We had a very nice two nights stay at Black Bear Inn. The staff was very friendly, and the free soup, ice tea, and ice cream in the evenings were delicious. Our room was comfortable and breakfast was good (though the space in the breakfast room is tight). Overall, excellent! read more

Large parking lot, safe, nice front desk staff, was able to print and make copies, ice cream sandwiches in freezer in lobby, lemonade and soup at night. read more

I am writing this for my mother. She recently stayed at the Black Bear Inn while helping me look for an apartment for the school year at U.M.O. since my job as a commercial fisherman has me gone for weeks at a time. This doesn't allow the flexibility to travel to Orono on my days off. She said that she "booked the best hotel in the area" and me being a student, knew that this was one of the better ones in the area. When asked how it was, her exact words were "terrible, extremely loud with the foot traffic. I barely slept three hours." This had me discouraged since she is older, and was doing me a huge favor by seeing the places to live since I did not have the time. I agreed to pay for it knowing her frustration, and moved on. Being someone who worked in restaurants for years, I felt as though it should be mentioned to the hotel, since my mother is a veteran traveler who has been all over the world, and I have never heard her say anything like that. I called the front desk and spoke to Virginia. I mentioned her frustration, and was just curious as to what could have happened that a 200$ a night hotel in the middle of nowhere could warrant that response. Virginia's response was not one of someone who works in hospitality, or my previous experience working in restaurants. She told me " workers live above where she stayed and there was nobody on either side, so it couldn't have been loud." Exact words....essentially calling her a liar, or me, for that matter. Unprofessional, and for one of the better hotels, I expected at least an explanation like an event or festival. I am not looking for a refund. I just forewarn others who are looking for housing for U.M.O. for themselves or their children that their are better options that are cheaper, quieter, and a better experience. read more

Super cute hotel! Bed was cozy. I was upgraded so the additional living space plus the jacuzzi bath right in the room was just fantastic!! Loved that it felt surrounded by nature but right around the corner was gas station, laundry, and grocery with a few normal fast food chains. Friendly staff! read more

Very clean, very friendly staff. Our room was spotless, the bathroom was spotless. Towels and linens were very clean. I couldn't ask for more. The only disappointment was we couldn't stay another night! The next time we are in Orono, this is where we will stay without a doubt. Very comfortable stay. read more

I've never seen or been bitten by a bed bug until I recently stayed at the Black Bear Inn at Orno ME. I woke up around 4 am, saw the bug, realized what It was and took a picture without touching it, and immediately called the front desk after strip searching myself for more bugs or bites. They gave me a new room and I requested to have my clothing dried to kill any other lingering bugs since my clothing was on the bed I didn't sleep in. Their cleaning staff and manager were unavailable until 9 am. I moved my safe items over to the new room, bagged up all my clothing, and left behind all my bags. I went to Walmart at 6 am in my PJs spent $142 on alcohol, spray bottles, essential oils, and two outfits because I had a training I needed to be present for my certificate at 8 am. When I returned they handed me a report from an outside company saying they did not find any proof of an infestation or bed bugs, yet that one was still in the room alive. They refused to reimburse me for my clothing or help dry clean my non dryable clothing. Then they tried to say the bed bug came from my mom's, who had dealt with bed bugs over 10 years ago and is living bed bug free. I brought up her having dealt with them and I was asking her for advice throughout the process. Everywhere I was the day to checking in to the hotel was bed bug free and I traveled 160 miles in our brand new departmental vehicle. All my friends and family I saw at the one place I went in a community setting are all bed bugs free. read more

Black Bear Inn, Ascend Hotel Collection - Beg Bug - Hotels Near Me - Orono, Maine

See all

I have used this hotel many times. The room was really nice in 2009. We stopped here again in 2024. Nothing looked changed or updated. The room was lacking in many areas. We found hair in the shower, and the a/c unit was loud. We will not go back. The breakfast was horrible to be kind. And the room price was $275.00. We normally stay at Hampton Inns and this place was not even close to those standards. If you do not expect much and are willing to pay an unusually high price for the area this is your place. Otherwise avoid this hotel. And we will say that, from the outside it still looked really nice. read more

Fairly good location, a short drive to the main part of Orono town, the black bear inn would be a recommended spot for stay. Everything here is black bear (local college mascot) themed which was nice. They also have a cute black bear soft toy in your room as a welcome companion. The rooms and beds are clean. We liked the room#102, although all the way at the end of the corridor, it had 2 windows on adjacent walls which shed good light into the room. The staff was friendly. The dining room is a bit small and the breakfast options a bit limited, But it serves the purpose. And the usual 24x7 coffee at the front desk. The big letdown was the pillows. All small square shaped ones and too soft and lumpy. Had a tough time sleeping, especially since we were there to write an exam...so the added anxiety kept us awake. Overall a fairly decent spot to stay. read more

Black Bear Inn, Ascend Hotel Collection - King suite.....bears everywhere - Hotels Near Me - Orono, Maine

This inn was clean very comfortable and the staff was very friendly! I will most definitely stay here again I came across an unpleasant review about this inn and I can't believe anyone would give this inn a bad review read more

The Inn was very welcoming and comfortable. Nice and clean. Contact them directly so you don't have to pay crazy fees to a middleman!!

Very good hotel in terms of rooms, comfort, and food selection (specifically breakfast). Stayed here to visit cousins for the weekend after a road trip up from Massachusetts. Great location: close to UMaine, Bangor, and surrounding areas. read more

I booked my room more than 8 months ago. The reservation agent told me I was the first one to book for homecoming. Imagine my surprise when I walked in and had the room right next to the highway. it was so loud! I was so upset. Apparently I was last one to check in. So it doesn't really matter when you make your reservation. It's all when you check in. I've been coming here for 7 years. Very disappointed with what I saw. what's a little difficult to take issue with the front desk agent who was clearly a college student. It wasn't her fault. But very disappointing stay. read more

See all

Stayed one night for Black Bear weekend At U Maine. Large room - 2 queens, nice beds, close the campus and breakfast with room cost. Only one small drawback - room windows are a tennis ball throw from I-95 on ramp. if you're bothered by car noise, it might be an issue. read more

I booked this hotel for a weekend while visiting my son at UMaine. Late Friday night as I was pulling down the covers to climb into the bed, I discovered the sheets were stained/dirty. It was late, I was exhausted and I knew housekeeping was not around so I slept on the other side of the bed, hoping the sheets were clean. I approached the front desk in the morning, with pics. He was very nice but told me nothing he could do and to email the general manager the pictures. I did - NO response. No offer to give me clean sheets, no apology, nothing. For the amount I paid, I'll gladly go down the road to the Hilton or Marriott knowing they would respond to an issue like this. Disappointing! read more

See all

A little dated, but this place is clean and comfortable. Staff is very friendly too. We had a room on the 3rd floor facing the highway. We checked in on a Friday night during U Maine move-in weekend, and were shocked how quiet it was (based on some of the reviews here). Beds are kind of soft, but good enough. Water pressure in the shower is strong. Free breakfast is waffles, breakfast sandwiches, fruit, muffins, cereal, etc. Good coffee! Liked having a refrigerator, microwave, Keurig in the room. Free Wi-Fi and free parking is awesome too. Would definitely stay here again. read more

Black Bear Inn, Ascend Hotel Collection - Bear that greeted us in the room! - Hotels Near Me - Orono, Maine

I have stayed here several times over the last three years. Each and every time I stay, I am more impressed by the staff and their customer service. The hotel is extremely clean, newly renovated, and in a perfect location. I highly recommend the Black bear Inn! read more

This place is a knights of Columbus favorite.Always consistently nice and food and drink always good. Place is a little dated but rooms and decent . read more

Average cost for a night visit. Location is easy to get to from highway and to UMaine campus. At first appearance it is a nice place, but could use a little TLC. Bathroom needs work. Shower head did not work and if you moved it water sprayed from the joints. Could use a bleaching. Room had a fridge and microwave which was nice to hold snacks and drinks. Tried to microwave left over pizza and kept popping the power strip. Had to unplug the fridge and tv to heat up and it still popped. Front desk staff is friendly. Check in was easy and quick. The location rocks and I love the feel when you walk in. Does not feel like a hotel. Very cool. I am sure it gets a lot of business being one a few places close to campus but will have to reconsider next time. read more

Although our room was spacious (a "King Suite"), the price was very expensive. It seems that since the waterfront concert venue opened up in Bangor, area hotel prices have skyrocketed. We paid nearly $600 for three nights with a AAA Discount. And there were no big events to justify the high room rate. By comparison, we spent three nights in a very nice hotel in Montreal for New Year's Eve and it was less than half the price - even if the exchange rate had been parity! Why two stars? Well, although the staff is friendly and helpful, they have "contactless room service" which means there is no room service. Want your bed made? Do it yourself. Want fresh linens? You have to leave the soiled linens outside the door and they'll leave fresh linens - but you have to make your own bed, etc. Not that we're not capable, but for $170/night?! The room was clean, but there were several items in the room which were broken, hanging, or just plain needed to be fixed. The trim piece around the shower head, a lamp that didn't work because the cord was cut and hanging about 1" out of the base of the lamp, zip ties holding the hair dryer cord (and nobody trimmed off the excess zip tie...). They allow pets, but don't seem to have any policy about people leaving them in their room while they go out. So we got to listen to a dog barking incessantly at 6 AM. We'll be back - unfortunately - because there aren't a lot of other options this close to UMaine. read more

Hotel began as decent. They allowed dogs which was great. We came here for a wedding since my wife grew up in town. Our dog is a bit skiddish and I explained that to the staff. They said no problem. We left for a bit to go to rehearsal dinner and when we returned there was a note on the door (see pic). Staff said if you stand by our door that she will bark, and that is unacceptable. Of course she will bark when someone is at the door, she is a dog! She said barking is not allowed at all. How can a hotel allow dogs if they do not allow them to act normally? Of course if she is making excessive noise it is not okay, but this was not the situation. Went down to apologize and clear up the situation, only to stop and over hear the front desk lady talking to someone and saying she is going to come up throughout the night and stand by the door as a "test." Needless to say, we did not feel safe or comfortable in our stay here. Keep in mind this all happened before 930PM. It was not late at night. We checked out a night early and asked for a refund. If you have animals, DO NOT go here. We have been to other hotels with our dog and never had an issue. . . read more

Black Bear Inn, Ascend Hotel Collection - Hotels Near Me - Orono, Maine

VERY disappointed in my recent stay. Room was adorable and clean. Have stayed here in the past. This stay they were working on the roof which they never mentioned at booking or check in. Would have been fine if they hadn't put me in the room DIRECTLY under where they started pounding on my ceiling at 7:00am!!! The hotel was practically empty (parking lot had about 7-8 cars in it?) and they put me on the third floor directly under where they were working. Why not put me on the other side of the building? Or even the first floor? Called the front desk and all they could say was sorry and did nothing about it. Huge disappointment!! read more

The Black Bear Inn was our destination for when my wife and I were traveling to Maine, and she had been invited to the University of Maine for business. My first initial thought of the place was a very interesting, warm, cozy hotel... the staff was very nice, great during the check in process.. Once we got settled into the hotel room... it was very apparent that the hotel hadn't really had much done to it in the rooms for quite some time. It almost had a stale feel of grandmas old cottage, with an outdated bear theme... including enough bears to make it overly redundant that the place is called the black bear inn. But after getting settled in... you finally realize how much the hotel owners have put into this hotel. A keurig coffee machine is a nice little touch... but then there is their flat screen TV that is still broadcasting in standard definition, so all of the TV channels are super grainy and the HDTV that is in the room basically goes to waste. Heck, they even have one channel saying, "You must update your receiver to receive this channel.... and that was one of the main channels. The other thing that really bothered me about this hotel... is the whole construction of the place. The whole building sounded hollow. When just walking down a hallway you feel like your footstep is echoing down around throughout the rooms around you. I can also say that I know what that is like, because we apparently had a high school sports team running in the hallway, and it wasn't the most calming sound you could imagine to hear. I also have to comment... the breakfast? I personally felt that the breakfast was a bit of a joke. I don't mind the whole DIY aspect of it all... but they want you to go into a small room, find everything you want, and they provide you a microwave. No hot food, the days that I was there, there were no meat products out... and the only eggs you could find had been hard boiled. I had to resort to my old kid days and retreat to my room with frosted flakes and a banana. Definitely some improvement there could help out the whole situation.... As for the final thoughts? Yeah, its a place to rest your head.... if this is the kinda place that you'd like to relax at. read more

Pleasant enough place for Orono. I wish house keeping would wash the pillows. The ones in my room smelled.like someone's greasy head. Mattresses we're horrible. Reminded me of plywood. Pillow top would solve the problem. Also space between mattress and headboard was pretty dirty with hair, food wrappers, dust. Staff very pleasant. read more

This is a place to be considered if you want to get off the beaten (hotel) path of Greater Bangor. It is right off the freeway and super cozy. Don't let the kitschy bear furnishings and bedspreads ruin it for you. It's meant to be that way. You can tell the free breakfast was an afterthought but I commend them for making an effort. Pets are allowed so they'll be in a good location with lots of grass! read more

See all

The Bleak Bear Inn is kind of what you'd expect from a middle of nowhere kind of area in Maine. I'm surprised there aren't more places for people to stay who are visiting their kids at the nearby University of Maine. I'm pretty sure the only thing new in this hotel since the 80s are the flat screen TVs and Keurig coffee maker in the room. It smells of old old smoking rooms from decades ago and an occasional random whiff of vomit. Or maybe diarrhea. I still haven't decided. Not the cleanest place, but most of this could be easily fixed with updating the furniture, rugs, sheets, etc. On the plus side there is free internet and continental breakfast in the morning. Suitable for a night, but certainly not a destination. read more

The nicest staff and best accommodations you could ask for. Treated us like family from the day we checked in. Would not stay anywhere else. Stayed 1.5 weeks and they bent over backwards to help us every chance they had. Top notch. read more

Just went to mothers day brunch, and it was awesome! There was lobster quiche, quinoa salad, a beautiful beet salad, lots of delicious breakfast food, salmon, apple stuffed chicken, and a CHOCOLATE FOUNTAIN! The dessert presentation was awesome also. This is definitly a gem and I will be back for sure. read more

Black Bear Inn, Ascend Hotel Collection - Hotels Near Me - Orono, Maine

See all

Good value. Comfortable rooms, reasonably priced. The location next to the freeway and far from town makes it less than ideal, however.

The rooms are fine, the front desk staff wasn't TOO friendly, but I was only here for a short while. It looks like it's pretty much the only game in town, so I'd stay here again if need be. read more

A great little hotel. Clean, modern, free wifi that works. Breakfast was busy and the DIY waffle irons were constantly busy so I didn't get a chance to try it. 3/5 stars only because it's not a classy establishment, but it *is* well maintained and no essential comforts lacking. I picked this over hotels in Bangor, and I think it was a wise choice. read more

This place was a last minute overnight stop on my way from Maine to Canada. They were accommodating but the hotel is tired and worn out. Not a destination - but a good stop over. read more

Booked online in Bangor, 20 minutes later I was at the front desk. My room key was ready. A complimentry wine & cheese was available 5 PM - 6 PM I believe this is M - F only? I didn't feel like driving out for dinner so I ended up with a satisfactory hand formed burger in the breakfast nook off the front lobby. Regarding the room, the beds, bathroom are clean the furniture seems a little dated. The free internet works fast and flat screen TV has a good cable selection. read more

Everything from ease of check in, to the big, clean, warm room, to the absolutely delicious muffins at breakfast contributed to one of the absolute best hotel experiences I've ever had. Initially it seemed our room heater wasn't working, and the desk person moved us to a new room right away, no questions asked. I highly recommend staying here if you get the chance, and we would stay here again over anywhere else in town. Great job, BBI! read more

The inn is so cute and rustic but has all modern amenities! The theme of the black bear is consistent throughout the inn, even in the rooms! We aren't from the area so we asked the woman at the desk where to eat. She gave us multiple suggestions and gave us directions to all of them! She was very pleasant and helpful (and we had a great dinner)! If we are ever in the area, we will definitely be staying there again. read more

Black Bear Inn, Ascend Hotel Collection - The rooms are so cute! - Hotels Near Me - Orono, Maine

Stayed one night for an appointment at UMAINE. The rooms need upgrading. My room had a slight musty odor to it when I walked in. Otherwise it appeared clean and neat, but old. The rooms have a good TV, a Keurig coffee machine, a microwave and small fridge. Room size is good. Bathroom was clean, but dated. Plenty of hot water. The alarm clock was impossible to figure out. Staff was fine. Overall the place needs a facelift. read more

Stayed here on our way to Nova Scotia. The hotel looks tired--the room furnishings are worn, everything is quite dark and dated. Still, the room was clean and the price was reasonable. read more

The atmosphere and decor are very enjoyable, making s fun stay. The hotel is not fancy but is comfortable and the rooms are very attractive, comfortable and clean. read more