Hotelier’s four Maine properties earn Michelin recognition

Four of Newburyport, Mass.-based hotelier Lark Hotels' Maine hospitality properties were included on this year’s Michelin Guide “key” list. The list recognizes outstanding hotels and considers criteria such as architecture, interior design, service quality, the property’s character, value and guest experience. The recognition is similar to Michelin stars awarded to restaurants. The Blind Tiger Danforth Street and Blind Tiger Carleton Street Portland, along with AWOL Kennebunkport and the Kennebunkport Captains Collection, are among nine Maine hotels on the one-key list. Michelin awards up to three keys. Other one-key hotels in Maine are the Camden Harbour Inn, Lincoln Hotel in Biddeford, Cliff House in Cape Neddick, White Barn Inn in Kennebunkport and Norumbega Inn in Camden. Sea captain's houses Lark was founded in 2012 by Rob Blood, who started as an innkeeper on Nantucket and eventually began looking for his own inn to buy. He found the historic Captain Fairfield Inn (now called the James Fairfield House) in Kennebunkport, moved there and started renovations. In 2020, Blood bought two neighboring properties — also sea captain homes converted to inns — containing three buildings, and created a single “boutique village resort” of four inns, launched that year as the Kennebunkport Captains Collection and consisting of the William Jefferds House, James Fairfield House, Nathaniel Lord Mansion and Acton Patterson House. The 45-room collection opened in 2021. Inn makeovers In 2019, Lark bought the former Danforth Inn at 163 Danforth St. in Portland’s West End, completed interior renovations and reopened as Blind Tiger in 2020 with nine rooms. The building dates back to 1823. The “blind tiger” name goes back to the Prohibition era, when the building’s basement had a speakeasy; a “blind tiger” was slang for an illegal spot where you could find a stiff cocktail, Blood has told Mainebiz. Several years later, Lark acquired a nearby historic inn, previously known as the Inn On Carleton, and brought it into the Blind Tiger fold, bringing the number of rooms to 15. The 46 Carleton St. location, a few blocks from the first Blind Tiger, was built in 1869 as a private residence, then converted to a bed-and-breakfast. The Blind Tiger brand is focused on secondary urban markets. Opened in 2021, AWOL Kennebunkport offers 17 guest rooms and suites, including standalone cabins. Overall, Lark operates boutique hotels under 150 keys, with a portfolio of approximately 75 properties in Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, elsewhere across the country and in Mexico.