Holiday Inn Express Boston by IHG — Hotel in Boston

This Holiday Inn Express is new, big, and modern, located next door to the South Bay Mall - a large, spread-out shopping area with a Target, Home Depot, Best Buy, several restaurants, etc. (The Mall has a huge parking lot, which is free, so it seems silly that the Holiday Inn tries to charge people for parking in their smaller lot.) The hotel is also a little less than a 0.5 mile walk from the Andrew Station, over the adjacent freeway, which will allow you to take the subway to anywhere in the greater Boston area. (If you purchase a "Charlie Ticket" at the Station, you can use the city subways and buses. on an unlimited basis, for a week for only $22/person - a good deal if you like using the subway and public transit.) Restaurants are nearby in the Mall area, about 0.3 miles away, including an Olive Garden, Applebees, Chipotle, Halal Guys, Dave's Hot Chicken, etc. Fast food, like a 7-11 and McDonalds is a little further away near the Station. Before walking from the hotel, I'd suggest talking to the front desk to insure you know where you're going as the adjacent neighborhood is not the best, although fine to walk during the day, and the streets/intersections are not laid out in an intuitive pattern. Some in our party found the walk to the Andrew Station to be too much of an inconvenience, and they called an Uber, which showed up in minutes and took them to the north-side of Boston for about $16, so that's an option if you don't have a car.||We stayed with some friends, in two rooms, for 3 nights in June. The rooms were very nice and clean, and everything worked well. The facility is secured by a 24-hour pass key system, even the front door, lobby bathrooms, and elevators are locked, which is somewhat annoying should you forget your keycard. The elevator will only take you to the upper floor authorized by your keycard, which confuses everyone who tries to use the elevator for the first time. (One time, in search of ice, I had to visit three different floors to find an operating ice machine which took about 45 minutes. To get to the floor with an operating ice machine, I even had to get the desk clerk to use their master key to permit me to go to the proper floor.) Later, however, I found you could traverse floors via the two stairwells, which are not restricted at the separate floors. The building's two elevators are quite busy, especially when housekeeping is working.||The building has a very large, open lobby with seats/sofas/tables where large groups of people can assemble and plan their day - perhaps the hotel's best feature. The lobby also has a computer station, with four computers and two printers, where you can quickly print out boarding passes, etc. The WiFi network in the rooms also worked well. Next to the lobby, there is a large area where breakfast is served from 6-10 AM. The breakfast is very popular at this location as there is plenty of seating and its not too cramped finding your food. They have all the standard fare, including hot items like scrambled eggs, pre-made cheese omelets, sausage, bacon, etc. plus a small grill to make pancakes or waffles. All in all, one of the best complimentary hotel breakfasts I've ever seen.||Lastly, there is a workout room downstairs, but no pool. Other than the fact that the hotel is a little farther from the Andrew Station subway connection, than I would have liked, the hotel was a good choice for our small group visiting the...

The marathon experience was enhanced by staying at this location. Of course the City of Boston and the Marathon are the reason for the trip. (cost comparison down the review a little).

The staff at this HIE were part of the City of Boston experience during the marathon. Their enthusiasm for the marathon and towards the runners (and their families) really showed. We arrived on the 18th at about 11am. Well before rooms are ready. The team (not just an individual) that attended to us was spectacular, friendly, and helpful. It showed they really wanted to work for us. The lobby was decorated to welcome the runners and posterboards of previous marathons with pictures of runners who stayed at the hotel were displayed.

The hotel backs up to South Bay Mall which has a Target for items you may need or have forgotten and national chain restaurants all in a 5 minute walk.

The hotel's location is about 1/2 mile from Andrew subway station on the main Red Line and made for extremely easy access to Expo center, race day gatherings, race party events, historical and tourist sites, and greater variety of restaurants and shops.

After the race, again, the staff was so excited for the runners. Congratulation, smiles, pictures for this years poster board along with quality recovery snacks and drinks for no extra charge.

COST COMPARISON: We looked at hotels downtown and worked our way out to find more affordable accommodations. Yes EVERYONE (hotels and AirBnB) jacks the prices up for the marathon weekend. I believe this was the best deal for room, location to transportation, and breakfast (good staff is expected, great staff was found). We had friends who thought they could do better with an AirBnB. They were about 1/2 hour outside of Boston. Had to rent a car at marathon prices. Then each day pay for parking, find parking, and deal with traffic. In the end they paid more and were more stressed about daily travel.

We also took advantage of the HIE $10 shuttle from the airport.

My star rating for value was 4 instead of 5. The value was subjectively the best compared to others but it must be highlighted that it is still very expensive for this specific event. 4 instead of 5 because rates are increased significantly for this specific event. As stated, 'they' all do it but for that reason no one gets a 5.

In fairness this is the first Boston Marathon we have participated in. We have no experience at any other establishment except thru our friends at their ABnB. That being said, when we return for another marathon this is easily our first choice.

Did I mention that the staff was so...

The hotel is tired, drab and lacks any ambience or love. It looks like the furnishing, decor and carpets have not been touched since the 1970s and the lifts had etched garffiti! Management are nowehere to be seen, staff generally hiding and when you find them most don't seem to care. Most dreadful was the breakfast (we chose it for the inclusive breakfasts) where we forced to use non-recyclable polystyrene plates (awful), paper cups and even plastic cutlery. I have never seen this in any decent hotel. The food choice reflected this throw-away culture with so much highly processed content. Sausages were presented like burgers, omlettes were OK but greasy, one decent cereal but in a paper plate and no cheese, fresh cold meats, fruit compote, smoked salmon etc. Fine for those wanting a heart attack or diabetes but bad for us concerned about our health. And IHG boast about their enviornmental credentials, and then their hotels have this throway single-use plastic, paper and unrecylcable polystyrene. Unbeleivable.

And people came down in nighties, pyjamas, slippers etc and many just loaded their plates and took them back to their room. This doesn't happen in good 3* hotels. Our room was not cleaned one day, and I had to report it three times so it was cleaned fine after that.

We paid over £200 a night ($250) for what in Europe would give us a 5hotel (we had a lovely stay in a plush 5 hotel in Sorrento, Italy for half the cost earlier this year and they thre in free courtesy shuttle rides) for a week visiting family and seeing the sights in Boston and around. The hotel was the low point. And I chose it because of IHG's reputation. Furthermore, it was very much geared to car-borne guests (and IHG are meant to be committed to zero carbon) with a huge (largegly unused) car park which could have been landscaped, a big TV screen giving traffic conditions but no updates on public transport information, no cycle hire scheme etc. We got by on sustainable travel because that's us but hardly encouraging - no signs, no maps of Boston public transport!

Above all, the hotel needs first class, passionate management with a real thirst for customer service and making people feel welcome. Finally, on arrival (having already paid on booking.com) we had $400 deducted from our credit card although there is no mini-bar and no extras. On checking out we were told this wouldn't be returned for 5-6 days as this was company policy. So daylight robbery in the price charged and value given and then fleecing us for 2 weeks' interest on an additional deposit....