The Envoy Hotel, Autograph Collection — Hotel in Boston

We booked this hotel through the American Express platinum travel card as a part of their “luxury resorts and hotels” program. I would have restricted my review only to American Express, except for the poor front desk and corporate response which is a reflection of this hotel directly.||Upon arrival to the hotel, we realized there was no valet parking. This is an amenity I would expect when staying at a hotel listed as an autograph or luxury hotel. ||I went into the lobby to ask about the parking and there was only one person at the front desk. Again, I would expect more staffing from a very busy “luxury”hotel. I waited patiently for her to finish with the person she was helping. At no point did she recognize that I was standing there. My experience in other luxury hotels is the desk receptionist would typically politely acknowledge the person waiting and assure me someone would be available to help shortly. ||When she finally acknowledged me, I asked where the valet parking was. She curtly explained they did not offer valet and directed me to the public parking garage down the street. I told her I was not interested in worrying about finding parking in such a busy district of Boston, I told her we wanted to cancel our booking. She told me I would forfeit everything I paid because I prepaid for the hotel. ||My husband and I travel a lot. I am fully aware that a prepaid direct hotel booking, you agree to a no cancellation clause. This however, was not that. I booked through American Express and I did not agree to a full no cancellation clause. She just stared at me blankly when I tried to explain this and she made no attempt to help me. Given my husband was sitting in the car waiting outside on a busy street, I opted to leave and call American Express directly to resolve.||Despite the fact that I had my confirmation from American Express that said the penalty was forfeiting one night (very typical) it took me hours of phone calls to both American Express and Marriott trying to resolve. The ironic thing is American Express kept calling the same front desk attendant who was already curt and rude to me in person. She apparently had the authority to deny my reimbursement. ||I tried to call Marriotts corporate customer service and after repeatedly requesting to speak to a manager, a supervisor at Marriott told me I had to speak to American Express and there was nothing they could do for me. Even though we often stay at Marriott hotels and typically book with them directly. (In fact that same night we did stay at a Marriott hotel with onsite parking) Marriott was still unable to help and cautioned me against making 3rd party bookings. At one point during this back and forth my husband noticed on his Marriott app on his phone there was a note that given his high status with Marriott, we could have canceled with NO penalty if we did so by 6 pm. By the time we saw that we had just passed 6 pm. I tried to explain to the Marriott corporate supervisor and again, he made no attempt to acknowledge or resolve through our loyalty and status with Marriott directly. Again, just cautioning me against 3rd party bookings. ||After repeated calls and much insistence from me asking how this solo person at the front desk had this level of authority, someone at American Express finally decided to email a member of management directly at the hotel.||The next day, a director at the property agreed to reimburse me, all but the first night, as a “one time courtesy” behaving as if they were doing me a huge favor. How is this a favor when I had the agreement in writing that the penalty was one night? ||In summary, I believe the hotel needs to offer better customer service at their front desk. They need more training on this partnership with American Express. I believe this front desk person did not understand the difference between a direct booking where you agree to a no cancellation, and this program through American Express. If anyone is considering booking here through American Express, be aware that if you have a problem with the booking, Marriott will tell you to call American Express and American Express will tell you to call Marriott. It’s an incredibly frustrating process and not what I would expect from two very prominent...

I was returning back to Brooklyn on AMTRAK and only left STARS in my review yesterday, but now have time at home and will add some words. I will say that the hotel was very expensive, but then again, many hotels were similarly priced, or more. To help with the high cost, I booked a night using AMEX Membership Awards points. Where I really wanted to stay, the Boston Harbor Hotel (want to stay because of their wonderful historic collection of MAPS of Boston, New England and early America, from 1500's on display in the public areas), but that hotel was easily +$250 more per night. Before arriving, I read also the negative reviews of ENVOY on TripAdvisor, and was set to be disappointed. Well how nicely it worked out that I found that none of the negatives were there, only positive experiences.

There are about 28 rooms per floor, over 5 floors (2-6) and ours was just dandy. On each floor, 6 face north (towards US Federal Courthouse and a bit of harbor view, 10 face west, towards Fort Point Channel and Boston, 6 face south towards Seaport Blvd & bridge, and 6 face east / Sleeper Street and the glass hi-rise with the Equinox gym. Ours was a king, and I think most of them are except the east-facing ones which are double queens or similar. I think the room layout (for room X01) was terrific, with separate toilet, monsoon rain shower stall / sink and mirror separated from the bed and desk area by a cleverly etched set of glass panels with historic maps of the harbor! The bit of slight nautical theme carries over to a few of the furniture pieces and was appreciated, and overall the design of the room was fresh and soothing. Very comfy mattress and bed linens, sufficient lighting, and 3x layers of curtains to adjust how much privacy you want, from sheer to light-block. The thermostat is not adjustable by room occupant, but on really hot and humid July days was fine. The air supply vents into the bath area, making a "white noise" sound that I found just fine, and may have blocked some of street or roof noise that others complained about. Some of the best cups of in-room coffee I've ever had came out of the nice Illy Café espresso machine, and staff were able to happily bring more "pods" upon request. If staying longer I would have missed a mini-fridge but for a short trip it was OK without. That said, there is a handy little deli called Frank Anthony's Seaport Market which has most little grocery items plus wine, beer, and hooch. I saw a Trader Joe's but didn't go there, but did go to great little bakery/cafe "Flour" for take-out sandwiches for a waterside picnic.

All in all, a great room experience, and the roof deck which has a terrific and affordable bar, was actually quite pleasurable. It was Friday and stopped by early, like 5:30 and was told that it really gets crowded later, with a line out the door onto the street. I expected from other reviewers to be chaotic and drunken revelry, but no - sophisticated young and professional crowd, nice assortment of beverages, and a fantastic view of Fort Point Channel and the Boston Harbor from this 7th floor vantage point, which is just about perfect.

Throughout the hotel, ALL of the staff were outstanding - helpful, friendly, and yes, we were able to borrow 3-speed bikes, and store our bags for half a day so we could walk around prior to heading back to the Amtrak station. YES I would stay again, and hope others have such a positive and...

I have no idea how this hotel is a "4 star". It definitely felt like a two star, but we were paying 4 star prices! Note: we're Marriott Gold Star members and travel a lot, so we've seen a lot of lovely hotels. This was my first time leaving a hotel early!

No on site parking, ended up paying $34 to park across the street so we could check in, dump our bags and get back to our rental car in 30 minutes so we could return it. Bathroom is so weird, glass sliding door that is heavy and difficult to move. Actual toilet is in a glass cubicle which you can see/hear everything. Room is poorly laid out, bed in the middle of the room, feels awkward and cramped. The room itself was also very small. And this was a Deluxe large guest room! So noisy. We heard thumping from the roof deck private event for hours in combo with road traffic. Roof party finally wrapped up sometime after 10pm on a THURSDAY. The view. Holy hell, we were paying $750 a night for harbor views. I could see the bridge traffic, the crab shack and a rusty derelict bridge. The view was terrible. Room service. They mentioned an on site restaurant for room service, but there was no menu in the room! We had to call down for a menu, then ordered a hot dog and separate fries. Was $30!

We walked in and immediately began discussing checking out and finding another hotel. After we returned our rental car, we found another hotel but the Envoy receptionist said it was too late to cancel, so we had to stay/pay for the current night. She was lovely and helpful as much as she could be. We ended up cancelling the 2 other nights and checking out the next morning.

I guess this was designed for business travelers, but if so, they'd be exhausted from lack of sleep due to hearing the outside noise. Maybe it was for couples visiting Boston for the weekend, but the bathroom is a real non-romantic experience when you can hear everything. It definitely not for families, because the room was tiny, and also the other above reasons.

Pros: good location, clean room, nice staff Cons: small room with poor layout, weird bathroom, loud traffic noise, uncomfortable bed, expensive room service, no on site parking. Overall issue: we were paying $750 a night, so we expected a larger nice comfortable room. It was so bad that we decided to move hotels after just walking in! You can find a nicer and better hotel for the price in downtown Boston. We moved hotels to the Marriott Vacation Club at Custom House, and that was absolutely perfect! Highly recommend Marriot at...