I was heading to Maine for a wedding over Columbus Day weekend. Most of the local chain motels in the area were running $120 a night. By chance, I happened to find The Elms online and I couldn't have been happier! Being a solo traveler, the Cub Cave was perfect for me! A single room with a single bed, at the best price I found. If I recall correctly, it was $79/night for the weeknight and $109 for the weekend. When I got up to my 3rd floor room, I found it to be small, but more than comfortable/adequate for one person. There was a surprising amount of room to move around. The bed looks very small, but I slept like a ROCK that first night - I didn't stir for eight straight hours! The bathroom is right around the corner, with two showers and two sinks, efficient if you're traveling with a spouse. Yes, there's a mill across the street, but there's no bad odor coming from it and there was no noise that kept me up at night. Breakfast was held at 7:30-8:30 during the week and 8:30-9:30 during the weekend, which was perfect timing for me. I had a bowl of fresh fruit both days, homemade blueberry cake the first morning and quiche with apple, cheddar cheese, and maple glaze. The next morning I had another fruit bowl and a belgian waffle with strawberries and powdered sugar. Matt, the innkeeper, was very friendly and accommodating, and like someone mentioned before, isn't invasive if you're looking for privacy. If you do seek him out for assistance or conversation, he is warm and inviting. I am eager to bring my husband and father-in-law back to visit, I know they would love it! It was close to everywhere I wanted to be in the Portland area and I was much happier here than in a motel/hotel!

My husband and I are not typical bed and breakfast people, but we really enjoyed our stay at The Elms. We especially appreciated the history of the house, which is quite spacious. If you do a little research in advance, you'll appreciate your stay even more. Everyone at The Elm was extremely friendly--both the innkeeper and the guests. The food (breakfast) was amazing--Belgian waffles with fresh fruit and quiche. As far as the accomodations go, our room was nice--lots of interesting visual details, but not quite as bright as I would have liked. We stayed in the Bear Den, which has 5 windows--it let in tons of light during the day but once the sun began to set, the room was on the darker side--the lamps in the room didn't do much. The bathrooms were clean and adequate--never had to wait to use the toilet or the shower. My only criticism is that the door to the bathroom stall on the second floor doesn't stay closed all the time. But you can always use another bathroom on another floor. Overall, we would certainly recommend The Elms, especially if you like meeting new people and don't like the impersonal nature of most hotels. Also, this B&B is conveniently located just minutes from downtown Portland, but Westbrook is a cute little town, worth walking around--its got some nice boutiques and some great restaurants as well!

I stayed at the hotel with my teenage daughter en route to summer camp. It is a graceful old building with lovely views of lawn and the river on one side but ugly views of the large old paper-mill on the other. The rooms were clean and charming and the breakfast was good, delicious home made breakfast quiche. We stayed on the top floor, so three floors walking up and two (or maybe three?) bedrooms share a bathroom. The hosts are friendly without being intrusive, I would certainly recommend it.

We had a very nice stay at the Elm's when travelling recently around New England with our 3 young children. The house is big and full of charm and character. Matt, the innkeeper very kindly offered us 2 rooms (for the price of 1) so that we could spread out a little more. That made all the difference to a good night's sleep. The rooms were very spacious, clean and comfortable. The house is situated in such a way that it has a lake and quiet surroundings on one side and an ugly paper factory on the other side. Our rooms faced the factory and I feared that we might be disturbed by noise. Luckily this was not the case, it didn't bother us at all. We would have preferred a little more choice of savoury items at breakfast and would have been willing to pay a little more to get for example a hot meal. Nevertheless, we would not hesitate to recommend The Elms to others visiting Portland by car - the B&B is situated a 10-15 min. drive outside the town.