Howard Johnson Plaza – Portland

What a great place to stay for not much money. It has two restaurants, a bar, an indoor pool, gym and is extremely clean and updated. I’ve been staying there for 15 years and have never had one issue. I am very picky, too.

It has a bed, it costs around$ 110 a night, it has coffee in the room, free parking, close to main road that can take you around Maine. The shower has decent power and has an adjustable shower head, free soap, shampoo, mouthwash, and lotion. We even had a power outage because of some horrible storms and it still wasn’t too bad. They don’t have a free breakfast but they give coupons to the The Egg and I and Seasons Grill. I would plan on having a car if you stay here. The bus stop is close but you would have to cross a busy street. It was clean as well. It just isn’t plush and luxurious. I would stay here again for the price in this area in August but I thought in General for $ 110 in another city. I would have gotten a better hotel. Portland is expensive for hotels in the summer. We looked at inns, hotels, and airbnb and this was about the best we could do.

I booked my stay through Expedia-​one of those unpublished secret hotel rates that tell you the hotel after booking. Most 3 star hotels in this area were $ 210+ for these dates, while this rate was $ 173+taxes (saving me about $ 40). The location was good; it put me about 10 minutes away from my friends place and the local mall and easy to find, it was right off the turnpike!
After a long night of driving from pa, Meghan at the front desk was able to snag me a room for early check in. She also gave me coupons to use at the hotels two food options (10% off the egg and I and 15% off seasons). The Egg and I coupon can only be used Monday through Friday though, so I’m not sure why they gave me one since I was staying on a Saturday!
The room was pretty nice; third floor toward the back so not a lot of noise/​foot traffic. There were tons of fresh towels and the shower had great water pressure and got hot fast! There is also complimentary WiFi (ask for your code at check in!).

Clean and convenient to airport. Shuttle service to airport and you can leave your car safely at the hotel and avoid parking costs at the airport while traveling. Microwave and fridge, wi fi in room. For convenience to catch an early or late flight, this place is great.

I really enjoyed staying at this Howard Johnson’s. It was about $ 111 a night. They have a really nice sized swimming pool, and two hot tubs. One next to the pool, the other a bit down the tunnel to exit the area. The room we stayed in was nice. 2^nd floor, and a patio which we kept our double shot cans on so they would stay cool. The room was clean and smelled fresh. The shower was large and in charge. It’s about 10 minutes from downtown portland, so if you’re looking to save a few bucks, this is the spot. It’s directly across the street from an adult entertainment venue (strip club lol) and the night we were there, they had midget wrestling. The midgets actually rolled up in a big van and stayed at the HOJO’s. We saw them twice before they went into work,

I was not happy with this hotel at all and the only good thing I got from them was a great car rental rate from Hertz. I was ready to book this hotel through expedia with a car when I decided to call the hotel to confirm that they will have someone available to check us in since we will be arriving after midnight. The lady on the phone said they are open ²⁴⁄₇ and then said she can probably offer me a better rate than expedia. I gave her my information and the combined car + hotel rate I got from them was almost a $ 100 lower than expedia or any other website I found. I was very clear that I needed a room for 5 nights with the check in time for the first night to be after midnight. When I received my reservation email, it appeared that they had booked me for 4 nights only. I called back and the lady assured me that I was booked for 5 nights and that my email said «LATE ARRIVAL» because I am checking in late for the previous day. I believed her and 2 weeks before my vacation called again to confirm that I was good for 5 nights and checking in after midnight.
Everything seemed fine until my plane landed. I called them earlier in the day to ask about the 24 hour free airport shuttle. They informed me that I should call them after I land and get my stuff. After I landed and called them, I was informed that the shuttle driver had gone home for the night and that I would have to take a cab. They would reimburse me for the cost so thats ok. However, when I got to the hotel they were unable to find my reservation. After looking it appeared that they were expecting me for the next day and that I would have to pay for another night. I was extremely surprised because I spoke with THREE people over the phone, explained to them exactly the day I was arriving, the time I was arriving, and had already made sure I would have no issues. Then I was given a room with a queen bed instead of a king which would be ok but they charged me a HIGHER rate for the room with the queen bed than I was charged for my original reservation. Furthermore, after explaining the issues to front desk the next day, they only gave me a $ 20 credit. I felt it was extremely unfair because I was very clear when I made my reservation. The total price I got for the hotel was now no longer a good deal and I could have gotten something in a better location for around the same price which was very upsetting to me.
Here are other things I did not like about this hotel:
1) The location is terrible if you are a tourist visiting portland. You have to drive to get everywhere and parking in downtown portland is awful. Unless you get lucky and find street parking with a meter that you have to put money in every 2 hours, you have to find parking lots. That can get expensive and we found that the municipal parking lots are the cheapest (at $ 1.75/hour) since the $ 10/​day lot fills up very quickly.
2) Beds are extremely soft.
3) Housekeeping isn’t consistent. There were days were they left used glasses without cleaning them. I also think housekeeping stole a chocolate bar from us or they threw it out (it was unopened).
4) The room had a strange smell when we entered the first night and it went away after a few nights.
5) The hotel and rooms are very dated and it was clear that it had not been renovated since it was built. Probably the only new things in the room were the TV and the showerhead.
6) The covers were not very comfortable.
7) Ceiling had water damage marks and cracks.
Things that I liked about this hotel:
1) Plenty of parking space available if you rent a car.
2) Proximity to the enterprise where we rented the car.
3) Free air port shuttle/​reimbursing for taxi.
Overall, I will not book at howard johnson again after this experience.

It is a OK hotel. The staffs are friendly and managed to give us a room in the back. A strange thing is that they put king size bed in the corner, so we have to climb from one size. The bathroom is the smallest I have ever seem. The toilet make really huge shock when you push the thing (I could definitely break someone’s finger).

Decent room for a good price. Ask for a room in the back of the building… you hear the cars drive by on the road when in front.

Hotwire gave this place 3 stars.
Hotwire lied. The room we had was supposedly non-​smoking, but it definitely smelled like someone had been smoking before us. It smelled kind of stale too, like it wasn’t just a smoker but also something else. We opened the window for a while but that didn’t help. It was absolutely freezing in the room at night. The service was friendly but overall I felt uncomfortable in the room because it felt a little dirty and stinky. I wouldn’t stay here again.

The reviews are almost put there by staff and friends to make you think this place is a great deal.
Well maybe if you are older and don’t do anything with the internet. Maybe if you don’t mind dealing with dish network with channels being cancelled every night.
So I will start with what is good. The price and the staff, good and friendly.
The rooms which we could not believe on the first floor were smoking and non smoking. Having to walk past the rooms that smell like smoke or pot is not really what we had in mind.
The room is very simple. The jacuzzi in the room was very small. Almost a bathtub really. I am 250lb and felt cramped when I laid in there. And… the timer for the jets was next to the light switch so you would have to get up out of the tub and flip the timer for fifteen minutes.
The internet. Alright so this is the first hotel I have ever seen do this. You get a personal number for each of your devices to connect to the internet. I happened to have a program update and in the middle of the update their internet shut down. I mean really. We decided to watch Netflix one night and watch something. Buffer… Buffer…Buffer.
The bed was very stiff and uncomfortable. I would wake up with back pain and would have to cram myself in that tub.
I would never reccomend this place to anyone.

Good location, not far from downtown and not in the middle of nowhere. Free parking and free wifi. The pool is a decent size and they have a hot tub as well. This was a decent place to stay near Portland and there were plenty of restaurant options available around. But our hallway did smell like someone was smoking crack and the front desk wasn’t very friendly.

This is really a great hotel for the price. We got a room for roughly $ 75/​night over the weekend (granted this is off touristy season) and it was definitely the nicest, cleanest, best maintained hotel I’ve ever been to for that price range. Not a bad drive from downtown Portland at all and right across from a really nice supermarket and some other shopping stuff.
They also have an indoor pool and two jacuzzies. Nothing special here, they were all clean, if not a little over chlorinated. My wife is a germ freak when it comes to pools and stuff at hotels and it passed her test, so there ya go.
One thing that surprised me, especially at a hotel in this price range was that when we had our do not disturb sign up all day, they actually left a bag outside our door with clean linen, fresh coffee, more toilet paper, etc. since they couldn’t get in to replace it themselves. That’s great service that I wouldn’t have expected here, and was very welcome.
Would definitely stay here again, great lower price hotel for a vacation when you probably shouldn’t be spending much time in your hotel anyway, but comfortable enough to if you want.
Oh yea, Free Wifi!

Not bad for the price. Shopped multiple local places online before choosing this one. It’s an older hotel, but was very clean. Clean white sheets, clean bathroom, friendly service at the desk. The price was right, would return again.

We really enjoyed our stay here. Played lots of Marco Polo in the pool. Worked out in the gym. Got good housekeeping service daily. Got a good deal online, and were very happy with our room. Clean (I checked under the sheets and the beds were nice and looked new,) comfy and nicely appointed for this kind of hotel — complimentary bottled water and snack crackers replenished daily. Not fancy, but definitely did the trick for a family stay. We’ll probably stay here on our next visit to Portland.

Just here for one night. Despite some bad reviews I read, my room was fine. Clean. Bathrooms were good for one night. The hotel is older but I had no complaints about my room.
Just don’t eat at Friendly’s restaurant next door. Horrible customer service.