Stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn for a long weekend with husband just for a getaway, shopping, eating and checking out the Portland pubs. Location of the hotel was excellent, we didn't use our car all weekend. We only paid about $140 per night so I thought that was very reasonable for the location. I'm not a member of Hilton honors but we still got a corner/waterview room. The hotel was pretty, room was very comfortable and pleasant. Contrary to another review, I found the hotel staff very knowledgeable and helpful about the area. As a matter of fact, one evening the bartender produced a huge binder of the all the restaurants in the area with menus. And the bartender gave us his personal reviews of many of the bars and restaurants as well. Overall, I found the staff more than accommodating. The hotel was very easy to find, not far off 95 at all. Another review did mention the valet service was good when they can find your keys. We also had an experience like that, but they were found fairly quickly and in all fairness to the staff, my husband did lose our ticket! So all in all, I would say this hotel was excellent given the price, location and amenities.

I've stayed at this hotel many times for business over the past year or so and recently spent a long weekend there with my husband. I've been very satisfied with the hotel for business travel, but my stay at the hotel as a tourist was a different experience, which prompted me to write this review.

The positives:

Location cannot be beat- right in downtown and walking distance to all the restaurants and shopping downtown has to offer.

Rooms are new and well appointed (especially if you are Hilton Honors and can get a corner room or a harbor view). We did not hav any maintenance issues with our room, per some of the other reviews.

Breakfast is great and much better than your standard buffet and features local ingredients (again especially if you're Hilton Honors and it's free; not sure if I'd pay the $12 given the other options in the city)

In general, staff is pleasant, though not particularly helpful (see negatives). We didn't have any issues with housekeeping per some of the other reviews.

Negatives

The hotel is quite pricey for a Hilton Garden Inn. I've been able to get a reduced rate from my local client and we used points for the weekend, but rates can be upwards of $200+ and I don't know it's worth that price

While pleasant, the hotel staff was not able to answer basic questions about the Portland area - and these were basic questions that you might expect a tourist to ask (e.g., how do you get to the Kittery outlets, can you recommend a nice scenic drive, how do you get to I-95, can you recommend a restaurant for lunch). I understand that it's a Hilton Garden Inn, not a full-service hotel, but if Hilton wants to charge those prices, they should rethink the level of service they provide their guests.

The valet is prompt - when they don't lose your car keys! At one point during the weekend, the valet lost our keys and it took them a good half hour to find them. Good thing we didn't have anywhere pressing to be. It would have been a nice gesture for the hotel to have comped our parking for that day, but this didn't happen.

Overall, I'd recommend the hotel to redeem Honors points and for business travel, but if you're on your own dime, there's probably a better value out there.

I would stay at this hotel again, although I would also consider others. There was nothing that was outstanding when compared to the cost that made me jump up and down and get excited! The hotel was clean and comfortable, but they do have VERY NOISY air conditioners! I asked for a maintenance guy to come up and have a look and see if he could fix it, but he said the noise was typical for these models and there was nothing that could be done. I had to sleep at night with the AC off which in August made the room extremely warm and stuffy. I saw in other reviews of many complaints of the management, I thought they were very nice and courteous; possibly they got a new management team. I flew a read eye into Boston and got to the hotel and asked for an early checkin at 8AM in the morning. The hotel was booked the night before so they had no rooms ready, but they got maid service up to a room which someone had checked out of just minutes before and got it clean and ready for me within the hour. They were very accommodating.
The negatives I had was primarily the cost! First, the room was over $230 a night and I thought that was high for the hotel. It's not like it was the Carlton Ritz or something! The other services in the hotel were pricey also. The breakfast I thought was free and walked away without paying two mornings in a row before I noticed on the third day people getting guest checks on their tables! Found out the breakfast buffet cost $10! Opps! I went and paid up for my previous days and apologized for my misunderstanding; but for $10 it wasn't much better than free breakfasts that you find in many hotels. The bar was also pretty pricey for drinks. It was $9 for a drink of house whiskey and diet coke.
Other than price this hotel was decent with a great location for Downtown Portsmouth.

This hotel is in the perfect location. You can walk all over town from here. Everything is at your doorstep. The hotel has valet parking, which is the way to go. It is only 11 dollars a day, and they are SUPER FAST! We used this hotel as a jump pad to see the Maine coast, Freeport, York, and the outlets in Kittery. I couldn't have asked for a nicer location. (We used HHonors Points to stay here.)

The staff are very pleasant, and breakfast is made to order...like all other Hilton Garden Inns. The hotel just had their carpets cleaned...so the carpet cleaner smell bothered us a bit. The beds were comfortable, but not as comfortable as those at the Hilton, Hampton Inn, or Doubletree. The in room fridge and micro are always a bonus.

I would definantly stay here again.