoped for a relaxing stay but left feeling let down by both the room experience and the hotel’s rigid,...

On a whim stayed at the Thaxter for an overnight stay in Portsmouth before flying out of Boston in the morning. Visited with my mother. We booked direct over the website very smoothly and received our entry codes as we would be arriving after front desk was closed. The beds and pillows were so soft, everything was clean and updated, and the bathroom floor was heated. The rooms are a little small if you are expecting a regular hotel stay, but if you are accustomed to boutiques the room size was just right for 1 -2 people (standard Queen, single bed). They have free snacks, local tea, and a Nespresso machine in the lobby 24/7 which was great for us because we had to leave very early in the morning. They also have free stashes of most any products you may have left at home - if you love the products in the room there's even an option to purchase those (I know that trend is becoming more popular but it's nice to see!) Didn't eat at the in-house restaurant but it smelled absolutely delicious, especially if you enjoy Japanese food. There's an elevator you can use to get to your room, although on the second floor there is a step-up to get to some of the rooms if you are travelling with someone with mobility challenges. Michaela (manager and actively onsite!) worked with us to ensure we had an easy transition to our check-in and check-out. The only heads-up I would give visitors is that this is a boutique hotel in Portsmouth - parking is going to be a challenge during peak. We were able to park in a lot relatively nearby and pay only $1 plus change for our entire stay, but that's only because it was midweek and we parked within 40 minutes of the metered parking ending for the night and left before it began the next day. Staff will definitely help you find parking though - we just are locals so we had ideas of where to go...

My (now) wife and I celebrated our wedding on NYE (12/31/23) in Portsmouth, and we decided to spend a night in town a few days prior. We chose Hotel Thaxter as it's one of the sister properties of The Sailmaker's House (which we bought-out for our wedding party and family for the night of our wedding and the night prior). We have nothing but wonderful things to say about Hotel Thaxter… The hotel itself is beautiful, and each room comes with its own charm and character. Our room was on the first floor and had tall ceilings/windows, an incredible bed and wonderful shower. Our friends were up on the second floor. Their room was equally as lovely. We secured our room via our point of contact for The Sailmaker's House buyout, Michaela, and she was just as helpful and attentive in securing us a room at HT as she was throughout our workings together over at TSH. *see my review of TSH for more on that experience. We interacted with 2 different front desk individuals and they were both attentive, kind and welcoming. We didn't dine at the restaurant, but it looked quite good! Not sure how parking works at HT, but we parked just a couple of blocks down the road, on the street, for no charge. Hotel Thaxter is walking distance to anything that you'd want to do in downtown Portsmouth. The hotel and rooms are very, very nice, but it's the service and hospitality that the J Group Team provides that will keep us coming back.

Thanks for everything that you all did for us to make our wedding weekend so perfect!

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