The Press Hotel, on the corner of Congress and Exchange Streets, is within easy reach of most of downtown Portland’s must-see sights, must-eat restaurants, and must-do experiences. Once home to the state’s largest newspaper, the Press Hotel, this Marriott Autograph Collection member honors its past while giving guests a comfy, contemporary, yet retro arts and letters newspaper-themed experience.
Location, location, location
Sited at the head of Exchange Street, which connects the Olde Port and Waterfront with downtown, the Press Hotel works equally well for business travelers as vacationers. City Hall, home to Merrill Auditorium, is across the street. And it’s an easy walk west on Congress to the Arts District or east to Munjoy Hill, and all the restaurants, breweries, distilleries, coffee/tea houses, and independent shops now populating that area.
Valets make parking a cinch, and the daily rate includes as many ins and outs of the garage as you wish. (You usually can find overnight parking on the street, with no charges between 6 pm and 8 or 9 am, but read signs carefully for any restrictions. Day parking requires feeding a meter or pay station or opting for a garage).
The inside scoop
The ghosts of the Portland Press Herald linger inside the Press Hotel but in a good way. The newspaper-themed decor with an artsy edge begins in the lobby. Here you’ll find a letterpress relief artwork behind the front desk, a typewriter case piece adjacent to it, and a spiral of typewriters installation filling an open stairwell wall.
The lobby lounge, called the Inkwell, continues the theme. A typewriter is set up for guest usage, and tabletops display old newspaper pages with appropriate headlines. These include Goodbye, about the last edition of the long-ago Evening Express.
Inkwell does double duty: In the morning, it’s a coffee bar with house-made pastries until noon. At 4 pm, it morphs into a cocktail lounge. The cozy seating areas, especially by the fireplace, invite relaxing with a glass of wine, beer, or a cocktail and perhaps choosing a nibble or two from the snack menu.
Read all about it
Elevators access guest rooms on the second to sixth floors. When you step off the elevator, read the walls. The directional signs are in a typesetter relief like the one in the lobby. And the wallpaper comprises old Portland Papers headlines. Among my favorites:
- Elderly lobster set free,
- This time, dogs all dressed up with someplace to go, and
- Honest warden, the doe really had an antler.
When reading from the ceiling to the floor, the headlines and type get closer together before the type spills out in a jumble on the hallway carpet.
Sleep on it
Guestrooms in The Press Hotel continue the theme, although it’s more subtle. For example, on the back of desk chairs is the classic learn-to-type exercise: The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
I’ve stayed here a couple of times, once in a king and another time in a junior suite, and I’ve toured the splurge-worthy penthouse suite. The guestrooms are comfortable and well-equipped. They’re soothingly decorated in navy, white, and beige and display art from contemporary Maine artists.
Among the guestroom amenities are Frette linens, Cuddledown comforters, bathrobes, large flatscreen TVs, marble bathrooms with rain showers, mini refrigerators, bottled water, and coffee makers. A few rooms have wet bars and rooftop terraces.
The newspaper and writing theme is also present in phrases posted here and there. For example, on the Inkwell’s morning menu: “I had some dreams, they were clouds in my coffee,” Carly Simon; inside the closet: “Clothes mean nothing until someone lives in them,” Marc Jacobs; by the in-room Keurig: “We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give,” Winston Churchill; on a sign noting complimentary ice delivery: “Don’t skimp on the ice. I prefer beautiful, big squares for my cocktails,” Jost Andres.
The rest of the story
The hotel’s lower floor houses a fitness center, a hallway art gallery, and meeting rooms titled Editorial and Composing.
Other amenities include complimentary airport and transportation center transfers, free Wifi, guest bicycles, and concierge and evening turn-down services.
Union rules
The hotel’s Union Restaurant serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The New American menu draws heavily from local, sustainable farms, fisheries, and foragers.
Just the facts
If you can swing the stratospheric room rates, consider staying here. The service is friendly and efficient, the location superb, and the rooms are nice to return to after a day of exploring. Be forewarned that some rooms are quite small and feel cramped.
