Rapid Travel Chai

Holiday Inn Resort Bar Harbor – Acadia National Park or Bar Harbor Regency? After checking out I am still not sure.

Points hotel options to visit Acadia National Park are limited to Best Western, Choice Hotels, and the Holiday Inn. On a peak summer weekend the mostly unappealing Bar Harbor hotels were pricey and the B&Bs more, so we booked Holiday Inn for 35k points/night which was roughly overpriced by 30k.

Pulling in we thought we were at the wrong address, with the entrance sign only listing Bar Harbor Regency.

Down the road there is a disconnected new building with rooms only, no reception, that has a Holiday Inn sign.

Entering the dated main building, with furniture and color palette from the 1970s, the only indication of Holiday Inn involvement is the logo on the glass wall. We are two IHG Platinums and had two award rooms booked. No IHG recognition and no elite benefits of any kind. IHG Rewards is weak on elite benefits for award reservations, though many hotels extend various benefits anyway. Not here. “We never give free breakfast,” was one reply. Painfully slow check-in process. Platinums get the parking lot view rooms.

The schizophrenic approach continues into the rooms. Toiletries and towels are Holiday Inn, while the information books are Bar Harbor Regency.

As an academic matter I am curious how the co-branded arrangement works. I am aware of the hotel within a hotel such as IC Alliance Resorts The Palazzo and The Venetian, however here you have one property with two totally different marketed brands, yet everything is mixed up at the property.

As a property, while not worth 35k points, it is a decent family option for Acadia. There is a nice pool, dock for strolling and boat tour departures, and several restaurants. Public areas are very dated. On my floor there was an ersatz business center of an old room desk and chair parked at the end of the hallway. Rooms are standard mid-range. Laundry room is good to have. No resort fee and no parking fee is nice, given the modest claims to be a ‘resort.’ Compared to accommodation options in Bar Harbor proper, which has a bit too much of grimy Key West feel, and to the motels in outlying areas, this is a decent choice among paltry options. Good thing Acadia National Park lives up to its reputation and the hotel becomes an afterthought.