Ever find something sooooo good, sooooo perfect, that you almost don't want to leave a review, just…read moreso you can keep it as your own private little secret? That's how I feel after our recent stay at The Lincoln... And then my better instincts win out, and I gotta drop the appropriate love right back at them...
Shout out to the personnel: Rebecca, Tina, Bree, et al are operating in a culture of customer service that is clearly taken to heart (Rebecca extended our stay a couple nights when I believed the hotel was sold out, and one night when we came back to the hotel late & the parking lot was full, Tina literally went out in the pouring rain and moved her personal car to a different part of the lot so we could park closer. That never happened to me at a Ritz Carlton...) Even the maids were super-nice when we asked for extra coffee pods and towels in the hallway.
To a person, we found the staff to be delightful, personable, good humored, and quite helpful; much better than dealing with 'big corporate' (yeah, I'm looking at you Marriott and Hilton.) Support the spirit of indy whenever you can, particularly when it's merited...
Backstory: 25th wedding anniversary, 2nd week in Oct, leaf-peeping in Maine & New Hampshire, looking for that 'jumping off' point, figured it would be Portland, but hotel prices were just shockingly thru the roof. Realized someplace called Biddeford (?) was only 10, 15 miles down the road, then found The Lincoln, exactly the comfort we were looking for with the whole lower-half of Maine being easily accessible. Stayed 9 nights over 2 weeks with a small gap in the middle spent in NH, so this review is based on a longer stay & more data points than most...
Check their official website, one picture of a guest room says "all of it looks exactly like the photo." Wow! That's sure a bold statement, I thought 'the audacity of these people...' It's like going to Subway and getting the 9" Footlong; you know something is just not right... But at the same time, I was intrigued.
Well, it ain't bragging if you back it up! Yes, the room looked EXACTLY like the photo. It was easily TWICE the hotel, room, size, character, service, quality for the same price (or more) than in Portland, no comparison. Exceptionally nice rooms, stylish without being gaudy, a touch bohemian, plenty of higher-end amenities, comfort to spare, I found it to be a very good value for what you get. Plus, I'm a sucker for free parking & good strong in-room coffee (try staying at any of the chain hotels in DT Portland - $50 a night to park, coffee that isn't strong enough to defend itself, and a free breakfast buffet that makes me want to fast like a Buddhist monk...) Try the Corner King room, it's somewhere between 600-700 sq ft. and perfect for lounging...
I'm actually stunned and amazed at some of the other reviews; I expected The Lincoln to have a chart-busting top star rating. (Note, since we were in tourist mode all day, by the time we got back in the evenings we just wanted to cleanup, relax in the room, prep for the next day, so we never did go downstairs to the bar/lounge, can't comment on that service. Went to Batson restaurant in the basement a couple times, we were very happy with the food, drinks, price, and service. Kids? Use better discretion, there are state laws regarding minors in adult-oriented establishments, I can't fault management for a delicate circumstance like that...)
Any other criticisms that we would have could be counted on one hand and rank about a 1/2 on a scale of 1 to 10, and THAT is highly unusual for any hotel. This was an exceptional, wonderful stay at a warm, fine hotel. We wanted for absolutely nothing more.
Finally, Biddeford itself was a delightful small town that punches above its' weight class, and we probably never would have found it without finding The Lincoln first. Conversely, if there were no Lincoln, we likely would have not stayed in Biddeford. So if you're reading this and focused on Portland, go a little bit further south, you might be very surprised: staying in Biddeford and at The Lincoln changed the entire dynamic of our vacation, for the better.
Next time, we want to stay for a month (I'm not joking...)