Eurostars The Boxer — Hotel in Boston

At check-in, the lobby was chaotic, and there appeared to be only one woman assisting customers. Finally, with two lines that were three people deep, a man stood up from where he had been sitting on one of the couches in the lobby and came to the desk--I couldn't tell if he was staff or a fellow hotel resident until he jumped behind the desk. He was surly and barely spoke during our entire interaction. I told him we were traveling with a pet, and he proceeded to assign us to the highest floor in the hotel. My wife and I went to settle into the room, and when we unlocked the door, a maintenance staff member was inside. I apologized for startling him and asked if he was finished with his work and he said simply, "No." So I asked what we should do and he said "I don't know." We went back downstairs (by nine flights of stairs because the single elevator needs to accommodate both staff and service workers, and so it's often stuffed with linens or a housekeeping cart that doesn't allow for passengers to share the space). The lobby was still bedlam, but I was finally waited on again. When I informed them that our room wasn't ready (well past check-in time), I was assigned to a third floor room (phew!).

The room itself was a bit shabby. The "cage" for that surrounded the desk and obstructed the view of the TV was extremely rickety and unattached to anything, dangerous to people and pets alike as it could easily fall over and injure someone. The fixtures in the shower were broken and poorly attached.

Because we had to go outside with a pet with some frequency, I started to understand why the front of The Boxer accumulates trash to a greater degree than other area properties--no trash cans. If The Boxer were truly pet-friendly it would anticipate this need and reduce the amount of time and effort hotel staff spend each morning cleaning the sidewalk in front of the establishment. These repeated trips were made by stairs only as we could never get the elevator to come within 5 minutes of pressing the call button. I could have made different housing choices if the website/materials were up front about the hotel's limited interior transport.

Parking was also fairly ridiculous. I understand that not all establishments have their own parking facilities or offer valet (and in fact, I prefer to park my own car), but the hotel staff were largely ignorant of how to describe driving to and entering the parking structure, and also failed to note that in order to exit the lot, you need both the pass furnished upon check-in AND the original ticket you took upon entering the facility. I am glad an attendant was available to help, otherwise I might still be stuck in the parking facility and condemned to another night at The Boxer.

The auto-generated email I recieved thanking me for my stay was time stamped 8:02 a.m. We didn't leave the hotel until approximately 11:30 a.m., at which time I was told we had already been checked out. I guess that explains why housekeeping ignored the Do Not Disturb sign and knocked on our door/attempted to enter shortly after 8 a.m. (Luckily (?) we were already up, as someone not in our party had set the alarm to go off at 6:30 a.m. Doesn't housekeeping check for those kinds of things when a room is turned over?) I asked three times for a paper receipt and was denied this. I was assured repeatedly that I would receive a receipt by email, but none has been forthcoming as of yet.

Speaking of a receipt--given my experience with The Boxer, it's likely the bill has an error too. I spent time and effort to set up a profile/sign up for discounts offered by The Boxer (I believe I chose 20% off parking)--but how can I know if it was applied if I don't have the receipt to refer to? Additionally, I was told that the $20 dining credit would be applied to the bill since we dined at Bullfinch Social, but again---how can I know for sure?

The convenience of the location is not worth the money or the hassles involved in stating here,...

This is by far the worst hotel experience I’ve ever had. I reserved a junior suite a little over 1 month prior to my stay and even paid for it upfront to guarantee I had this room when I checked in. Day of my reservation I walked up to the front desk (this was a little after 4pm on June 25th) when I gave my name and reservation number, I was told I reserved a standard king room. I had to pull up my reservation on the phone and show them I made a reservation for a junior suite, and I had already paid for it. To my utter shock I was told they did not have any type of suites available and only the standard king was available during our stay. They blamed it on a system error and barely given any consolation for my issue. All I asked them was to reimburse the difference for the room type which they said they will do at the end of my stay. Not once did a manager on duty come to try and rectify the situation or check in on us, it was all done by the girl at the front desk who I had to ask repeatedly to speak up. The standard room was ok in size and was fairly clean, but not what we reserved. We wanted the bigger room to have space and actually use the desk, not just for storage. The major issues with the room were the following: Thin walls. When I laid in bed you could hear the other guests in their room talking. The other guests did not need to yell, just talk in a normal voice and you could hear the whole conversation. The bed is old and needs to be tossed out. My bed was so old you could see the indents of where other guests have repeatedly slept. You fall into one of the grooves and you are stuck there. Also, the fitted sheet kept popping off the corners of the bed. The drain issue in the bathtub. The bathroom itself is small, and the toilet and sink flushed and drained just fine. However, the shower/tub would back up, so you were standing in ankle deep water the entire time you were showering. I didn’t take a long shower either, 5 minutes max, I would check to see if I had accidentally pulled the stopper on, but I did not. The parking (while not in the room I still feel I should include it). If you have a car avoid this hotel at all costs. They don’t have a garage attached (which it does say on their website, and I knew that coming in) but the garage they are partnered with is 2 blocks away and is very expensive. The vouchers that you have to ask for (they will not give to you) only cover $40 a day. While this place is trying to be an upscale boutique hotel, it fails in every way. Nothing ever felt unique or luxurious, and the service was horrible from start to finish. Their “apology” was to send a front desk agent up to my room at 11 pm to give us a very small bottle of wine. This woke my husband and I after a long day, if you were going to do this why not do this at a more reasonable hour? When we checked out the front desk assured us, we will be refunded for the difference, but it will take 3-10 days for the refund to come through. I have yet to see the refund and now will have to deal with my credit card company to try and re-coup my losses. Never again will I stay at this hotel or any of the other hotels run by Independent Collection. Avoid at all costs unless you want to be treated worse than staying...

I’ve been on the fence about writing this review, but I hope that someone else is spared the grief that we dealt with on our vacation. I’m just going to number the issues that we had with the hotel. The rooms are extremely small and the a/c is practically non-existent. I’m not sure if this issue was specific to our room, but it was not comfortable at all. In addition, the electrical outlets were all loose. There was only one outlet that I could use to charge devices or plug my hair dryer in. 2.Before booking, I asked if the hotel provided parking and was told yes. I was not informed that parking was several blocks away from the hotel and only self parking was available. It was very inconvenient to park. It took over 30 minutes because the construction in the area and when leaving, we had to walk several blocks with a small child and several items of luggage. As I was leaving the garage I scanned my parking ticket and the 2 vouchers they gave me when I initially paid for parking and some how still owed $48. When I called the hotel to ask I was told to call the parking garage manager because it was their fault. The manager added unauthorized purchases to my card. We were so exhausted after our first day of travel we opted to eat at the hotel restaurant for convenience. As a former server, it takes a lot for me to complain about a dining experience, but this place is awful. The server/bartender could not effectively manage the 3 tables he had. Took forever to get menus after being seated then practically had to beg for drinks. We ended up ordering 3 overpriced sliders/burgers. About 20 minutes after ordering, he came out to tell us that our food was ready but they forgot to turn on the grease so they were waiting on the French fries. We asked that he just bring the burgers out because we were starving and didn’t want them just sitting under the heat lamp. 20 minutes later he finally brigs our burgers out sans fries. Food was cold and chewy because it was sitting out for so long. After asking for the bill he brings out a plate of fries. Awful experience, but we don’t complain. We pay the bill and figure that’s that. The next day I check my credit card statement and notice a charge for like $150 from the hotel. I call to see why it was added and they tell me it was from dining at the restaurant. I explain that we are at the restaurant, but my friend paid and our bill was no where near what was charged on my card. He then tells me there was an issue with the card we paid with so they just added it on my card. The charge for dinner was on my friends card still and was magically reversed during our phone call. When I inquired about the difference in price, he tried to tell me my parking was included. However, the parking was already charged on my card. It seemed extremely inappropriate and while I hope this was an honest mistake, it feels like I was being swindled. To top off an already shady situation, I returned home to find another $7 charge. Called to inquire and was told I purchased something from the mini bar that I didn’t touch.

Overall it was a very frustrating stay and I can’t...