I was here for two nights and had a less than stellar stay at this Hyatt House hotel location.
It's a long story, but here's a summary: woke up the first night at 1AM to a loud hammering/banging/machine gun sound (seriously) coming from my toilet tank, on it's own, every 10 minutes. After an hour of this, I went to the front desk. No one was there and no one answered the on-call number. Bumped into an employee on my way back to my room - not a front desk clerk but some kind of on-call attendant. I explained the situation, told him I was traveling for work and needed sleep, and asked to switch rooms, he said no, but said he'd send the maintenance guy in the morning. I said that was unacceptable, I had to be up early for work and could not sleep through the racket. He offered to come up and try to fix it. I was uncomfortable inviting a man I did not know into my room in the middle of the night as a woman traveling alone, but I was desperate. He was nice and helpful and gave me no reason to be fearful, but I kept a loved one on the phone while he attempted to repair the toilet, but wished we could have avoided that scenario for both of our protection by just switching rooms right off the bat. He gives up and just turns the water off and tells me that will work until maintenance can come. I try to go back to bed and it starts up again. By this point it is 2:45AM. I go back downstairs and beg him to let me switch rooms. He agrees and lets me know he will tell the front desk staff when they arrive later in the morning that he switched my room. I pack up all my stuff back into my suitcase, switch rooms and finally get about 3 hours of sleep before getting up. In the morning, I let the front desk clerk know I switched rooms. I gave my old key back, told her my new room number, and made sure she knew I'd be there another night. Fast forward later that evening, I am changing for dinner plans in the hotel room. I hear someone attempting to open my hotel room door. IT IS A MALE GUEST WHO HAD JUST CHECKED IN AND GIVEN KEYS TO THE ROOM. Thank God I was in the room and had bolted the door behind me. I explained the mix up to him, and he went back downstairs. I called the front desk to explain as well. On my way out to dinner, I stopped by the desk to make sure they had deactivated his key AND MADE A NOTE THAT THE ROOM IS OCCUPIED. The girl at the desk (a different employee by this point) seemed to think I was trying to get something out of this, so she offered me a free water from the convenience area. I told her no, I didn't want anything but to ensure strangers weren't going to enter my room. I waited in the lobby for my friends to come down and the girl must have gone to tell her manager, who advised that she issue new keys to my room. I felt that as a manager, it should have been her responsibility to do that herself and assure me personally it wouldn't happen again.
Overall, it was a nightmare. I was not well rested, everything seemed incredibly disorganized, and the rooms have this odd smell like the way an oven smells after you run the self-clean cycle. Will...
Read moreI recently stayed for four nights and five days at the Hyatt House in Burlington, MA for a conference. My experience with the staff was pleasant and the amenities are very nice. My hotel room was spacious and clean. I had a living room area that was separate from the kitchen and the bedroom and bathroom areas were closed off from the main living area. The outdoor patio was comfortable, with a large grill and a view of the pool. There was ample parking.
I only have two comments that might be construed as negative: the housekeeping department staff is a little disorganized and the hotel would benefit from coaching the busboy on how to politely speak to a guest.
The housekeeping staff's practices were not consistent and their schedules varied greatly from day to day. One housekeeper had received conflicting instructions and showed up at my door (room 323) for a request from another room (223). Another housekeeper had informed the front desk that all of my things were still in my room after I had checked out. The front desk alarmed me after I drove one hour out of Burlington, MA only to find out that the room with items in it was not the one that I had left when I checked out. I do not blame the housekeeping staff--I think that they lack proper training of procedures and schedules. They might lack leadership in their department and the communication issues seemed to stem from language barriers.
The breakfast and early dinner buffets were very nice. The morning and evening spreads were bountiful and offered variety. There was something for everyone. The staff was courteous and helpful, with the exception of one young man who worked in the kitchen. Instead of the spoons, forks, and knives being laid flat, they were placed into deep, cylindrical containers that made it difficult to see them. The spoons were isolated and placed by the cereals, while the forks and knives were by the hot food and napkins. This busboy seemed annoyed every time someone asked where the spoons were.
Overall, my experience at the Hyatt House in Burlington, MA was very pleasant and the accommodations made me feel at home. Access to a kitchen, with dishwasher, fridge, microwave and cutlery is a great feature for a business traveler and for...
Read moreThis is the second Hyatt we stayed at during this week's trip to Boston and Newport. Both Hyatts have started to impose fees, unbeknownst to regular travelers at these establishments. The one in Newport, RI (Airport) has started to charge $8 per person for their complimentary breakfast...even though they hand you a paper at check-in that says breakfast is complimentary. Since we booked through Costco, we called Costco Travel and they proceeded to call the hotel and get this straightened out. We'll be watching our final bill to make sure this was really taken care of.
This particular hotel (Boston/Burlington) has handed off their parking areas to a Private Management Company, who charges $10 a night to park at the property. You are given a piece of paper at check-in with a QR code to scan, to pay your fees. We arrived late the first night, so scanned the QR code the next morning, paid for our 2 nights PLUS a Service Fee of $1.00 ( gotta love the add-on non-negotiable service fees) which then started a Time ticker for 48 hours. We did not see an option to back it up to the time we arrived. Parking had always been free, and was one of the top reasons we chose this hotel.
The breakfast menu here has taken a large turn for the worse. Breakfast is served until 9:30...by 8:00 a.m. the first day, fruit and yogurt were gone, and when asked about them being replenished, they simply said No. The second day, there were just massive blank areas where fruit and yogurt would normally go, and we were told nothing would be brought out. Waffles were cold and hard. The made-to-order omelets have apparently been done away with completely. This was one of our go to places, but unfortunately, deceptive practices and lack of a decent breakfast have crossed this hotel...
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