The Midtown Hotel — Hotel in Boston

TL;DR - new hotel under renovations, might improve with time, but currently - loud, smelly, and inadequate service.

I am giving 2 stars only because I know this is a newly opened hotel and still undergoing renovations, so maybe they will get better - they also are slightly cheaper than surrounding hotels, so some loss of quality is understandable, but, this was beyond what I would call understandable.

I checked in and was told the elevator was down (only a 2-story hotel so not the end of the world) - but the directions I was given to find my room were "walk down that hallway and, well, you can read signs I'm sure" - I walked around the hotel for quite a while just trying to find access to the second floor because the door to the staircase next to the elvator was shut and there was not clear signage to indicate the stairs, likely due to the renovations - fair enough, I can understand that.

I was told that I was given one of the freshly renovated rooms. There is no doubt - when I got to the room it reeked of skim coat and other chemicals so bad I got a headache (the smell disappated over the next few days). But, if this room was freshly / completely renovated, they may want to hire new contractors or rethink their renovation plans. None of the electrical items were re-done - not only were the switches and outlets clearly very old, they had left defunct controls for old electronics on the walls (e.g., a speed toggle for a ceiling fan, a non-functional thermostat). There were also multiple spots where it appeared they had simply put new drywall directly over old plaster, and the bath surround and plumbing fixtures did not appear to be new in any way. I can understand the need to keep costs down, but, it seems to me that the renovation did not include opening any walls - given the age of the building and its history it does make me a bit nervous about what might be lurking behind the plaster (or in the pipes). I also found the door to the room incredibly difficult to open and close, a problem I would have probably addressed when doing a complete renovation...

I was also in a room directly across from the elevator. Spoiler alert - the elevator wasn't "down," the renovation crew was using it to move furniture the whole time I was there (Wednesday to Saturday). Not only did I see them loading things on and off the elevator during the day, but I heard the sound of large objects being moved from the elevator many times while I was up late working (or, a few times, I was woken up by the sound); this was in the range of 11 PM to 2 AM, roughly - I am also quite sure I heard power tools more than once during this time of night. This might not have been the end of the world, except on the other side, they had people using angle grinders on the exterior walls, starting every morning promptly at 7 AM.

My room had a TV, but it did not have a remote, so the TV was completely useless. The room did not have a fridge, so I was not able to keep leftovers / food / cold drinks. The room also did not have a safe.

The staff was generally pleasant, but not helpful. Outside of the kerfuffle with checking in / finding my room, I interacted with the front desk twice. I was flying out of Logan at 6 AM - knowing it can be hard to get an Uber at that time, I asked them to help me get a taxi. They told me they did not have any relationships with taxi companies. I asked them if they could tell me roughly what a taxi ride to the airport should cost, they said they were not sure. Instead, they handed me a printout of local limo services from Google.

Finally, when I went to check out, I asked for a copy of my bill. The person at the front desk told me they did not have access to that system, but I could ask for it to be emailed later. I emailed the email address provided by the hotel and it came back as undeliverable, because it is an internal-only...

This hotel just reopened after 3 years. The front desk staff is super nice and welcoming, Leticia who checked me in was awesome. Jonas who helped me out with a few things on my 2nd night was also very nice.

The rooms are nice. As admitted they still need a bit more updates. The room was clean, linen are nice. Mattress was on the harder side but I think most people would prefer it over too soft. Each bed has 4 thick pillows.

Plenty of towels and shampoo, conditioner and body wash in the tub. Closet with hangers, hair dryer and clothes steamer, drawers and a place for suitcases, full length mirror.

There's a huge TV positioned well in front of one bed, mini fridge, coffee maker, coffee and tea pods and small waters.

I walked from the Back Bay train station (13-16 min) and it was easy to find the hotel.

There is a nice little lobby area with a business area table with a computer. Drinks and snacks to buy and ice machines and a water bottle fill station. There is a free breakfast but I didn't see what was offered.

There is a wheelchair lift where there is a small set of stairs to the 1st floor rooms (about 6 steps).

My room was on the 1st floor but the hotel sits up a bit from the street so it's more like the 2nd floor as far as safety and outside noise. The one window has sheer curtains and regular curtains.

The area is very quiet at night. (I had a back facing room). Other than one loud neighbors dog. Jonas eventually got ahold of the guests who left the dog. He said he was going to give me a partial refund for the noise and stress, but did not.

I was not given a receipt or any breakdown of the final with $10 in extra fees for 2 nights that showed up on the final charged to my card.

The pool is closed and will not be reopened.

There's not a light switch when you walk in, just a lamp on the nightstand. The room is a bit dark.

The safety device on the door (blanking out on the name) isn't screwed in that well and it's plastic. (There is a deadbolt on the door handle as well).

They need more TV channels. There was sports and news. Most of my channels could not be viewed.

They should add a microwave for guests to use. Most hotels have one for all quests to share.

It was freezing when I came in. It's summer so I brought a tank top and shorts to sleep in and I was cold all night. It was still cold on my 2nd night and my thermostats was on 90. It's nice that the window opens but there are no screens so I couldn't leave it open to warm up the room.

The closet door gets stuck closed. It's super loud to pull open. The bathroom door should be flipped so it doesn't cover the vanity area when opened. They should add a small table to the chair so one could eat or work in the room and hang a towel rod by the sink.

Overall this is a decent location, not far from the train station. The staff was nice. This doesn't feel like a $250 a night room but Boston is expensive. I hope they have sales or maybe it's priced better if...

The Midtown Hotel was huge, spanning maybe a whole block but with only 3 floors. There is a table in the lobby that helps with transportation, car service, and other services or questions visitors might have. I had one of the biggest rooms in the hotel that supported a maximum of 5 people. It had 2 beds and a pull out couch. 2 people per bed and one person on the pull out couch. The room was very spacious with a large window nearly as wide as the room, facing the city.

Minor flaws include the broken tissue box holder. It was a mount that kept tissue boxes sideways on the side wall of the bathroom. The mount was broken and hanged on the wall and tissue box, making it hard to take tissues out.

My friends staying in another room complained their bathroom door would not lock.

There is a table in the room but it varies in size based on what size room you have. My friends who had a smaller room, had a square table with 2 chairs. Our room, the larger one, only had a short coffee table with no chairs. The reason for this may be because the pull out bed would take up too much room.

There was a coffee and tea available to make in the room, along with a TV for most cable channels, a drawer for clothing, a closet, a safe box, and a few lamps throughout the room.

One feature I found the most interesting and odd was the light switch for the bathroom was outside the bathroom, rather than inside. This meant someone could turn off the light from outside for laughs.

Another thing about the bathroom is that only the toilet and bath tub are in the "bathroom" while the sink was outside. Imagine a bathroom but a door dividing the sink and toilet with the bath tub. As strange as it was, it wa convenient if one person had to shower and another had to brush their teeth.

At midnight, security roamed the halls and would knock on doors if people were too loud. The security guard wasn't rude and was profesional. He simply told people to keep it down.

The location of the hotel is probably one of the best things about it. It was close to everything, the Prudential Plaza, the NorthEastern University, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the South Station for buses, trains and rails, multiple public transportation services in the neighborhood, as well as numerous different and diverse Asian restaurants. There are as many local restaurants as there are chain restaurants.

I recommend The Dumpling Palace (Pan Fried Noodle and Mini juice bun dumplings) , Pho Basil (Chicken Pad Thai), and Red Mango (for their warm crepes).

The neighborhood is huge on music, with tons of instrument stores and repair services. A CVS is conveniently nearby too.

Overall, the hotel reached higher than my expectations. Even if the hotel has been bad, the location...