Homewood Suites by Hilton Boston Seaport District — Hotel in Boston

Short version:

Middle of the road experience here. Missed some basic features and the "view" was oversold, but staff was nice, breakfast was good, and location worked for us.

Long version:

Stayed at this hotel for a week. We were drawn by the location (out of the middle of downtown/had water view suites available), the free breakfast, and the pool.

For location, if you plan to be downtown a lot I would just stay downtown. It's a half hour walk to get to downtown Boston. For our trip, we wanted to go to a beach, a game at Fenway, etc. So being out of the main downtown area wasn't too bad but the weather being 95°+ a few days and then rainy toward the end made it a bit of a hassle when we did want to venture that way.

We stayed in room 849 which was sold as a water view king suite. There was a water view, sure, but it was just the tiny harbor to the southeast of the hotel. Half the view was blocked by one arm of the hotel (howdy doody neighbors!). Little "meh" from other hotel experiences I've had that promised a "view." Just get a basic suite here I think. The suite itself had a pretty big kitchen, but the rest of the room layout was a little odd. The TV faced the kitchen and you had to either swivel it to face the bed or couch and watch on an angle, or (like us) rearrange the room so the couch is in front of the tv. After a long day of exploring, I like to watch Guy Fieri tell me about his latest find head-on, you know? LOVED shower doors instead of a tub and curtain. I would have liked a full-length mirror and a makeup mirror in the suite. The safe being in the top of the closet is also not kind to vertically challenged folk such as myself.

Breakfast was pretty standard for a Homewood Suites. There is also a Harpoon beer station in the lobby open until 1:30am. We didn't partake, but for a hotel without a bar, I thought it was a nice feature for guests who don't want to walk 5 minutes to the whole brewery.

The pool is small and being indoors and in a corner of the hotel, any crowd of people in that room makes it unbearably noisy. We dipped in for a minute after a long hot day but there was a large family in there and with the kids playing it wasn't relaxing to us and we just cooled off and then went back to our room. (Not mad about kids - they're on vacation too! Moreso that acoustics weren't really considered I guess when building an indoor pool.)

It would have been nice to have outdoor space to sit in and eat/drink. There are some balconies on the 3rd floor with chairs and tables but they were locked and probably only for conferences or something. It would have been great if they were open! After (actually: still during) a pandemic, outdoor space has become so important.

The staff was super friendly the whole time. Valet for $55/night is wiiiiild especially if I just plan to park my rental car and walk. We parked at Marine Park Garage a block away and saved maybe $15/day but note they reset each "day" at 5am, not based on 24-hour periods from when you parked there. So it's a fine option if you plan to park your car and not use it, but if you're using your car every day it will probably come out to the same $50/day and you may as well use the valet. Considering all the warehouse/undeveloped space around the hotel, you'd think a self-park option would be available and was quite disappointing not to have one. Or give me a "park it and forget it" valet option that's cheaper because I'm not gonna bother you to get my car daily.

Overall, a solid 3 stars. I'd recommend this hotel if you're planning a trip that's not based around the typical downtown attractions, like to grab a quick hotel breakfast each day, and don't need a lot of hotel amenities/sick views to...

Where to start... Check-in requires an additional $75/night Guest Laundry room looked good so bought detergent, came back and sign was posted laundry is out of service, everyday front desk says it will be done "tomorrow" then comes up with a fresh excuse and finally gave up today and is trying to send me 2 miles down the road to laundromat. The power randomly goes out, they blamed it on the motion sensors but the sensors don't turn the power back on when you move in front of them, power will just randomly turn back on. Have a breaker that doesn't do go anyway (in addition to the spare); however, keeps tripping. Maintenance just blindly trips it back and shrugs. Bedroom has a light switch that doesn't power anything, another maintenance shrug. Hot water works for a random 30min/day only or so, multiple calls say they'll look into and send someone, no one has come for that and no hot water. The longer I stay the more stuff from previous owner(s) we find like wrappers and dog food. Then to the more ancillary, connected room doesn't work and front desk (as the app suggests to reach for help) just says it's new and they don't know how it's even supposed to work and can't help. Digital Key doesn't work on the elevators. The in room TV shows the hotel has a free grocery delivery service, front desk not only doesn't know about it but refutes that it says that. I didn't valet, but if only seen one valet once put on a mask, the seemingly main guy blatantly seems to like to get into people's face when talking (no masked close talker); observed a few times during breakfast and waiting in lounge for food, he's always in and out of the lobby without a mask to check the room/name for the vehicle. Hotel listing made it seems like we'd have access to one of the decks, key card didn't work so asked front desk and was told both are for conference room bookings only, sad we couldn't use it all especially for NYE as the conference area wasn't even being used.

Pros, there were some good things that will hopefully remain if this place stands a chance in getting repeat service. The staff is friendly and nice, not too well trained in the operation of this hotel but seem a good fit for hospitality. Front desk, maintenance, and cleaning staff have been pleasant to work with through these ordeals. TL;DR; great soft skills, someone please teach them this hotel. Location is as expected/presented; a bit away from everything but close enough that Mon-Sat you can easily use the 7 bus to start getting up anywhere just at the corner or short walk to other buses; or it's a short-ish walk to get to coffee, groceries, and more in City Point or South Boston; Seaport District area has its own things to offer and we caught the end of the Holiday Market. Room still feels sanitized and clean despite finding a few items, that...

This hotel was very clean and the staff were all very friendly and professional.

Visited here Dec 27-Jan 3 and the hotel was packed. This property consists of a Hampton Inn and Homewood Suites combined and has 14 floors. Even though the property has two dining rooms the breakfast service needs some adjusting. One kitchen has two waffle makers and the other has one. The lines at these stations were 20-30 deep during the entire service time. Literally an hour’s wait to make waffles. I would recommend maybe making one kitchen area the waffle station and adding more waffle makers to accommodate the high volume of people that utilize them.

Due to the high volume of people which mostly included families with numerous children seating was hard to come by if you were not there at the opening time.

The last two days only one kitchen was open and when I asked why I was told it was their low season. The line at the waffle makers was 60 deep. Yes I counted them and it was over an hours wait time. The kitchen actually closed before people were able to get through the line.

Valet parking was efficient and quick, but expensive and not an option. Boston definitely makes a killing off of parking fees. If you have never been here you will pay for parking everywhere you go. Free street parking is very limited. If you can get by without a vehicle and use public transportation, I would recommend it.

Also, they must be able to regulate the hot water because the last two nights we stayed there was definitely a difference in the water temperature because we had to turn the faucet all the way up to get hot water for showers. We had two rooms and experienced the issue in both rooms.

This property has 14 floors with laundry facilities located only on three of them. Only one washer with two dryers. Cost $3 each per load to wash and dry. Each cycle takes 30 minutes. They need more washers. Very time consuming if you have multiple loads to wash.

Beds were very comfortable and rooms were very clean. Very nice newer property. Would recommend but be prepared to wait in the breakfast line or get there at...