The Inn at St Botolph — Hotel in Boston

I'm not a person that complains at restaurants or hotels. Ever. This hotel was different.

Upon arrival, the room was mostly clean, well-featured, and comfortable. We were extremely excited about the corner window and living room as I work in a fully remote capacity, so I knew I'd be spending quite a bit of time in the room while my significant other was at a conference at the nearby Sheraton.

The first night went ok, but that's when things took a turn. While I was sitting in the room working on my laptop, I started to feel strange, kind of sick. About 20 minutes later, the carbon monoxide alarm goes off. We go downstairs to the basement where the management desk is located for whatever reason, and we let them know what was happening. Fire / EMTs were called and we were both tested for CO exposure and were both confirmed as having elevated levels in our blood, my girlfriend having quite a bit more exposure than me and was almost high enough to warrant a trip to the hospital. Interesting to note that the girl who was one of the folks working the desk commented that she didn't realize carbon monoxide is poisonous. I find it pretty interesting that someone who's hired to run a hotel is ignorant about the dangers of something that common in the hospitality industry. Some would call that incompetence.

We're really nice people and were totally polite with the staff during this time. After all, the people at the desk didn't go up to our room and make the fireplace release CO. It was clearly something caused by faulty equipment or a clogged flue for the gas fireplace. We were offered the same room one floor up from our original room, and we took it.

The next evening, we went out to dinner with some people from the conference and returned to find our NEW room completely filled with natural gas. So much so that it was quite difficult to even go farther into the room than the entryway. We immediately went downstairs and told the girl working the counter (who was also present for the CO scare) about the situation. Finding it hard to pull her attention away from her cell phone, she sighed a long sigh and tried to tell me that it's totally normal and safe-- that the fireplace runs on gas so of course our room should smell like gas....

That's completely unacceptable. Our room did not "smell like gas." It was totally full of gas due to some kind of leak, and we were told to just go sleep in it. We were offered a new room for the night, but she told us we'd have to go back to our original room in the morning and "figure it out on our own." I told the girl that's totally unacceptable and find it incredible that she would put guests' lives in danger in such a way.

We went back up to our room, covered our faces, ran inside and packed our stuff, and got out. The best part of all of this is that when we went to leave, she saw us leaving on a camera and decided it'd be a great idea to verbally taunt and mock us over the building's intercom as we left.

I've never been treated this way by anyone in the hospitality industry in all my life, and I'm honestly not that hard of a person to please. Most of my travel is to primitive and underdeveloped places and I'm used to very hardscrabble hotels and lodging. This was different. I can't believe that a hotel would tell their guests to go sleep in a room filled with toxic gasses all because she resented the fact that I asked her to do something that conflicted with her desire to continue staring at instagram.

Utterly disgusting. I'll be posting this review to every site that will have it, and have a call with the Boston Health Department later today to discuss their very dangerous and negligent practices.

DO NOT STAY HERE AND CERTAINLY DONT BRING...

EDITED: once I called around a bit, the staff I reached were deeply apologetic and extremely helpful. We were able to reschedule for our next available weekend, and at the same price. Room is lovely, and easily accessible. No idea about the accommodations because I'm having an absolutely awful time dealing with the reservations/customer service end of things. For background, I'm trying to book a one night "staycation" to treat my girlfriend. We have a gift certificate to Columbus Hospitality Group, which owns St. Botolph, so I called the number on their site yesterday to see how I'd go about using it.

First off, multiple calls went to voicemail—NOT the voicemail of the Inn at St. Botolph front desk, but of "Laura Parquette, General Manager of Winthrop Beach Inn & Suites". Uh...what? Eventually, around call #4, someone answers (claiming, IIRC, to be Jessica, who IS listed as the Hotel's manager) She explains that they'll need a card on file but no charges happen until the end of the stay, so I can present the gift certificate when it's time to pay. I ask if I can make a reservation with her. She's not at a desk. Great, so I go back online. I book for the next night (tonight, Aug 8). I get a very troubling email.

First off, it says in bold: "We will be sending a second email 1 week before your arrival date that includes your suite details and keycodes. As we have no traditional front desk and use a keyless entry system, please contact us if you do not receive these details."

I get a little worried, because an email sent "1 week before our arrival date" would have to have been sent 6 days before I booked it. It also says "Reservations require full payment by credit card at time of booking", which is contradictory to what I was told on the phone, and the bit about the lack of a front desk makes it sound like I'd have a hard time presenting a gift certificate. The email goes on to say: "final confirmation with room access key codes are emailed 2 days prior to arrival date. Please call if key codes have not been received." I call the number again; no answer. It goes back to the voicemail of Laura Parquette.

I called again this morning, several times, leaving a message expressing my concerns. No response. It's now more than an hour past check-in time on the date of our reservation, and no email has shown up with details on our suite or access codes. No charge on the credit card yet, thankfully, but this whole experience has been plagued by less professionalism than any AirBnB I've ever stayed at. If they try to charge my card, I will be calling VISA. There also seems to be no way to get in contact with Columbus Hospitality Group from their website; they have no contact email or phone number. However, their Facebook page lists the number of their sales & marketing person, so I'll try them next and may...

We loved our 4 night stay! This Inn was in the PERFECT location and we felt very SAFE!! 2 minute walk to the Subway, PRU Center etc.! The rooms were a little "weathered" and could probably use some updating but honestly.....it's wasn't as bad as some have described. We were in room 201 and didn't hear ANYTHING from neighboring rooms or above/below! The elevator was a little slow so we started taking the stairs at the end of the hall to go in/out. When you're in Boston you are walking everywhere anyway.....what's a few more steps! ||This is more like a one bedroom small apartment than a hotel room. The bed is a queen but it was fine. It was actually quite comfortable. There was a desk/table between the kitchen and living area. It would have been perfect to eat meals if one desired to do so. Personally, I used it as a vanity so hubby could shower! The living room area had a loveseat and a chair, tv, coffee table and a fireplace (although we didn't use it). There was a stove, toaster oven and refrigerator and all the kitchen necessities (plates, cups, pans, flatware etc). Our room was equipped with a round vanity mirror (even though I had brought my own), a blow dryer and an iron. There were two guest robes in the bedroom closet. ||I am a smoker so I would go outside to smoke. I never once felt unsafe...even very late at night! It is located in a residential area so people are walking their dogs all day/evening etc. People were friendly and usually spoke. ||There is a 7-11 convenience store directly across the street for grabbing sodas or whatever. That was definitely handy! There are several restaurants a few blocks away that we enjoyed. ||The lobby has bagels, muffins etc. for breakfast. Seems like there may have been some oatmeal and/or yogurt also. It was the perfect "snack breakfast" while getting ready to enjoy the City. There were even umbrellas to borrow for the unexpected rainy day (which we had)! ||The weekend receptionist was very friendly and knowledgeable. She made you feel right at home! ||If you are looking for the Ritz Carlton then this is probably not your place. However, if you are looking for a quaint, homey, inn....then this will check all your boxes! We will definitely recommend it to anyone we know that is going to Boston and we will definitely stay here when...