Gifford House Inn

First of all if your expecting high end sophistication you need to go to the Ritz. This is a antique building so expected it to be preserved not «updated». Also if your there at popular times expected to hear people having a good time. The prices are fair and a great location. There is a bar on site and a club in the basement (opened) certain nights. The rooms are basic. There is a decent continental breakfast. There is parking which is rare. The staff is nice. Don’t be a douche nozzle and give bad reviews if your expecting high end accommodations.

This is the second time we’ve stayed in this place because we completely forgot how much we disliked it when we stayed here last year. But this time solidified it.
Let’s get something straight. I like Ptown. I know our community comes here to relax and have a good time. I get it. I’m even okay with the quaint nature of the inn itself. But when I come here for an event that I want to take part in at 9 o’clock the next morning, I don’t want to be relegated to only being able to go to sleep when the piano performance in the lobby ends at 1 am.
Yes, 3 nights out of 7 a week they have a performer in the lobby and you can here it loud and clear throughout the hotel. There are other places within the confines of these walls that they could do this such as, I don’t know, the attached restaurant or the attached bar.
Besides that, the wifi is crap and always congested despite like 4 routers (made writing research papers a little difficult), the continental breakfast is nothing but coffee (removed around 6 pm so get it while you can), some apples, and loaves of bread freshly removed from grocery store bags and placed in a basket. Next to a toaster. Oh but they do have overcooked hard-​boiled eggs. Good for protein.
Yes this will thankfully be the last time we stay here. I’m sure some people dig places like this, but I feel like an inn should be used for sleeping. I guess I’m old fashioned.

Here’s the thing about Gifford House. It’s a BnB so not all hotel amenities available. Some rooms do not have AC but at night it is usually cool enough for the window fan they provide. The breakfast is pretty standard continental fare. Bread, rolls, bagels, muffins, fruit, cold cereals, coffee and juice.
Piano and porch bars are a lot of fun and make the stay worthwhile.
Negative: not much but a steep hill for older or less able patrons may be difficult to walk back from Commercial Street.

This place is a complete dump if you’re there for a room. The beds are horrendous! you feel the springs, the beds are loud, takes 15 mins to get hot water out of the shower, the AC didn’t work. Live entertainment keeps you up at night. The only plus is that they have bars inside so you don’t have to go far for drinks. I won’t be staying at this place again.

This review is for Purgatory in the basement, can’t manage lines here. Guys standing patiently in line while guys come right up to the front to get their clothes. The lame guys don’t enforce the line and worse solicit tips for being quick and retrieving clothes checked. Fuck this place. There are many other places to go.

Awful Accommodations! I’ve stayed here several times before BUT this will be the last time. What a very unpleasant experience, I booked a room with a bay view way back in March instead I got room #11 which faces west so if you looked out through the trees to your far left then you could make out the bay. The room is in a major need of a renovation, when I saw the room I was very disappointed in how disrepair it was in, when I brought this to the attention if the receptionist he claimed this was considered a bay view room and that due to their vacancy he could possibly jump us around from different rooms during our 7 night stay, NEVER AGAIN!

The charm is all in the lobby and not the rooms. The location is great, middle of town, but not on Commercial street. It’s up a hill so there’s a bit of a climb; the reward is a great view if you have the right room. The view’s other cost is direct sunlight at dawn, and no blackout curtains. In the best four person room we had two twin size beds, short and narrow, but with an over-​large bathroom. Heat was too hot or cold. On-​demand water kept the shower hot, but the sink had low water pressure and tepid heat. One short towel rack for four guests was another disappointment. The tube TV is quaint I suppose, but bulky. Bigger beds, flatter TV and smaller bathroom would be nicer. Staff is nice and polite. The rating is lowered by the cost versus value. This was last updated, barely, in the 70s but the prices are rather higher than the amenities rate.

Very pleased. A great value. Close to everything and utterly charming. Please note that there is no shampoo provided, bring your own hair stuff. The mattresses are also a bit uncomfortable. But overall they are incredibly accommodating, friendly, and it’s been a wonderful stay.

I have a love/​hate relationship with the Gifford House. I can never decide if i’m charmed or digusted by it’s «hasn’t changed in 30 years» atmosphere. I mean, literally nothing had changed there since i started going to Ptown regularly in the late 80s. I bet nothing has moved an inch in the place in all that time, certainly nothing’s been updated.
And that’s the rub. Not update = cheap, and the Gifford House is one of the extremely rare affordable Inns in Ptown, so at least there’s that.
If you know what you are getting into, and you’re fine with dated rooms where you would never want to use a black-​light to check for stains, then this place is fine. Don’t expect «luxe» anything and you can’t be disappointed.
That said there are a couple things that are unforgivable. No bath products? At all? Just slim generic soaps? Come on! I’ll pay the 50 cents extra a night for shampoo and body wash bottles!
And they also are very cagey about saying you can’t hear the bar in the annex, but you «might» hear it in the main house. It’s loud EVERY night here until 1am. Period. Again, if you are going out every night, so what. But be warned.
+
Cheap
Large rooms with lots of bed options
Central
Free admission to purgatory
Parking
Good water pressure
-
Nothing here has changed in the 25 years I’ve been coming I ptown
Loud !!!
Dated
Hard beds and pillows
Expanded cont b’fast with no expansion (no yogurt, no meats, lots of bread)
No hot tub
Slight «Ick» factor
No bath products except soap

I enjoyed the piano bar. The music was fun on a Friday night last week. The piano man was fun and he had some really good songs everyone could sing to. He got everyone in the bar to sing. You don’t feel like you are in a bar here. It has a living room with some couches and some seating with wooden tables. There is a bar area if you want to sit there and there is a large outside porch. There is also a pool table and a few video games. Pac Man…:)

Worst accommodations I’ve ever had — I’d rather sleep in a tent.
If there were no nightclub below, it would be a middling hotel. With the club there, it’s absolutely dreadful — all night long there’s thumping bass coming up to your bedroom. I managed to sleep some with earplugs, my boyfriend barely slept until the club closed well after midnight. We were both pretty miserable in the morning and my boyfriend asked for us to go home a day early as a result.
Don’t get a room here. It’s not worth it, spend some more and get a room anywhere else. Sleep on the beach if you have to, you’ll feel better for it in the morning.

The Porch Bar at the Gifford House is NOT the place to go if you’re looking to possibly kiss someone of the same gender. I was asked to leave by the staff for doing just that. One would think that at a gay bar in Provincetown of all places, it wouldn’t be an issue. The manager, Greg, explained to me that kissing dis not maintain the level of appropriateness he wishes to maintain for his gay bar in Provincetown. So if you go, you can have a drink, hear a song, but be sure not to gay kiss anyone. You will be thrown out.

Nicely decorated, reasonable lodging. Helpful staff. Fun place to stay! Porch bar is a great place to hang and have a drink with friends. Owner Jim and Manager Harvey are the most amazing hosts. Very attentive to our needs and truly seem to enjoy what they do.

Reviewing: Porchside Lounge
I was recommended to this bar after eating at Bayside Betsy’s.
The bar is close to the center, but in a quieter area… not on the main strip. Drinks are super affordable — $ 5.50 for a well vodka tonic. The atmosphere of room itself is absolutely gorgeous. The art is exclusively scantily clad men but hey– it’s provincetown.
There are some arcade games– table top pac man?! YES PLEASE! there’s also a pool table.
The outside seating area is probably awesome in the summer.
The music is fun and upbeat but not too aggressively loud.
I did feel slightly too estrogen filled to be there (they don’t even have a women’s bathroom) but i would definitely go back.
head’s up: it’s CASH ONLY.

Reviewing: The Lobby Bar and the Basement Dance Club
The lobby bar is a nice place to see and be seeing. With ample space and huge balconies, it lets you either sit inside or enjoy the fresh air outside. Music plays in the background with the volume low enough to have a conversation. The lobby area of the Gifford Inn is nice, with a country home feel to it.
For the «leather» and ecstasy-​dance crazed people, the basement of the Gifford house turns into a club with super loud music. The basement air circulation is so bad that the place feels more like a steam-​bath than anything… and with people wearing leather, I feel sorry for them… shrits fly out and a few patrons dance in the boxes wearing short-​shorts or underwear. The $ 20 cover charge to go to the basement is not worth it… unless that is your «scene»…
I’ve never been to the rooms of the Inn but I will assume that, with the big crowd that shows up for the lobby and basement bar on the weekends, it probably gets quite loud and uncomfortable when trying to sleep, specially before 1 am and if having a room facing the front. Some people might like that though…
It is a nice place for an after dinner drink and night cap. A nice site to relax in the lobby bar before heading home…