Harvard Square Hotel — Hotel in Cambridge

You cannot beat this location in Cambridge, although what a bummer that Cambridge hotel prices have now joined the ranks of Washington, DC and NYC. $259 a night? Yikes. That's quite a bit, considering what I did -- and did not -- get.

First of all, though, let me stress the positives: The room was immaculate and the bed extremely comfortable. it has a real feel of a European inn, but with more amenities. Loved the bathroom and the toiletries they provided; can't recall the line, but it was a higher end swanky one. I still smell great.

Also really appreciated that they offer free wireless internet access; they must take reviews seriously, because someone in a previous review mentioned there wasn't any and now there is. Appreciated that.

A few challenges/things I didn't appreciate:

While I loved that it had parking on-site, I cannot believe they charged $35 for it. It's not like anyone parks your car for you, it's just for having the pleasure of keeping your car there. Next to the Thrifty car rental. Having written that, I did ask whether I could keep my car there while I went to my meeting the next morning, and they did let me do that -- so HSH give as much as it occasionally take away.

I agree with others that it's unfortunate there is not workout room at the hotel. Fortunately, the weather was great when I was there and my workout room became the path around the Charles River, so it worked out. But in the winter or bad weather that's something many of us frequent travelers look for.

Was so excited to come down to the lobby to see coffee out. Was then extremely put off when the person at the front desk asked me for my room number. "Oh," I said, "There's a charge?" Yup. Starbuck's. $2 a cup. I stayed at the Hampton Inn a few days earlier in a room that was $100 less, still got free internet, and free coffee was brewed 24/7. I think having some coffee out for guests first thing in the morning and not charging them more would be a great change for this hotel.

One thing as a heads up -- the air conditioning worked GREAT. And while I am NEVER one to complain about too much A/C and you can adjust it in your room, the way my room was set up was that the fan blows directly on you as you sit at the desk. So while I was doing work, I had cold air going into my ear; not good. I kept shutting it off then turning it back on when the room got warm. Not sure if that was just my room or others as well, but worth checking int.

Overall, if you can afford it, this is really a great...

I was staying at this hotel on business and have never been to Boston before so I was very excited about the location. Upon check in, the front desk person was very rude and had me pay with my credit card, when i know for a fact, the company that booked my hotel had a card on file (first red flag). The next night, I woke up suddenly around 3am to realize my phone died. When I went to plug it in, it would not charge so I tested my computer that was already charged and that would not either. I called the front desk and the man was super rude over the phone. He did not speak very good english and so I repeated my problem multiple times and each time he grew more and more angry. At this point I did not want to deal with him but I sucked it up and went downstairs to try and charge my phone there because I needed it for an alarm. I get down there and this man plugs in my phone for 1 second (no exaggeration) and unplugs it and claims it’s not going to work and my charger is broken. I then go on to ask if he has a charger I could try because maybe my charger is the problem. He got very aggressive and went on a whole rant (not even really sure what he was trying to say) about how I cannot use any other charger. Then I politely ask him to try again. He does (for 2 second this time) and what do you know… my phone chargers! As I am turning on my phone he UNPLUGS THE PHONE and says how it is not charging and this is not going to work. I kindly point out that it is charging and that there is a problem with my room. Out of curiosity, I ask if there are any other rooms available that I could switch to so that I am able to charge my devices with I stay there for the next few days. This man became very angry and degrading very fast. He was telling me that I am not allowed to go to other people’s rooms to charge my phone and that is not how things work… um… yes… I know. I would not ask to use a random persons room to charge my device… that’s not what I was asking. Then I decided to charge my phone while sitting on the couch in the lobby and the whole time he was asking me if I was there alone and if my phone was charging. He probably asked me if my phone was charging 5 times. After about 15 minutes I went back to my room and by some miracle my devices are able to be charged again in the hotel! This whole interaction made me feel very uncomfortable and especially after reading some of the other reviews, I was scared to be down there alone. I would not recommend staying here alone especially if you are traveling...

Some of the staff are well-trained, polite, and helpful, but some are not. I added two days to my stay, and on the original day of checkout, there was relentless pounding at the door. I did my best to explain that I wasn't checking out that day, but it took a lot of convincing. Then, fifteen minutes later, the pounding on the door resumed, and I had to explain again. This episode was repeated on my true checkout date, when I arranged to checkout at noon instead of 11 with the front desk. The front desk must have neglected to share this information with their staff. Not only was there prolonged pounding at the door, the employee was very rude. "Who said that?!" "Who did you talk to?!" "When was this?!" It was like a police interrogation in a 1950s movie.

Early during my stay, two front desk staff members had extremely poor English pronunciation. Both my parents were immigrants, so I sympathize with the difficulty of learning English, but there are many jobs in the hotel. The front desk job should only be given with those who have at least an intermediate fluency in English. On the other hand, the vast majority of the employees spoke English at good proficiency or better.

It should be noted that the rooms have no coffee/tea maker, but there is coffee and tea in the lobby. This includes sugar and artificial sweeteners, but no milk or cream. There's absolutely no food available, neither free nor for purchase. While there are trendy coffee shops nearby, those places are also crowded and therefore slowish. I found this arrangement inconvenient, but not insurmountable.

There were other problems. When I first checked in, there was something wrong with the lock of my room, and I couldn't get inside. So they gave me a different room. Of the many surfaces in the room, one had not been cleaned. Also, there's only one elevator, and it's rather slow. The back door of the hotel was left unsecured after 11 pm, and I think that's unwise, because the Harvard Square neighborhood does have some homeless folks, or as we say in the Harvard community, persons who are...