The Merchant

Centrally located, beautifully designed boutique hotel with friendly staff. Guests appreciate spacious, clean rooms with comfortable beds. Ideal for exploring the area on foot.

We visited several gardens in the area and Salem was a great stop-over spot between two days in the gardens. I saw the great reviews of The Merchant on TripAdvisor and decided to give it a try. We were very pleased with this B and B in every way. Check-in was easy. Communication was clear. Parking was a breeze. The Merchant is within walking distance of anywhere you’d want to go in Salem. The photos on the website look just like our room. For an historic hotel, our room was quite spacious. The bed was comfortable with super soft sheets. The bathroom was lovely and decently sized as well. There’s a lot of nice natural light in our room. There are a couple of lovely common spaces. One is on the first floor with loads of comfortable seating and nice lighting. It’s like a living room/library. The other is on the second floor which is an outdoor terrace space. This also had comfortable seating and tables. In the morning there was a fresh-baked frittata that was delicious. But there were also plenty of yummy cold items available at any time, like overnight oats and yogurt and fruit in cute jars. There are also outrageously good and fresh chocolate chip cookies. One thing to note that I had not expected: there is not a bar at The Merchant. The common space on the first floor is great but if you want to drink alcohol, or other beverages, you need to bring your own. They have glasses and bottle openers just no liquor license.

My favorite hotel experience ever… sounds like a lot to say but the access and amenities and spacious and stylistic rooms were a solid win.