Mainstay

I stayed at the mainstay last month, and my experience was a little mixed.
The room we stayed in was very comfortable. The lighting was wonderful, we slept well, and we loved hanging out on the couch in our room. We also loved the fireplace. The water pressure in the shower was good, and there were more than enough clean towels and blankets for us, which was wonderful.
The only issue we had with the room itself was that the doors didn’t latch properly. That wasn’t a problem for the door leading to the hallway — the lock worked fine, so the only issue would have been if we’d wanted to keep the door closed but unlocked (which we had no reason to do). It was a little more annoying in the bathroom — we didn’t have a way to securely latch the door, though it never blew open, so it wasn’t a huge deal.
The more significant issue for us were the dogs. Elizabeth has two poodles. I’m a dog person (I own a German Shepherd), so I’m used to barking, but they became pretty irritating at times, especially when she wasn’t home to calm them down. I get that dogs bark, but I wish they’d been a little better trained to not go off at everything, including people entering and leaving the house (which presumably they should be used to). I also wish they’d been blocked off from the room with a microwave by more than a kiddie gate — the barking made me nervous on the occasions where I used it.
Overall, though, it was a good experience. We might shop around a bit if we want to come back to Southampton, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we ended up here again.

I love this Southampton guest house! My daughter and I spent a March off-​season night here recently and were charmed from the moment we arrived. We stayed in the Hill Street suite, a lovely two-​bedroom suite that owner Elizabeth upgraded us to at no extra charge. The suite was spacious and comfortable, with lovely linens, comfy chairs, and modern touches like free wifi and a large flat-​screen TV.
Elizabeth is the perfect hostess, and we enjoyed chatting with her and admiring her two well-​behaved standard poodles, Tallulah and Lily. The serve-​yourself breakfast was delicious: waffles, cereal, yogurt and fresh fruit. The location is super convenient to shopping and beaches.
We can’t wait to stay here again and my daughter and I both agreed we want to live in a house just like this. The Mainstay is the perfect choice for a cozy stay in Southampton.

My boyfriend and I stayed with Elizabeth this past weekend. We wanted to take advantage of the off season prices in the Hamptons and were drawn to the Mainstay. It’s a beautiful 200+ year old house with many original features. The house is decorated to suit it’s age & history. There seem to be many rooms to accommodate different numbers of guests. We stayed in the Bishop room which was very quaint and perfect for 2 people. The bathroom is private, but not attached to the room. There’s a beautiful old claw foot tub in there but we couldn’t figure out for the life of us how to get it to go from the handheld setting to the bath setting so we could fill up the tub and relax. It was our first time using a claw foot tub so maybe we just weren’t prepared? Who knows. Maybe a note on how to use it would have been helpful. Also, we weren’t aware that it just was a tub with a handheld, so showering would have to happen sitting down and maybe a bit awkward! We were only their for one night, so after not figuring out the bath we decided to just forgo bathing at all!
Elizabeth, the owner, is kind and helpful. She gave us suggestions for how to spend our day getting to see as much of the Hamptons area as possible. She has 2 poodles who are very friendly! Not sure if they are hypoallergenic, so may want to inquire before you book if you have allergies!
Breakfast was absolutely delicious — fresh fruit, cereal, coffee, OJ, bread with incredible jam, and a make-​it-​yourself waffle station! Food was plentiful and very satisfying!
The house in on a beautiful corner lot. We didn’t get to enjoy the garden or pool, but I’m sure having outdoor space and use of a pool during the summer months is simply an added bonus! The house is about a 5 minute drive to the main downtown area of Southampton and about the same distance to Cooper’s Beach. All in all, a pretty decent location for a nice accommodation!
We would certainly stay with Elizabeth again! Prices seem to be about on par for both the off season and high season compared to other B&Bs in the area (at least as far as we saw — we aren’t Hamptons B&B experts by any means).

A gracious bed and breakfast ! I came here for a winter respite from Manhattan. Large, elegantly shabby chic rooms, a warm innkeeper/​owner, and a well-​behaved resident poodle. I slept better than I have in years: crisp sheets, perfect pillows and a lovely view out my window.
The morning coffee was strong and the homemade waffles were divine. Plus lots of other choices for a hearty breakfast: hard-​boiled eggs, bread, fruit, cereal.
The wifi is fast and it’s a pretty walk to the beach or village.
The Mainstay is homey without being cloying. There’s a casual sophistication that I really appreciate.

we were able to take advantage of the stay one night, second half off. elizabeth, the proprietor was cordial. i researched many lodgings for our off-​season weekend and chose the mainstay for it’s real fireplace, price and style of rooms.
once there, relaxed and comfortable, read: mismatched juice glasses. i prefer this type of b and b. not uptight, but well done. cozy, quality, bed. not a sprawling house. one common room, a dining room, all bedrooms upstairs.
we were disappointed with the water pressure and temp. we did speak with elizabeth and she said it was a new heater. my boyfriend was not satisfied. we did expect wood or more duraflames, so we had to go out to pick up wood.
the continental breakfast was terrific. hard boiled eggs, make your own waffles, big bowl of fruit, oj, cheerios, jam and yogurt.