We stayed at the Harborside Hotel for three nights and had a wonderful experience. Our rooms were comfortable,clean and spacious and had, as promised, a wonderful view of the harbor. The location was excellent - very close to downtown, but at the end of the harbor area where it was a bit quieter. Each and every staff member we encountered went above and beyond to meet our needs. We were impressed that they provided free wifi, complimentary valet parking and a completely complimentary guest laundry. We had breakfast in Bella Vita each morning and the food was excellent. We will definitely stay there again the next time we're in Bar Harbor.

We have been visiting Bar Harbor for 40 years and this is our 2nd stay at the Harborside. We were in town to watch our son run in the marathon and had never been to Bar Harbor during the cruise season or tour bus season (leaf changing season). We found it to be way too crowded for our taste. The hotel was as beautiful and well kept as the last time we stayed there 3 years ago. We had a deluxe room on the third floor. It was very large and had a view of the water/parking lot. The restaurant staff, however, needs to be more attentive. I don't know if they were short handed or not but the service was not up to par. The bartender spent more time chatting with the other servers than attending to people at the bar. We had to be agressive to get his attention and I got the impression he couldn't wait for the season to be over. We had to wait a long time for someone to show us to a table for breakfast 2 days in a row. When there are vacant window tables, and an almost empty room, why would you not seat 2 people at those tables? We were told because the tables needed to be bused. We told them we wouid wait the 5 minutes. I really do like this hotel but with the giant sister hotel across the street, which seems out of place here, it reminds me of being in Myrtle Beach, I think next visit we will stay in the less busy section of town.

We spend 3 night on the hotel and have only good words to say.
The rooms are big and very clean, the staff are very helpful, the location is wonderful and all the hotel can offer is so satisfying !
We eat breakfast every morning - which is superb. We have tried the dinner - and it was very good with very fair prices.
We spend time in the swimming pool, and the Gym.
Great place - we will do our best to come again !

I thought my experience was an isolated incidence, but after reading the other reviews posted I found I was not the only one who was disappointed/confused with the views the hotel boasts their rooms provide. Instead of booking online I called the hotel directly to ensure that I knew what kind of view I was getting- I wound up booking a Premium King Ocean Front room when the hotel described it as having “spectacular views of the Atlantic Ocean and a semi-private balcony or terrace”. When I got there I was told I was upgraded to a king suite-a.k.a. the person who checked in earlier who had booked the king suite was unhappy with the view so the hotel put them in my room instead! The “complimentary upgraded” suite was a corner, ground level, 1 bedroom suite that looked directly into the hotel communal hot tub and the giant metal docks and huge whale watching ships (no view of the ocean from my windows!). This room should not be considered an ocean front, but rather a pool view/harbor view like those rooms it borders to its right and it should be priced accordingly. When we called to complain and be moved to the room type we booked-they simply said this was the room type we booked (but it was not), they did a favor of upgrading us, and that the hotel was near capacity and couldn’t move us. As for the balcony/terrace, because it was a corner room ours was literally a 3 ft wide 1 ft deep fenced in playpen of a terrace-with the explanation that it was that way because it was a corner room on the pool so it was done for safety (yes-“pool”, that is why it should have been pool-view). There wasn’t even enough room to get into the chairs, let alone turn them. It was quite frustrating and turned to being quite insulting when a manager would not meet with us during the multiple days we were there. The staff was a bit snobby and had a forced friendliness about them that came off as fake and sometimes condescending. I don’t know if this was because it is the end of the season and the staff doesn’t care about making their guests truly happy because in a few days they were all heading down to Florida to work at another resort during the winter season or if this was a reflection of what the hotel is truly like during its full season, but either way, the experience was not worth its price.