The Newbury Boston — Hotel in Boston

Our employer gave an award to my husband; $2000 in gift cards to the Taj Boston, to be used on hotel or food/drink. However, the Taj went out of business and The Newbury had to honor the gift cards as they bought the business and these were already issued. Fast forward to COVID and last year (2024) we finally used a portion of it at the Contessa. Thankfully, one of the managers worked with us promptly to coordinate the Contessa bill being paid with the gift cards through the Newbury. A simple accounting between the two organizations - we hand over the certificates ($300 worth) to the Newbury and they pay the Contessa bill. Honestly it was seamless and handled well by the restaurant and hotel. This year we decided to use the rest. We took the trouble to make a reservation at The Contessa and tried contacting the Newbury manager to be sure someone was aware but unfortunately she was no longer there. What we thought was a simple repeat of last year coordinating with the hotel manager turned out to be completely different. We tried calling the new manager and were told we should get a call back that same day but to date have not even received the decency of a return call. So, we cancelled the Contessa reservation. On the second call trying to reach the manager, we were told the cards couldn’t be used at the restaurant but only for a hotel stay. This message was by the person answering the phone but we still asked for the manager to return our call. Although the cards do not say that they require a hotel stay all of a sudden the Newbury says they do; but the manager can’t be bothered explaining. We called for a third time and obtained the managers’ bosses’ name, the name of the head of accounting and a front desk manager; so 3 additional management staff. We had already Emailed the manager with the 2024 emails thinking maybe that would help show how simple this process was. We Emailed the managers too and to date have not gotten one response; crickets from this supposed wonderful organization. Here we are thinking at least one would have the integrity to at least respond seeing that the manager hadn’t. We shouldn’t be begging for an answer from anyone. We provided two phone numbers but received not one call and not one email back; like we were just invisible and didn’t exist. In the end, we gave up on dealing with The Newbury and had to involve our employer who paid for these gift cards. Yesterday we were told through work that it can only be used for a hotel stay not for the restaurant as they are separate. We already knew that but it didn’t seem to pose any problem last year. We are writing this because a supposedly professional and high class hotel can’t respond directly to a customer. It is embarrassing that you cannot get a response out of Huseyan, M Erkoc, E Kennedy and J Lee. What an utter lack of service and any shred of accountability. The only people that spoke with us were Sharon and Ulisses; they obviously had no choice, we called them and they answer the phones. Obviously the Newbury can make it difficult for us to use the $1700 remaining by changing the terms and pretending they never heard from us. There is no other reason when you have reached out to multiple people ‘in charge’ of various operations. We don’t consider this place worth even a single penny out of our pocket with the way we have been treated. It is shocking the lack of service; compared to last year it is shameful. What was a pleasant experience last year has turned into a wish we never had these gift cards. You call yourself a world class organization but you cannot handle the simple act of responding. All we needed was a reasonable attempt at helping us navigate this, to say we are disappointed is a huge...

Newbury Boston completely ruined my Labor Day weekend. Drove all the way from New York to finally spend some leisure time in Boston, yet so disappointed about their service and had to check out of this place two days earlier.

Honestly, we were looking forward to our stay based on the good reviews and beautiful interiors. Friendly and attentive, the concierge team reached out to me a week before about how they can prepare for our stay. Per my request, they said they could book Contessa for me and sent me a confirmation. We booked the Classic Suite for three nights, so not cheap. Granted, the newly renovated hotel looks nice and cozy & is cleverly designed— definitely one of the best interiors in Boston. We also loved the champagne and lovely notecard prepared by Suki. I never got chances to explore the amenities, but nothing to complain about our room.

However,

We were running a bit late to our dinner reservation at Contessa on Friday and called the restaurant to notify them— only learning that there’s no reservation under my name whatsoever. So we called the concierge team FOUR times, and no one ever picked it up. Tired & hungry from driving 7 hours straight, we had to order takeout from somewhere else very last minute… they did apologize and helped us book for brunch the second day, but we had already got plans.

Asked them to prepare a dog bed and bowls for our puppy TWICE (once in the emails exchanged and once onsite after checking in to our room), no one ever brought them to us. Our dog had to eat and drink water from the tiny glass…

During check-in, the front desk person kept saying they upgraded us to the Classic Suite from the fireplace suite, even though we originally booked for the Classic Suite LOL… he did realize the mistake at last after I pointed it out, but it seems like the system is not so organized

True nightmare starts on the second day mainly bc of the valet parking: for brunch, we waited for 20 minutes to get our car and were late to brunch but no biggie. Later in the afternoon, we came down at 3 pm to go to our 3:30 pm appointment at the Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum (mind that we made reservations prior & had prepaid tickets already and always wanted to go). We literally stood outside for 45 minutes and another 1 hour waiting inside! When you ask, the replies were either the valet person is getting it, or the car is right around the corner. Another group also waited at least 30 minutes for their car. Please tell me which hotel you’ll need to wait for 2 HOURS to get your car? Did they park it in Connecticut? During our wait, no one came up to assist us or even offered water to us whatsoever. The acting manager was always on her phone & we couldn’t find any valet person near the hotel premises; their problem-solving ability is close to zero. We were so furious and extremely upsetting - not only we completely missed our museum appointment but also honestly thought they lost our car at that point. Their explanation was they got our valet ticket mixed up… The concierge team helped us calling the museum and see if we want to change to the next day, but we had a busy schedule and didn’t have time for it. This hotel does not value its guests’ time at all.

We got so mad because they ultimately crossed the last line. After we mentioned we wanted to change the hotel, they got nervous, and their attitude was much better. But too late, we booked Mandarin Oriental right away (older hotel, but at least you’ll get normal service and your car on time). They refunded us the three nights, and we got an apologetic phone call from the manager— and that was it. Complete waste of money, energy, and time. Wouldn't recommend it unless they hire more staff and have their...

For the amount of money spent, I feel the Newbury was truly a sup-par experience start to finish.

Pros: The customer service from everyone was excellent - valet to guest services, in room dining, etc. (minus one particular young woman working at reception who had a snippy attitude every time I encountered her. Never a “hello” or “how are you?” and NEVER a smile. Not once. Dark hair in a bun…I’m sure management knows exactly who I am talking about. But I understand it is difficult to find good employees right now.)

Other pros: The fitness center (drinks aplenty, decent equipment, good design and layout)

Room service was quite fast for 10PM.

Valet was prompt and kind.

Location. It can’t be beat for shopping and dining.

Rami/Ramy (sp.!) was very kind and attentive.

Cons:

I’ve stayed at the Taj several times and it had SUCH a homey feeling. I couldn’t wait to see the renovations done to the building and realize now that my expectation were far too high.

Dirt and mold in the windows. The HVAC and venting in the bathroom was UTTERLY disgusting. I’m talking very evidently decades of dust, mildew, dander and God knows what else. We are breathing this in!

The carpeting was horrible in the halls. Torn up in areas and falling apart.

No slippers.

TV completely off kilter and only rarely had signal. Unreal.

No do not disturb sign…..

Ice machine not working on our floor - 11.

CONTESSA……. Waiters spoke so quickly I couldn’t understand a WORD. It was frigid up there. We had a whole conversation with the patrons to our left who looked over at us and asked if we also agree the lobster pasta my husband and this gentleman ordered was not good to which we said yes!!! Thank you! What is the deal with this place?!? And why is everyone raving about it!? I’m so disappointed we canceled our table at Bistro du Midi to try Contessa. Big mistake. My take: it’s just hot right now as it has a fabulous location and it’s new. In six months time, I’m sure it’ll lose its appeal.

Street bar. Seems identical to when it was the Taj. I put our name down for party of 3 for drinks and received a text with our wait time of 30 mins. No problem. I realized they incorrectly listed us as a party of 2. No worries! I turned around as I was only at the elevator and went to speak to the gentleman who took my name and telephone number. Very simple. I was accosted at the door by another host telling me there are other people waiting and they are at capacity and I’ll have to come back. I told him I only needed to correct the party size with the inside host who just took my information. He pretty much balked at me and I continued walking inside to which he said “Ma’am. You need to wait.” The man inside apologized and corrected the information on his iPad but seriously!?!?!? What on earth did I do to be treated so disrespectfully?

Now I am truly not trying to make a stink over nothing. As the wife of a business owner, I know feedback is extremely important and I hope you’ll take it into consideration. I’m sorry to say I will not be back. I’ve had varying experiences at the hotels in Boston. We live outside Boston and only stay in the city so we do not have to drive home. I’ve stayed at the Ritz many times (my personal favorite - their renovation and lobby is excellent), four seasons, mandarin, liberty among others. This was by far the most disappointing! And I’m very sorry...