I stayed at the Comfort Inn for one night in August of 2009 as I was passing through town on a motorcycle trip.

Location

The Comfort Inn is located on Route 112 in Lincoln New Hampshire. Route 112 is more affectionately known as the Kancamangus Highway. The Kancamangus Highway is a very popular scenic spot in New Hampshire. It is a 35 mile stretch of road that cuts through the White Mountains. The area is popular for all kinds of outdoor sports, including bicycling and hiking in the summer and skiing and snowmobiling in the winter. Loon Mountain, a large ski resort, is located a few miles from the hotel.

The hotel is located on the western end of the Kancamangus in a populated town area. Across the parking lot from the hotel is a large miniature golf course, at the end of the road is a well stocked ski and sport shop and at the end of the road is a McDonalds. Within walking distance there are also a couple of pizza parlors, an ice cream shop, a Dunkin’ Donuts, and a few boutique style shops. There would be plenty of activities to find near the hotel to keep a family entertained for a few days.

Rooms

We booked the cheapest room available, which was $125 for the night with a AAA discount. This price was on par with other hotels in the area that had the same rating. I was shocked when booking to see many of the “fancy” hotels cost well over $200 a night. Hotel prices are definitely high in this area. Our room was on the second floor and overlooked the entrance to the hotel. With the window open we heard a bit of noise from guests coming and going but this quieted down after dark. The walls in the rooms were fairly thin and a number of times I was startled by kids running up and down the hall.

Our room had two double beds, a microwave, a small fridge, a television and a private bath. The beds were fairly comfortable and the linens were clean and not scratchy. Oddly, the TV did not get ABC, but it did get NBC and CBS. This was a bit disappointing as I was looking forward to watching my new favorite show, Wipeout, that night. The television got many cable stations including Bravo and TLC. There did not seem to be an option for ordering movies or premium stations. I was not very impressed by the bathroom in our unit. The lighting in the bathroom was poor and the bathroom fixtures out of date. The shower was also older looking and the water pressure was not very good. We did seem to have plenty of hot water though. The bath linens were also very clean and soft, they were much nicer than I had expected.

Hotel Amenities

Some of the included amenities are the pool, free continental breakfast, free parking, and free wi-fi. The pool is medium sized and indoors with a jacuzzi. The pool is on the main level of the hotel and has large windows looking outside. When we visited the hotel it was a week day during the summer and the pool was filled with young kids running around. We did not stay for the continental breakfast, although I saw that it was served in a small dining area outside the lobby. Given the number of guests that were staying at the hotel I suspect the breakfast got quite crowded. The most important amenity for me was the free wi-fi. I’ve stayed at a number of high end hotels where wi-fi was very expensive even for guests already paying high room rates.

The hotel was definitely busy for a weekday. Despite the poor economy (or maybe as a result of it) business seemed to be booming here. There were always people coming and going through the lobby as we passed through. Despite the heavy traffic flow the hotel staff were very friendly. The front desk employees were very friendly during check in and check out – we did not encounter any problems.

Conclusion

AAA rates this Comfort Inn as a 3 star hotel and I agree with their assessment. There are certainly no luxuries to be found at this hotel, but I would not expect them from a Comfort Inn. Everything at the hotel was clean and the staff were friendly. I found the $125 rate to be expensive for the accommodations – but the price was on par for the area and plenty of people were at the hotel and paying the rate.