Inn policies

We try to keep our rules few and our reasons good. Most of them come from one fact: this is a wooden house, built in 1748, that a great many people have worked very hard to keep standing. Please read the policies below before you book. Making a reservation means you've agreed to them.

Questions about anything here can go to stay@cranelantern.example or (978) 555-0148.

Check-in and check-out

• Check-in: 3:00 pm to 8:00 pm, at the front desk in the main hall.
• Late arrival: If you will arrive after 8:00 pm, you must let us know by phone or email before 6:00 pm on your day of arrival. We will send instructions and a code for the lockbox by the front door. Guests who arrive late without arranging it may find the house locked and the innkeeper asleep.
• Early arrival: Rooms are not guaranteed before 3:00 pm. We are happy to hold your bags, and you're welcome to use the Library, the garden and the courts while you wait.
• Check-out: 11:00 am. Late check-out may be possible on request, depending on the next arrival, and is not available on October weekends.

Minimum stays

• A 2-night minimum applies to any stay that includes a Friday or Saturday night.
• A 3-night minimum applies to any stay that includes a Friday or Saturday night in October. This is not negotiable, and we're sorry. Salem in October is not like Salem the rest of the year.
• Single weeknights are available outside October whenever the calendar allows.

Deposits and cancellation

A credit card is required to hold every reservation. We'll confirm your reservation in writing and charge a deposit equal to the first night's rate at that time. The balance is charged at check-out.

• Stays November through September: cancel 14 days or more before your arrival date for a full refund.
• Stays in October: cancel 30 days or more before your arrival date for a full refund.
• Inside those windows (fewer than 14 days, or fewer than 30 days for October), we refund 50% of the reservation.
• Shortening a stay after arrival, or leaving early, is treated as a cancellation inside the window.
• If we are able to rebook your room for the same dates, we'll refund the rest. We can't promise this, especially in October.

We strongly recommend travel insurance for October stays. Storms, illness and missed trains happen to everyone, and we can't make exceptions for one guest that we don't make for all.

Children

Children aged 10 and older are welcome in all rooms in the main house. Children of any age are welcome in the Carriage House Suite, which is a separate building and has a sleeper sofa and a pack-and-play on request. A third guest in the Nursery (on the daybed) is the only room in the main house that takes three people. Every guest under 18 must be staying with a parent or guardian, and the person making the reservation must be at least 21.

Dogs and other pets

• Dogs are allowed only in the Carriage House Suite: up to two dogs, at $50 per dog-friendly night (one fee per night regardless of whether you bring one dog or two).
• Dogs must be leashed on the grounds and may not be left alone in the suite.
• Dogs are not permitted in the main house, the Lantern Room, The Ledger or the Undertaker's Parlor. In summer, dogs are welcome with you on the Carriage House patio and the garden terrace.
• We don't accept cats or other pets. (We have a cat. He would not accept them either.)
• Service animals, as defined by law, are welcome throughout the inn and in every room, with no fee. Emotional-support animals that are not service animals fall under the dog policy above.

Smoking

The Crane & Lantern House is entirely smoke-free, inside and out. That includes cigarettes, cigars, pipes, vaping and cannabis in any form that burns or vapes, in the rooms, on the widow's walk, on the porches and patios, in the garden and anywhere on the grounds. Guests who smoke in a room will be charged for the professional cleaning required, and for any nights the room can't be sold as a result.

For the same reason, no candles, incense, oil lamps, sage bundles or any other open flame are allowed in guest rooms or anywhere in the house. We know Salem sells beautiful candles. Please take them home and light them there.

Quiet hours

Quiet hours are 10:00 pm to 7:00 am throughout the house and grounds. The walls of a 1748 house are thinner than they look, the stairs are louder than you'd think, and voices carry up the widow's walk stair like a speaking tube. During quiet hours, please keep voices low in the halls and on the stairs, and keep the widow's walk closed. Ghost investigations, recording sessions and late-night séances in the halls are not permitted during quiet hours, or, frankly, at other times.

Damages and house rules

• Please treat the house as you would a museum you're allowed to sleep in. Original paneling, drawers, floors, doors and furniture can't be replaced.
• Guests are responsible for any damage to the room, its furnishings or the house beyond ordinary wear, and we'll charge the card on file for repair or replacement after letting you know.
• Please don't move furniture, hang anything from bed canopies or the walls, open the sealed apothecary drawers or bottles, or remove anything from a room, including (we have to say this) the Nursery log.
• Parties and gatherings in guest rooms are not permitted. Visitors who aren't registered guests are welcome in the public rooms but not in guest rooms after 10:00 pm.
• We reserve the right to end a stay, without refund, if a guest's behavior endangers the house, our staff or other guests.

Everything else

• Accessibility: The house has no elevator. Our one accessible room is the Apothecary, on the ground floor. See our accessibility page for details.
• Breakfast: Included with every stay. Served 7:30 to 10:00 am on weekdays and 8:00 to 10:30 am on weekends in the Lantern Room, where overnight guests are seated ahead of the public.
• Lost and found: We keep anything left behind for 60 days and will mail it back to you at cost.
• Room changes: We do our best to give you the room you booked. If something beyond our control (a burst pipe, a broken boiler, a house being 278 years old) makes that impossible, we'll move you to a comparable room or refund the difference.
• Paranormal activity: We can't guarantee it, refund for its absence, or (in most cases) move you because of its presence. If another room is free and you'd really rather sleep elsewhere, ask. We're not unkind.

Policies last updated March 2025. Policies for weddings and full-house buyouts are different and are set out in your event agreement.

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