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Inn At St John
Rating Details »
- Price Range:
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Brewster House Bed & Breakfast
- Category:
- Bed & Breakfast
- Location:
- Freeport, ME
Stay two consecutive nights before December 31 and the second night is 20% off. Mention coupon code YLP20 when booking.
9 reviews for Inn At St John
We love this place! We go to Portland for two primary reasons - to go to Portland Sea Dogs baseball games in the spring/summer, and to the Maine Brewers Festival in the fall. The Inn at St. John is great for going to both, as it's a very quick and easy walk. Even if you want to go and hang out in the Old Port, as we often do, you can still leave your car parked in their lot during your stay, and hop the #1 Metrobus into town. The stop is right across the street from this hotel.
I agree with a previous reviewer about the hall bathrooms, definitely spring for a private in-room bath. It's worth the extra cost. Also, I probably shouldn't reveal this, as it might ruin our future stays there due to the demand...but if you don't like the steep staircases, you can ask for a ground floor room when you make a reservation, and if they have one available, they will give it to you. Also, all of the ground floor rooms have refrigerators in them, while some rooms on the upper floors do not. We like to buy sammiches and beer from Sonny's, which is right on the corner, and we need a place to keep it!
If you are looking for food and don't want to drive or take the bus, there's a Margarita's Mexican restaurant a few blocks away, the Dogfish Cafe on the corner of Congress & St. John Streets, and Pizza Villa on Congress Street, right across from the Inn. Pizza Villa looks kind of like a dive bar from the outside, but once I went in there, I saw that it was not bad at all.
If you are looking for any suggestions as to what to do and see in Portland, the front desk staff at the Inn at St. John will help, they have never steered us wrong! They offer maps, restaurant menus, and other tourist info.
Finally, if you are a computer geek like me, you'll appreciate the free WiFi in all rooms. Even when we've stayed way up on the top floor, I've picked up an almost 100% signal. Don't have a laptop? There's one computer down in the lobby, where you can check your email and stuff, but please don't be a jerk and hang out on Yelp or Facebook or Twitter or such for hours on end!
We will never stay anywhere else in Portland.
Once I got over the rather maddening fact that seemingly every lodging option in Portland is an antediluvian, victorian-style affair, I came to appreciate the Inn at St. John, for its reasonable prices, good (though not great) location, and clean, pleasant presentation. Our room was no-frills but perfectly nice, although having to go down the hall to get to our private bathroom proved to be a minor annoyance (spring for the in-room bathroom, if you don't feel like listening for footsteps outside your door to determine whether you can run down to the bathroom in your underwear). The building itself has its own charm, in a pre-Americans with Disabilities Act kind of way, with steep staircases and a labyrinth of corridors.
All in all, a pleasant, affordable and practical choice for visiting Portland. I recommend.
I found this place from a bed and breakfast website thinking that is a B&B and we will have a great breakfast. I guess it was my fault trusting the B&B website because we ended up with a continental breakfast that was disappointing.
I liked the interior design of the room. It was homey and cozy. Very close to downtown and they provided parking that was great. The receptionist was polite but not too friendly.
They knew ahead of time that we will be three people in the room but no arrangement was made, which was also disappointing.
All together was not too bad for one night.
When we visited Portland, we stayed here and LOVED it! Not only was the room great, but the service was great. We had gone there with http://bedandbreakfast... gift certificates and was told at first that we needed to use them for online booking. We realized our mistake and paid for the room without the GCs. One of the employees (sorry, didn't catch your name!) went completely out of his way to call the company and ask if the Inn at St. John could use the certificates. He eventually got the ok (about a week after our stay!) and refunded our money and honored the gift certificates. You just don't get that kind of service! When we make our way back to Portland, we will definitely be staying here again!
Solid 4 stars! As a nice, dog friendly in, its hard to beat. It has a very old fashioned feel to it - not just from the decor, but the actual architecture. As someone mentions, the staircases are a tad windy! Tough when you are navigating with a dog crate.
Service was great, amazingly someone is available at the desk 24 hours a day (at an Inn? unheard of). Rooms were very well appointed, certainly for the price. Beds were very comfortable, and everything appeared to be nice and clean. The housekeepers were really nice people as well - very into meeting all the dogs.
My only real issue, and its not their fault, is parking. If you arrive too late, you have to park behind the chinese restaurant next door. The area looks (but probably isn't) a bit shady, so I was not happy to park outside of the private lot. No issues though.
This is our favorite place to stay in Portland. Crazy amounts of character, M.C. Escher-esque staircases all over the place, chandeliers in every room etc. It's all the way on the west end of town which I love, as you don't have to worry about missing anything behind you (there's nothing but a Greyhound station) - just head east.
We've shown up early a few times and have had no problem with early check-ins. The one time our room wasn't ready they let us leave our stuff at the front desk while we wandered around the city. They have a variety of room types and sizes - we've stayed in a two double bed room with a private bath and a variety of rooms with the shared bath in the hallway and all were very nice and comfortable.
The staff are super friendly. Last time we were there my husband got into a conversation about baseball with the woman at the front desk while we were checking out. He mentioned that we had planned to go to a Sea Dogs game but never got around to it. She called the park, asked if we could get box seats, and gave us a parking pass to stay in their lot even though we had already checked out.
The rooms are very reasonably priced for what you get. I can't wait to go back.
This was my first experience at a Bed and Breakfast and it was absolutely adorable! This B&B is quaint and cozy and a short walking distance to downtown Portland and the pier.
The beds were comfortable and they offer a complimentary breakfast of simple foods such as bagels, coffee, and orange juice. We had a room with a private bathroom and that was just perfect for two girls.
"If adventures do not befall a young lady in her own village, she must seek them abroad."
I don't think Jane Austen was talking about a Boston to Maine road trip with a car full of NERD candies
Or maybe she was.
Either way, I had never been to Portland before, and relied on the advice of my friends/yelpers to help guide me as to the best places to stay.
As far as I was concerned, I would be walking on the backs of moose across the rugged terrain wielding a shovel and drinking Poland Springs.
The Inn at St.John came recommended to me by my sweet friend. The friend-type who bathes with organic soap in the milk of a new mother cow and kisses babies.
So even though I was warned, I was a bit surprised driving up to see smashed windows on nearby shops, graffiti, broken down gas station, and a man who fell asleep standing up in the middle of the road.
Maybe I got the name wrong?
As we got closer, I realized that this really was a quaint and old-fashioned Victorian B+B. The lobby featured velvet chairs, oriental patterned rugs, a fireplace, grandfather clock, and several of those paintings featuring dignitaries in powdered wigs.
I wish I had brought my EVP device, I bet this place is haunted! Not by anyone scary though..probably just a Louisa May Alcott spector who just bumps into you on the way to the bathroom with her cookie tray. I was surprised they didn't have those paintings with the eyes that follow you (MINUS ONE STAR.)
We had booked the room that day(decent prices) and eagerly bounded up the two flights to our room. I was pleasantly surprised! A hugeee room with a dresser, TV, mini fridge, window seating, radio, king sized bed, and in room bathroom.
First order of business?
Jump on bed.
The room also featured a chandelier and the floral wallpaper when reflected in the mirror looked almost like The Garden State wallpaper when he blends into the scene with his shirt. Really cozy, clean, and bright.
We wasted no time and went back downstairs to talk with the receptionist who was extremely helpful in color coding a tourist map for us of eateries and bars in the area. I usually trust the gays, but he had recommended two restaurants owned by the same person which suspiciously made me feel like they had some arrangement.
Just an FYI, the B+B is a bit outside the downtown so it equates to a ~$10 cab ride or a 1mi walk. You don't need heels anyway since everyone is frumpy :x
He also gave us good advice on taxi cabs in Portland which I will share with you:
-hailing cabs is illegal
-elite cabs is a reliable service : (207) 871-7274
-you can pick a cab up from a cab stand
-its best to call ahead with a time of pick up(ie:"come in 20 minutes") as opposed to an open ended request, as the actual time sensitive requests get priority.
-bars close at 1, but they set their clocks 10 minutes ahead...so call a cab early.
In the morning the hotel includes a complimentary Continental breakfast which included OJ, tea, bagels, english muffins, otis spunkmeir(?!)double chocolate muffins, and other assorted carbs.
Cookies and tea are left out until 11pm
And if you ask nicely, maybe they will tuck you in and read you a bedtime story ;_;
We only stayed one night but recieved excellent customer service. The room was clean and beautiful (Although I am not much for victorian). The place was better than the pictures, the price was unbelievable, and the amenities were above and beyond. We usually stay at the Hilton and I believe this stay was better. Great location. I cannot say one bad thing our stay (okay, so I did not like the color combination of the towels). We did not have a car so i cannot comment on the parking and we stayed on the first floor so I am unfamilier with the stairs. I say- stay the night here.
