The Sylvia Beach is an old-fashioned place. The beds, furnishings and fixtures feel iike they're from the 30's and you can hear murmurs and rumblings from the surrounding rooms. What you DON'T hear is the noise of electronics: no tv sounds, no music, and best of all: the nicest part of the hotel --the huge upstairs libraries and sitting rooms-- is cell phone free, hallelujah! You can spend as long as you need catching up on overdue correspondence or quiet work, drinking endless cups of tea, cocoa or coffee and looking out over one of the best views of the Pacific Ocean you'll find on the west coast (if you're burning the midnight oil, mulled wine is brought to the library after 10 p.m.). You can also walk or jog to your heart's content on gorgeous Nye Beach and watch the boats go in and out of the harbor. I live in Oregon, so I go pretty regularly, actually.

Aside from the terrific restaurant, try the little deli/wine bar across the street (it's around the corner from April's Restaurant, another perfectly acceptable option, but the deli/cafe is more creative, and they have a fantastic selection of cheeses and cured meats, as well as picnic items). There are other lovely and very casual dining options within a short walking distance, too. The desk staff will tell you about them if you ask.

Was a little apprehensive about this hotel after reading the reviews but decided to give it a try. The location was amazing--right on the beach with fantastic views. The hotel overall was charming with lots of common areas, and the staff was very friendly and forthcoming with excellent recommendations. Truthfully though, we could not wait until it was time to check out of our room. We stayed in the Poe room (in retrospect, a bad choice on my part), which was recommended by the person who took our reservation over the phone. It was dark, cramped, and somewhat dingy, with black sheets and lots of Poe-related knick-knacks. Perfect for an Edgar Allen Poe aficionado, not so perfect for us. Lacking in function (especially given the smallish full-sized bed pushed up against a wall) and more than a little creepy. As far as meals are concerned, breakfast and dinner were both fine. Proceed with caution in signing up for dinner--the meal can last 2+ hours and is served family style. Conversation with other guests is obligatory, thanks to the "two truths and a lie" game.

I booked two nights at the Sylvia Beach Hotel for the end of April, 2008. I stayed in the Agatha Christie Room as I wanted a private deck and an ocean view. I did indeed have these two things. Making the reservations over the phone was no problem, check in was no problem. The room was certainly adequate in size, BUT it was in need of a THOROUGH cleaning and updating. Also, the toilet did not work the entire time I was there. The chain in the tank was broken and I had to lift the top of the tank off each time I flushed to get the toilet to function. This was reported to the front desk and maintenance came within 30 minutes - said it was fixed but it wasn't and when I reported it continually throughout my stay, it was not attended to. I finally gave up. The cats are charming, the food at the Table of Contents is SUPERB. The game that is "required" to be played by dinner guests makes for an uncomfortable situation for those of us who prefer not to interact with other guests. However, I chose to eat there both evenings because the food was worth it and the second evening my table voted not to play. But we were told that if the owner was "in residence' we HAD to play ! I can assure you that I won't pay for a meal, no matter how good it is, and be TOLD I had to play a game during the meal.

I am glad I went to Newport - the beach was wonderful, the weather was perfect - I relaxed and read a lot. However, I will not go back to the Sylvia Beach Hotel and I will not recommend it to friends. I e-mailed the owner when I returned home and she was not courteous enough to reply.

We received a night at this hotel as a wedding present because my husband and I are both literary types. We had fun overall, and stayed in the Poe room (chosen mostly because it seemed like the most interesting room, not because we love Poe), but I have mixed feelings about the experience --

First, the positive -- the idea of a "theme" hotel is charming and many aspects of our room were cool: a bricked up closet, black wallpaper, ravens all over the place, an actual pendulum above the bed. Each room also has journals in it where lodgers can write entries about their lives/experiences. In our room, there were journals going back to the 1980s with the commentary of all the people who stayed in the Poe room. It was interesting to have that record of others who had been there. The room also had a lovely view.

The breakfast in the morning was delicious. We found some cool stuff in the gift shop downstairs.

They also have a library full of books and a room with board games and puzzles, which was nice because there's not anything to do in that town at night.

At 10 PM, they give out "hot spiced wine," but we missed that.

The negatives -- while our room was very cool, it was also small and cramped and needed updating. The wallpaper was peeling in places, the carpet was stained, everything was dusty. Some might call this "quaint," but the room was rather expensive for an old room.

We were able to see the other rooms because the hotel leaves the doors of all the rooms open until other people check into them. Form my viewpoint, none of the other rooms were as cool as the Poe room. The Jane Austen room, for example, was just a bunch of flowery and frilly stuff -- nothing that seemed particularly "Jane Austen" to me. In fact the Woolf, Austen, and Dickinson rooms all seemed interchangeable and, as someone else noted, grandmotherly. The Melville room just had a bunch of whales everywhere. The Oregon writers room was hideous -- it looked like a 10-year old had painted faces on the walls and was a bunch of bunk beds. Seemed like the idea for the hotel had so much potential, but whomever set up a lot of the rooms lacked creativity.