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THE NEW AND NOTEWORTHY: THE REMODELED STEPHANIE INN AT CANNON BEACH
by Jim Gullo, for Oregon.com

When we heard that the Stephanie Inn in Cannon Beach re-opened recently after a fast, $5 million renovation, we practically leaped through the phone lines to secure a visit.  The 41-room Inn has long received high marks from travelers and the press for its fine-dining restaurant, comfortable décor and friendly service, and it doesn’t hurt that the Stephanie enjoys an absolutely killer location on the beach, with up-close views of Haystack Rock.  Since we were in need of a little personal renovation ourselves, we headed off to Cannon Beach to check out the re-model.

There we were greeted by Sharon Major, the pleasant General Manager of the property who has been with the Stephanie since she first flung open her wooden doors on April 15, 1993.  Built from weathered wood to resemble a Cape Cod getaway, the Stephanie has always exuded a homey charm.  The rooms, for instance, are named after female friends and relatives of the owners; we stayed in Tracey Ann, and we can now personally vouch for her hospitality and good taste, whoever she may be.

“A more homey, residential feel is what we were looking for,” said Major as she showed off new carpets and furniture in the lobby and library, with its curved windows looking out to the beach and ocean.  A new color scheme relies on Earth tones accented with reds and blues, and the at-home feeling is delivered by a 24-hour coffee and tea station for guests, and a large cookie jar with house-baked cookies.  Not wishing to be impolite, we reached for a couple of these, stuffed them into our mouth and mumbled, “Lead on.”

The Inn actually reduced its room inventory from 50 to 41 in the renovation, knocking out one guest room to expand the kitchen and turning several mountain-view rooms into one-bedroom suites.  Instead of adding a full spa, the Inn ingeniously transformed two guestrooms into lavish treatment rooms, with massage tables, lovely waterfall art features and fireplaces, a sauna and lounge chairs.  One of the rooms has an oversized shower; the other has a large soaking tub for two.  Guests can rent them for an hour or two, Major said, while enjoying couples massages and other treatments, or just relaxing.  They’d need a crowbar to pry us out, we noted.

The Inn’s bathrooms were all entirely redone, expanded and trimmed with stone floors and granite counters, with the Inn’s signature soaking tubs and separate showers.  Tempur-Pedic beds are new, as are microwaves that have been added to each room.  Our corner suite, with a striking view of Haystack Rock from the balcony, also came equipped with a pair of binoculars, the better to scan the ocean for migrating whales (that Tracey Ann thinks of everything).  Wood floors, fireplaces and new sofas and chairs complete the cozy picture.

After about ten minutes of arriving in this particular lap of luxury, we fully understood what Ryan Snyder, the President of Martin Hospitality, meant when he said, “One of the things that makes the Stephanie Inn special is that you never have to leave.  You can spend three days in your robe if you want to.”  We were sitting by the fireplace in the Library, where wine and hors d’oeuvres are served at happy hour and cordials are poured after dinner, and he filled us in on the history of the company.

The Stephanie was built by Steve and Jan Martin after they left The Dalles, where Steve was a restaurateur who opened and operated Cousins country restaurant for many years.  The couple began to buy properties at Cannon Beach, including an old motel called the Viking that occupied the spot where the Stephanie now sits.  The motel was torn down in 1992, and a year later the Inn opened.  Since there were few dining options on the beach at that time, a key part of the concept was a fine-dining restaurant which presently serves four-course dinners, paired with wines, of fresh Oregon ingredients in a contemporary American style.  Chef Crystal Corbin now heads a kitchen that has seen a number of gifted chefs, including Seattle’s Bill Belickis, who now runs his Mistral restaurant in that city.  The Stephanie’s food has been featured several times at New York’s James Beard House, Snyder added.

Besides offering comfortable digs, the Inn does a number of things that ramp up the hospitality quotient.  Guests are greeted by friendly staffers at small, wooden tables, not an imposing counter, and escorted to their rooms.  The dinner menu is posted on a daily information sheet that includes area weather and history.  House-made trail mix, not chocolate, is placed on your pillow at night, and at check-out, guests are handed a goody bag with water for the road.  In a wonderful touch that we’ve never seen before at hotels large or small, our car was even washed, free of charge.

Which is fine if you have any intention of ever leaving the Stephanie Inn, but since we were still in our bathrobes, without a shred of desire to go anywhere, we sent the car back to the parking lot.  We retreated back to Tracey Ann, locked her door, lit her fire, filled her soaking tub and succumbed once again to her soft embrace.