The Colonnade Hotel — Hotel in Boston

tl;dr If you’re considering the Colonnade or its restaurant Lucie for an event, don’t.

I booked the Colonnade as my wedding hotel in October 2023. My stay, unfortunately, was one of the worst hospitality experiences of my life.

For convenience, we decided to host the rehearsal dinner and welcome drinks at Lucie, the hotel restaurant. Between booking and our event, Lucie had a staff changeover and never notified us (we spent several weeks trying to contact a dead email address). The day-of execution of our event was so spectacularly poor, I struggle to find the appropriate words to describe it. Our day-of contact for the Rehearsal Dinner was not present, and there was no hand-off of our event to any qualified staff member. The entire event was seemingly run without an event captain, and at no point were we told that our contact wasn’t even on site. The service was so subpar, it felt like the staff had never worked an event before. As guests arrived, no drinks were served, no orders taken. I brought a special meal for one of my relatives with specific dietary requirements, which we confirmed with our planning contact was something the kitchen could heat and serve, but the staff only brought out half of the meal, the other half disappeared. The dinner was a full hour behind schedule, which meant the rental space could not be turned over for the welcome drinks, leaving our out-of-town guests stranded in the bar with no idea where to go. We had ordered food for the welcome drinks, but it was never set out. When I pointed out the missing food, it did eventually appear, but by that point our welcome drinks guests had already eaten food they ordered themselves. On top of all of that, the amount I was charged was higher than the bill I signed for after the meal. My contact never reached out to see how the event went, or offered an apology for the abysmal service we experienced.

The hotel itself also had many issues. Check-in was confusing - the front desk staff mischarged guests and many didn’t receive our welcome bags upon check-in. When I checked into the rather expensive bridal suite, several of the amenities were either broken or damaged. I was locked out of my room several times (including upon returning to the hotel from my actual wedding) as the keys and replacement keys provided by the front desk continuously stopped working. The suite was never turned over or even tidied at any time. I had arranged a late checkout with my planning contact, but the front desk staff was not informed and told me that I needed to check out by 11am (even as I sat on the floor of the hallway in my wedding dress, waiting to be let into my locked suite). As I mentioned, many of the welcome bags I prepared by hand were never given to my guests, and when my husband and I returned to pick up the extra bags, they had been torn apart by the hotel staff, everything of value taken.

When I raised these issues with the staff at both Lucie and the Colonnade, the staff acted as if this was everyday service, no sympathy was offered, no apologies forthcoming. I was made to wait to hear about what modest recompense they would consider offering for what they called “inconveniences.”

I was and continue to be extremely unhappy with the level of service at the Colonnade, especially considering the extraordinary rates they charge for the rooms and suites, and I would not return again or recommend the hotel to anyone visiting Boston. I especially urge all event planners and brides to steer clear of this place - they are not set up for events and lack even a modicum of understanding about hospitality standards. Find another venue, find another hotel. Don’t make the same mistake I made. I’ve honestly stayed in airbnbs with...

We stayed in this Boston Hotel on Huntingdon Avenue in September this year. We arrived by train from New York to Back Bay Station. It's around a five to ten minute walk to the hotel. If you are visiting from NYC and are returning on the train I would suggest getting the return train from South Station if you want your pick of seats as it easily gets pretty full. There is also a subway station a few yards from the front doors of the hotel. This system provides comprehensive travel options across the city and beyond including the Harvard University area. ||To sum up our stay at the hotel, it was fantastic. The rooms were great with comfortable beds and a great bathroom.||From our initial engagement with the front desk staff on checking in everybody there was polite, friendly and utterly professional. Special praise must go to the Doorman, Norman. What a guy! Having worked in a front facing roll in the Police for over 30 years I know only too well how some members of the public can treat people. Norman went out of his way each day we encountered him with his large smile and a cheery 'Good Morning' or 'Welcome Back' after a long day wandering the sights of Boston. He is a true ambassador for the Collonade and the owners of the property should be exceptionally proud to have Norman as an employee. I guess in the hotel business the front facing employees are the first you see and set the tone for a stay. Well Norman certainly sets a professional, friendly and welcoming tone. I also praise the housekeeping staff who diligently, and largely unnoticed, keep the hotel spotlessly clean and the rooms beautifully appointed everyday. We always engaged them in conversation each time we saw them and let them know that their hard work was certainly appreciated by us.||Food wise, we ate in the hotel restaurant one evening and the food was great.||Across the street is The Pressed Cafe, a great place for breakfast. This is part of The Prudential Centre with its restaurants and stores to browse including a Cheese Cake Factory, Eataly, Dicks House of Sports to name a few.||A ten minute walk takes you to Boylston and Newbury Streets where you will find plenty of retail therapy and lots of cafes, bars, restaurants to suit all tastes.||Walk a little further and you get to the Public Park, Boston Common and The State House which has free entry and a free tour which we found fascinating. Another ten minutes and you will find The Freedom Trail and Bostons waterfront with Quincy Market and all it has to offer. We took a free walking tour of the waterfront and Freedom Trail lasting over three hours. It was brilliant and well worth doing.||We also took a Duck Tour that started almost opposite the hotel and was superb.||Being Yankees fans we were fortunate to have tickets to a Red Sox/Yankee game on our visit. Fenway Park is only a 20 minute walk away from the hotel.||Another neat thing we stumbled across was the Sunday artisan market and artists studios at the SOWA Open Market at 450 Harrison Avenue about a 25 minute walk from the Hotel. Well worth a couple of hours on a Sunday morning. ||If you are looking for a hotel offering lovely rooms, exceptional service and a wonderful location then I do not hesitate to recommend...

I had 2 hotels booked and ultimately chose this one… and I wish I had chosen the other hotel. My first interaction was very positive with Adam at the front desk when I had to call and change my reservation when the website glitched on me. But, in person was very average. ||I had done the online check in so it would have been nice not to dig out my wallet upon arrival to present the ID and credit card I already uploaded. I hope they can make that process more streamlined and less repetitive.||Understandably our room wasn’t ready at 1pm when we arrived. We left our bags and continued on with our day. We picked up our keys around dinner time with no trouble. The 2 times we talked with the front desk, no one pointed out things like the lobby “cafe” where we could have grabbed drinks and snacks. I only discovered it when I was waiting for our Lyft at checkout. No mention of any other amenities- I think there was a gym somewhere but I couldn’t tell you where. The front desk needs to provide that information when they check you in as it isn’t listed in the room.||As for the room- very average. Nothing terrible, nothing great. Some minor cleanliness things here and there like stains on the window coverings and a towel with a stain. Everything else was fine with regard to cleaning. The HVAC was a wall mounted unit that was loud. Switching it to low vs auto helped a lot. It was nice that the room had a refrigerator. ||Pros- location is good. The T is right outside the hotel. Maintenance was helpful and efficient when we had a problem in our room. ||There really just wasn’t anything special about this hotel. In a city with so many choices, I wouldn’t...