Hampton Inn Boston/Cambridge — Hotel in Cambridge

My family has been staying at Hampton Inns for a few years now. Have enjoyed our stay at the North Conway NH, Portland ME and Manchester NH locations however I will NEVER stay at the Boston/Cambridge location ever again. It was an older building very outdated, the thermostat cover fell off and all contents were exposed, the cover to the ice machine was falling off as I was getting ice, the soda machine wouldnt give change, our room was not very clean, there was a receipt on the floor from previous guests, there was a comb at the end of the bed on the floor, there was no refrigerator or microwave or pool that has always been at all other locations. The breakfast area was very crowded with a strange set up, Housekeeping had doors open to rooms while the guests weren't even in the room. Anyone could have walked in. We had two rooms and they walked right into one room to 'add wash cloths'. I did not feel safe leaving our room to do anything. The people at the front desk with the exception of one gentleman was horribly rude. We unfortunately did not realize this location did not have a pool. We have 3 younger children who love to swim so this was a big disadvantage to not be able to swim during our down time. We asked the front desk if they could tell us 'things to do' in the area and they were very little to no help.. We are from Maine so were not familiar with the area. They had a few suggestions: The Aquarium which we had already done prior to checking in, the Science Museum which was closing in an hour and one other suggestion that was not fit for smaller children but I wanted more information about it for the adults. The lady at the front desk was useless, she rolled her eyes and made us feel like we put her out by us asking.. She then asked a gentleman to help us because she had 'to go out back' this next guy I assume is the one in charge and he was very cut dry and as well useless. He was doing another task so could have cared less to help. Then the one gentleman that was helpful at check in came out and we were directed to talk to him. He did give us info and helped. On top of all of this as a possibility we asked if we could change locations because sitting in the hotel for hours on end nor walking the streets at night with very young children were not an option for all of us. The answer was a quick NO by the people at the front desk. We called the Revere location and was told that if we were unhappy we should be able to be refunded and relocate. After being on the phone for well over a half hour with managers etc who we kept being directed to, the answer was still NO because A. we booked online with the book/pay advance. (Which I will NEVER do ever again, the only reason we did was because we had frequently stayed at locations and they gave us a little deal) and B. because they are independently owned and its up to each individual location to make these decisions. They had no other options for us. It was very disappointing and a long night for some of us. I understand if we 'agreed' with the book/pay advance your not 'supposed' to be able to make changes. However, what bothered my family the most was the unnecessary rude and unprofessional service we received. I would not recommend this location to anyone especially families with young children. The revere location is very close by and they do have a pool and from what I experienced much better customer service. Long review...

My husband and I spent two nights at this property in August. Overall, the hotel itself is fine and appeared clean and well kept. The location cannot be beat! Right next to a delicious ice cream spot (portions are huge, btw!!) and just a few steps away from the T station which made getting to TD Garden super easy!! ||We chose this hotel not only for the location, but free parking! Which is super hard to come by in the city. We arrived much later than anticipated for our Friday check-in (around midnight) and stopped by the desk to inquire about accessing the parking garage. I was met with a "it's full" response by an employee who already seemed annoyed that I would dare even ask. I was tired and responded that, as a guest, parking was included. He basically said this is a city and that the website very clearly states parking is limited. Shocked by this response, I asked if there were any suggestions for parking off-site, to which he responded that I could drive 1.5 miles down to some alternative lot. Baffled by this suggestion, I asked if I was expected to trek back with my luggage or if he had any suggestions on how to get back to the hotel easily to which he just repeated himself about the place 1.5 miles away. Literally zero other suggestions, or empathy to the situation. ||I work in hotels and have for almost 20 years. I've been at the front desk and I completely understand that he probably gets this question nightly and then has to explain that there isn't parking and likely gets some grief from guests over this, but if that's the case, be prepared! It took us less than a minute to Google a garage that was only .2 miles away, less than a 5 minute walk, and only cost us $10 to park overnight. It looked like there were several garages/lots that were closeby, he just didn't seem interested in sharing that.||How would I have responded? "Welcome to Boston! You're getting in quite late. Hope you had a nice trip. Unfortunately, parking is limited in our garage, but we have a few suggestions for alternatives closeby for our guests to park. Feel free to unload your luggage before you go to park, and you can retrieve it when you return. Also know that you should be able to access a spot in our garage tomorrow around 11am when other guests are checking out". Had his response been anything close to this, I would have been fine, but instead, this ended up really irking me all weekend long. ||Plus, there is little to no mention of "limited parking" on their site or in any pre-arrival emails. It's hidden at the very bottom of their site, and simply says "limited" without much more explanation. Not necessarily somewhere I would have looked since "free parking" is an amenity toted on their site. ||There was another guest arriving from out of the country at the same time, and had the pleasure of dealing with the staff person and experienced the same parking challenges. I was kind enough to keep my frustration to myself, but I don't think this was the case for the other guest. I felt bad that this was his first hotel experience upon his arrival to the US. ||We were able to secure parking at the hotel on the second day of our stay which was great and a wonderful amenity, but overall just found the staff to be lacking hospitality in general and felt this necessary to share with other potential guests who are "sold" on the...

The general manager sarcastically asked if I'd like her to beat the maid staff.

I've stayed here regularly for work in Cambridge. My final stay here was the second occurrence of hotel staff throwing away all of my possessions prior to the end of my stay, having mistakenly thought my room was a checkout. The first occurrence was met with equally as poor customer service response, and I was never fully restored my property, but I won't detail that in this review.

When I returned on the 4th night of my stay, I opened the hotel door to an empty room. The possessions I had left there were gone and my room had been maid serviced. I went down to the front desk to figure out what happened. After much waiting as management communicated with the maid staff, I was told they had mistakenly marked my room as a checkout. In response to that mistake they had proceeded to remove my clothes and toiletries to the lost and found, and that they would return it all at a later point. I asked how they thought that was an okay response, and was told that if I didn't want my possessions removed I should have left the "do not disturb" sign on the door to avoid such mistakes. Aside from this being an absurd premise, it's infeasible were one ever to want their room turned over (outside of Covid-19 changes, the norm for a hotel stay).

While they offered to return my clothes and toiletries, I insisted that my toothbrush at the very least be replaced with the same model. There is likely no lost and found for used toothbrushes; I'm probably not going to be using a toothbrush returned to me from the trash. Additionally, my food for the night had been removed and presumably thrown away, but no mention of that food being restored to me was made. They then offered to comp the night, which is of little use as this is not a personal stay for me.

When I insisted that they need just to not have this happen again (a third time), and that ultimately I just want to return to my room without having to run around getting all my stuff back, all offers of attempting to make this right in any way were revoked.

Gerry, the general manager, asked me "would like me to beat them?", and something to the effect of, "what more can we do?". I found this to be gross and entirely inappropriate given the circumstances. She then told me that I won't be getting comped a night and that I won't get any quarters to wash my clothes (as if I wanted her change??). No great loss though, thats fine, just be better Gerry and Linda, and take responsibility towards guests not having their possessions removed from rooms paid for.

Gerry, no I would not like you to beat your maid staff, I would like you to do your job and properly resolve issues your staff creates for guests, it was always that simple.

Avoid staying here if you don't enjoy having the things you leave in the room you're returning to removed (clothes, toiletries, valuables). Avoid staying here if you don't want to deal with combative and gross managers. Avoid staying here if you enjoy any level of customer...