The Hampton Inn in Ellsworth has been open only a few years, is still in excellent physical condition, and is extremely well managed and maintained. That said, there are a few puzzling issues that I found to detract somewhat from the overall guest experience.

The room rates are unusually steep for a Hampton Inn, not just during the high tourist season during the summer, but in fact in the off-season as well. In addition, the number of Hilton Honor points required for a stay at this Category 6 hotel is extremely high for a relatively humble basic property with few amenities. Clearly corporate is hoping to attract the well-heeled summer tourist trade in the Bar Harbor area, but they seem unaware that most other properties in the area, including many that are much closer to Bar Harbor itself, offer far more luxuries and amenities at much more attractive rates during the long off-season.

A further issue is that, despite this being a relatively new Hilton property, it was built using technology that is typical of some 10-15 year old Hampton Inns. The one elevator available for guest use is excruciatingly slow, making for some very long waits during peak traffic hours. The ancient television sets, which must have been found gathering dust in the corporate warehouse, are very dated, with poor picture quality and extremely slow channel changing. The local cable service is extremely poor as well. Perhaps HDTV has not yet reached this area

All guest rooms offers both wi-fi and Ethernet internet access. This is just as well, because the wi-fi reception, at least in some rooms, is very weak and virtually useless, even for basic E-mail communication. Guests with laptops will need to use the hardwired Ethernet connection, whereas those with smart phones or tablets without Ethernet ports or direct 3G network connections will just be out of luck. Maybe the wi-fi reception is better in the lobby.

It is difficult to fathom why Hilton corporate positioned this property so non-competitively in this market. Given the high room rates, general lack of amenities, dated technology, and 20-minute drive to Bar Harbor, I would choose to patronize other, non-Hilton-branded properties in this area on my next visit.

Our second night here and it was aweful! The doors to the rooms slammed all morning long. 1:50 am, 2am and so on. So maybe I am a little crabby this morning. You could hear the man pee from our room and hear him drop the toilet lid too! If they could do something with doors!

The good: We arrived incredibly early, 11am as I had been unwell and thought we'd ask if we were able to check in thinking they would say no. The room we were assigned had not been cleaned as check in was not until 3pm but another similar one was free and they allowed us to check in. How wonderful of them. Room was spotless, absolutely spotless - so clean you felt ok walking around barefoot and using the bath and all the facilities, comfy bed, good tv with good channel choice, wi fi, nice room set up, lovely decor, nice side chair to sit in, desk and chair, fridge, iron, spare blankets, able to quickly accommodate a non feather pillow request. Windows actually opened so you could have fresh air to breathe - nice after so much air conditioning in many places though you could use it there if you wanted to as well. It felt really homely for some reason, like you were at home. Easy to park out of the front for free in their car park. Near to several large stores in the area. At the gateway to Acadia, about 20 minutes drive from the National Park.
The bad: Coffee machine was in the bathroom which I always find weird though it seemed so clean it didn't bother me that much. Room was quite small in comparison to some we stayed in but was liveable.
The ugly: We were at the back of the hotel on the second floor near to some large outside fans that were on the ground. Every once in a while these would start up and make a continuous droning noise which was quite irritating when you had the window open. If you shut it you could hardly hear it.
Would I recommend it: Yes! The place had a really good feel about it for some reason. It was just a great place to stay. Just ask for a higher up room away from the large ground fans out back.

As expected of the Hilton group, the Hampton Inn in Ellsworth is excellent, even though I may not ranked it as equal to the Garden Hilton Inn. Nevertheless, it is clean, comfortable, great customer service. No complaint.