COVID-19 Updates from the Governor...as of June 8th

UPDATE - Massachusetts is now exempt from the travel restrictions as well

Here are the latest updates on the corona virus and lodging guidelines in Maine released June 8, 2020:

Effectively June 12th, 2020, New Hampshire & Vermont residents are exempt from the 14-day quarantine requirement and allowed to stay at lodging places within Maine. This is great news as we love our guests from neighboring States.
- The State will exempt residents of New Hampshire and Vermont from the testing and 14-day quarantine requirement altogether, effective immediately for travel and effective June 12th for stays in lodging establishments. When adjusted for population, the prevalence of active cases of COVID-19 in these states is similar to that in Maine. There is no other state with as low a prevalence of COVID-19 within a 12-hour drive. The State will continue to evaluate possible additional exemptions based on trends in other states.
Effective July 3rd, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut are now expect from the travel restrictions.
Starting JULY 1...All other travelers (People who are not Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont residents or New York, New Jersey or Connecticut full time residents) must complete and sign a Certificate of Compliance form indicating they will

Complete a COVID-19 test in their home state and received a negative COVID-19 test result
1. adults who obtain and receive a negative COVID-19 test no later than 72 hours prior to arrival in Maine to forgo the 14-day quarantine upon arrival in Maine OR
that they have already completed their quarantine in Maine.

Here is the final version of this Certificate of Compliance form.

This Certificate of Compliance must be provided to check-in at all Maine lodging, campgrounds, seasonal rentals, and other commercial lodging, such as Airbnb. Visitors MAY BE asked to furnish  proof of the negative test result upon request. This will become effective July 1st (Stage 3) when lodging establishments may begin serving residents outside of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont.
To find a testing center new you here is a helpful website. Get-Tested-COVID19 19 COVID-19

Lodging Guidelines are an ever evolving topic. We envision that this will get revised as time goes on. We hope that more states will be added to the “exemption” list like NH and VT as COVID-19 cases decrease in some states. Or that some of these current restrictions will get lessened or reduced by the time your reservation is here.

PLEASE check back with us if you have an upcoming reservation Closer to the time of your arrival so that we can best provide you with guidance on the guidelines that will apply to your visit.

We open for the season on June 22nd for our 10th season. We are now accepting reservation for June for Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire residents.

Updates to Previous Blog...

Breakfast Service:

We love breakfast and we love cooking for you, our guests. In the forseeable future we will not be allowed to do our continental breakfast that we typically offer in addition to the hot home cooked served breakfast. In June, the current guidance is allowing us to do a bag breakfast option as a takeaway breakfast. This will be a big learning for us as we have never really done this before. Although, Eric does make a mean bagel sandwich with lots of drippy melty cheese. 😋

We are required to make changes to minimize person to person contact. Such things as our glass milk jugs we have used for years will be replaced with individual mini-cup creamers, individual sugar packets, etc. Anyone that has stayed with us before will know that we have been making changes over the years to reduce our plastic use, recyclables, and our trash. We have taken the pledge with our local Climate to Thrive. This pledge commits us to reducing our carbon footprint on this island. But at this time we have to think about your health and safety.

We now have guidance to complete our breakfast service safely. We envision that if we are able to start serving breakfast we will have 2 person tables spaced 6 feet apart. We will offer fixed seating times, i.e. 8:00am, 8:45am, 9:30am. This allows Eric to be able to serve everyone in the breakfast room at the same time. Dishes will only be cleared after you have left the breakfast room. This will give us time to clear tables and sanitize them before the next seating. This will reduce the number of people that we can served at a time and you will need to sign up for a time slot.

We will also be offering a To-Go breakfast that you can sign up ahead of time for.

Afternoon Tea:

Our second favorite eating time of the day. 🥰 In the foreseeable future we will not be able to do our usual spread with cookies, muffins, beloved Rum Balls, and homemade lemonade. We are looking at alternatives to this so you can still have Michelle’s molasses ginger cookies or her gooey chocolate chip brownies. We might individually wrap up the Cookie of the Day and hang a bag on your doorknob.

Housekeeping:

Daily housekeeping service for stay-over rooms has been temporarily suspended. This is to protect you from contamination from our staff but also to protect our staff from unnecessary exposure. We will leave whatever you need to refresh and restock outside of your door wrapped in plastic.

If you have stayed with us before you know that Cleaning was already a HUGE part of daily life around here. We have really high standards of cleanliness. But will be stepping up the disinfecting of high touch areas such as knobs, switches, handrails, coffee and water dispensers.

Extra pillows and blankets stored in the guest room closets will be removed and available upon guest request
Specific sanitation consideration will be paid to the following guest room areas:Desks, countertops, tables, and chairs TVs, cable boxes and remotes (where applicable) Thermostats Cabinetry pulls and hardware Doors and doorknobs Bathroom vanities and accessories Bathroom fixtures and hardware Windows, mirrors, and frames Lights and lighting controls Closets, hangers, and other amenities
We will have a “Trash Room” located on the second floor that we will ask you to drop your dirty linens, trash, recycling, and dirty dishes that you had in your room. This way your room is cleared of all dirty items.
We will provide you a card to fill out on a daily basis of what items you need restocked for your room. We will leave these items in a bag outside of your door.

We will also have hand sanitizer and sanitizing wipes located around the inn for your use.

All paper items such as magazines, newspapers, guest books will be removed from room and only provided upon request.

We will will be continually monitoring new and evolving cleaning meothods as outlined by the Maine CDC, federal CDC and our hospitality professional associations that we are members of.

Check-in/Check-out Times:

In Order to ensure that guest rooms and the common rooms are cleaned to the highest standards check-in times will be between 3:00pm-6:00pm. We will not be able to accommodate ANY early check-ins. In order to maintain our sanitization procedure Guest rooms will be locked when our housekeeper has finished cleaning it.

We assume that we will be required to perform some sort of health/safety check of our guests. (No guidance has been issued yet.) This may be something as simple as taking your temperature. In order to accomplish this guests must check-in during check-in hours of 3pm-6pm. Late arrivals can not be accommodated at this time.

Only registered guests will be allowed in the inn. The front door will be locked at all times and you will be required to use a key to enter the inn.
Check-out will be strictly adhered to ensure we have suffient time to clean and santize the room from the next guest.
We will be unable to hold/store luggage for guests.
We are working on a process for contact-less check-in. This will take a little longer to work out. As small business, a mom&pop business really, this is all so new to us. We’ll update this as we have a process for this.

Local Restaurants: Local Restaurants are open for both indoor eating and out dining in most cases. Check out this website to get up to date information on your favorite restaurant.

Activities: Bike rentals, kayaking tour groups, Acadia tours, Nature curuises are all up and running. Of course with modifications to ensure your health and safety. Please Check out Bar Harbor Chambor of Commerce for more ideas for your vacation and to find links to your favorite excursion.

COVID-19:

You will be required to wear a mask upon entering the Holbrook House and in any public/common area. We ask that you please abide by this in order to ensure the health and safety of your fellow guests. You never know who around you is vulnerable to this illness. If you are unwilling to wear a mask we will refuse you entry.
We ask that you stay home if you feel ill for any reason including have a fever, have been exposed to COVID-19, someone in your direct family has, or has been exposed to, COVID-19. We ask this as a home based business like ours we have close contact with our guests. If either Eric or I get sick from COVID-19 it will be a huge financial blow to us. This is not only our home but our sole source of income. We have several people in our family who are part of the vulnerable population and we are trying to find a balance between opening our B&B and ensuring the our health and that of our loved ones who depend on us.
We will place stations of hand sanitizer and/or sanitizing wipes around the inn, especially by front door. Please use these prior to your use and after you touch something to protect the person behind you.
We not not have central A/C or heat. Each room this their own individual A/C unit, and either baseboard hot water heat or individual heat pumps and windows in each room to get fresh air. Thereby reducing your exposure to recirculated air.
You will be required to complete and sign the Certificate of Compliance which we are required to keep on file.