My husband and I and two of our friends stayed at the West End Inn for NYE. The location is great - it's in a beautiful, quiet neighborhood but still within walking distance of downtown. Overall the Inn was very peaceful; however, we were on the second floor and could hear the people in the room above us from time to time (Despite this I was able to take an afternoon nap, which I never do!). This I can honestly say was my only complaint. Otherwise, the owners were very welcoming and beyond accomodating. I never would have known that they had only owned the inn for 6 weeks if they hadn't told us. The breakfasts were excellent! I unfortunately had a terrible cold over the hoildays and they brewed me a pot of ginger tea on our last morning there. Very thoughtful! I would highly recommend this inn!

The B&B with the reputation for being the best in town was only available Friday, so I asked those owners where they'd recommend for Saturday, and they mentioned that West End Inn just got new owners a month ago who seemed really nice.

I thought we were settling for second best for our second night, especially because the rate was so much lower, but I had a better experience the second night than I did the first night in the other B&B, and probably better than any contender north of the Mason-Dixon line. The location was closer to downtown, a comfortable walk, the common areas were cozy and elegant, the bed was awesome, and most importantly, the breakfast was stellar, and I'm a breakfast snob. To start: fresh fruit salad in full crystal dishes, peach juice, homemade muffins (lemon cranberry, yum!), and yogurt with fixins. Then we had the option of apple waffles or garden omlettes. I picked the omlette and it was super tasty and full of veggies and had savory herbs and soft cheese folded in. Add hearty multigrain toast with jam and two strips of bacon and I was set until dinner.

The owners, Deb and Scott, were simply the best, they treated us like were were friends they had over. They popped homemade chocolate chip cookies in the oven for us when we came home after a long day downtown; Deb printed out coupons to the museum that she'd helpfully researched for us to save us some cash. They hung out a little to help us make dinner reservations, but they mostly let us unwind in the parlor in the quiet of a beautiful historic house.

Portland is a great town for a fun weekend of bar-hopping and shopping, and I'll definitely be staying here again next time I'm in Maine!

We were here for a few days and found everything as it should be. Our room was comfortable, the breakfasts were good, the weather stayed perfect. We will return.

My husband, 16 month old daughter and I made a reservation 3 weeks prior to our trip and upon arrival we were told we could not stay at the inn because we had a toddler. When I called to inquire about a reservation I told the person on the phone we had a toddler and when I called back a second time to formally make the reservation, I mentioned AGAIN that we had a child. The reservation was made without a problem. Upon arriving to the inn, the inn keeper (over the phone - she was not on site) apologize for the oversight on her employee's part but told us we could not stay there. The girl at the desk tried to find us other accommodations but she simply got int he internet looking up random hotels in the area (which we could do ourselves).

While I completely understand that an inn might have a policy about children, I have a huge problem with the customer service aspect of this incident. If the inn made an error, they should make sure going forward it doesn't happen again but should NOT turn guests with a reservation at the door on a busy weekend. I even walked across the street to the Pomegranate Inn to see if they had any vacancies and they were taken back by the West End Inn's handling of the situation and told us that we could stay there if they had a room vacancy even though they normally have a policy of no children as well.

Ofcourse, this is likely an isolated incident but when you stay at a bed and breakfast you expect to feel like you are staying with an old friend and you usually choose the place because the hospitality is more personal than that of a chain hotel. I believe this incident gives you a good glimpse of the type of service, hospitality and friendliness you can expect to find at the West End Inn.