Holiday Inn Boston - Dedham Hotel & Conference Center by IHG — Hotel in Dedham

I have never experienced more contradictions in availability and pricing, or a staff who could care any less about the people who are paying money to utilize their establishment. The cleanliness and comfort of the rooms were far cancelled out by the immense amount of unnecessary inconveniences I had during my stay here.

I have never had a more difficult time booking a room in my life, or experienced a more unbending staff with such arbitrary rules. After handling what I could online (a single Sunday night reservation, which admittedly I booked a bit closer to the date than intended), I called to find out availability as my dates approached. Ultimately I needed to add on a Friday and Saturday night. The amount of people I spoke to, the amount of conflicting information I received, and the stubbornness and rudeness of the staff were unjustified and far from acceptable hospitality standards. Some highlights include:

Suggesting the only way to add on to my existing reservation was to cancel the rate I received online and instead book all three nights at a rate that far surpassed what I had already been charged for the single night. Their hands were tied at both corporate and on-site.

Claiming the difficulty in adding to my reservation was because I had booked a Premium Corner Queen Room (unintentional), and booking a different type of room for me was impossible. Also finding out that others that booked a Premium Queen Room never got that special corner spot.

Finally booking a room for Saturday night, but being told the only room available was a King Suite. Reservations claimed I would be charged a specific rate including all fees, and would have to check out on Sunday morning and check back in on Sunday afternoon since it was a different type of room than I had previously booked. I arrived for check in on Saturday night and a higher rate was given to me. Upon further investigation with the worker, this was because the new rate included breakfast, which I did not want and asked them to remove. Manager approval (10 additional minutes of waiting) was needed to remove the price of the meal I didn't intend to eat. As the rate was finally approved they mentioned that I would be in a Queen room so I wouldn’t have to change rooms the following day. Great news, except that Queen rooms are not as expensive as King Suites, right? Even with changing daily rates, the website consistently shows this. After pointing out the discrepancy nothing was done to adjust the rate. I was so finished with the back and forth that I just inserted my credit card and went to bed.

But that’s not all. Multiple people within our party who had breakfast included in their package had to pay additional at each meal. Pool was advertised as open on the site, but closed during our entire holiday weekend stay. Our first morning there was no hot water for showers. Our entire adult party, who were watching football in the lobby one night, were told it was “time for bed” at 10:15pm, and asked to retire to our rooms. One family had booked a King Suite only to arrive at a room with no pull-out couch. My Premium Queen room was not located on a corner/upper floor. Another guest had breakfast coupons she didn’t intend to use and the breakfast host asked her “Why not just turn them in? It’s not like you can sell them.” An odd comment to say the least. The permanent residents on the first floor woke up friends in the morning who had rooms close by with their loud music. The staff at the front desk consistently treated requests (for ex: a plastic bag for laundry) with eye rolls. Overall, the front desk staff was rude and unbending, and it felt as if everyone was consistently trying to make an extra dollar with their arbitrary prices and rules, or rolling their eyes at requests for simple hotel amenities. For those of our friends who partook, breakfast was fine, but the coffee was terrible. Most of these things were addressed with staff, and they simply didn't care, or made us feel as if our requests were unreasonable.

That all said the room was comfortable, clean, and updated. However, the service ruined everything. It felt as if I should be grateful to have been accepted into the hotel, rather than treated as a paying guest. I have never ever left a poor review in my entire 43 years of living, but this was unacceptable. Someone needs to make changes in the staff’s treatment of their guests. It is not ok to have so many issues as a respectful, paying customer who really just wants a comfortable room at...

For this hotel to be in Dedham you would think that it was on Methadone Mile in Roxbury. This hotel is a NOT newly renovated, if you consider the front desk a whole hotel renovation. I ONLY booked this hotel solely for the pool for a night out with my husband and 2 of our friends. I called several times that week upon arrival to make sure the pool was going to be open cause if not I was going to cancel my reservation cause that was the only reason for going. I was told 48 hrs prior to my check in day that the pool was opened. 24 hours before the money was to be taken off my card. I arrived on my check in day, the front desk process went smoothly. After checking in they told me where to go for my room but before that I wanted to see where the pool was located I walked back in forth in the front trying to see the entrance of the pool no one said anything to finally see a sign on the door that the pool was out of service. I went back to the desk to tell them I have a big problem, that I only booked this hotel based on the pool being opened and that I was told the day before payment was to be withdrawn that the pool was open. Had I known the pool was closed I would not need the stay. They told me they were going to accommodate me $129. So after what I thought was the end of it, my husband and I go to the room. The room floor I didn’t even want to walk on it with my socks. The air in the room smelled funky, the room view was the back of the hotel with a bunch of chairs and trash outside thrown all of the place that I closed the blinds and just turned on the lamps. The sheets were dusty. My room did not have a microwave as the gentleman I spoke with on the phone the day before said it would. The shower head had all kinds of white stains on it which I HAVE PHOTOS OF. I had to wash it down throughly before showering. The shower water even had a smell, which is what I believe is the real reason for the constant pool closings. The towels in the bathroom looked beige like they were old or used. I did not see ONE housekeeper the whole stay. My husband asked to switch rooms cause of the conditions but I told him I did not want to make a fuss as I was already getting the room for such a huge discount(I thought). Also I had already unpacked my things and I did not want to have to move it to another room. I thought I would just deal with it for only one night for a room I basically got for nothing(I thought). Next morning I checked out and it was weird when I asked for my receipt. They put on the receipt I was accommodated $129, to only find out 2 days after my stay that they charged me $129 for the room not discounted it $129 like I was told at the front desk when it was first given to me. I am from the area so I only needed the stay solely for the pool and I expressed that several times while making the reservation, days before arrival and at arrival. If there was no pool there would have been no reservation. I was told the general manager Shawn Smith would call me when he got in, he never did. I even called and left another message on his personal voicemail myself, I received no return phone call. The worst hotel I ever stayed at in my life, and I’ve stay at Ramada Inn off Morrissey Blvd in the year 2013 before and it was still a better stay then this. Spend your money...

I spoke to a manager a week before arrival to change my arrival day to one day later than than the original date. She made the change without a charge even though they were going to charge me one night for the change. I arrived and the reservation was cancelled because we arrived a day later than the original reservation, which apparently was not changed as I asked the manager to do. They did have a room available and the person at the desk was agitated I asked to check the rates to make sure they were the same as I originally booked. They put us on the first floor and the hallway smelled like people were cooking even though they did not have kitchens, which means people may have been using other means to cook food like hot plates.

The room smelled like the hallway and a musty odor as well. Glade plug ins were in the room and hallway to get rid of smell. A bug crawled up my daughter’s leg. The toilet was crooked and there was rust in the tub. The room did not have a microwave even though some of the other rooms had them on the upper floors. There was hair on one of the pillows of one of the beds. The

AC did not work well and most of the outlets did not work.

It is believed to be a migrant shelter. A lot of non-English speaking people (Haitians and others). Person who stays there frequently, said the one side is used for homeless migrants, which is the side we were staying in. People were hanging out in the parking lot at a car most of the day and into late night. People were in the parking lot with grills and trunks open. People would hang out by the door and follow guests inside the building. Kids were running up and down the hallway screaming. Kids were also hanging out in the hallway on computers, phones, lying in the middle of the hallway with no parents around. Large rolling trash cans were in the hallway (all the hotels I stay at, I have never seen that). The pool was closed for a year; I called a week prior to arrival and was told the pool was open. We arrived and the pool was closed. The person at desk said it was closed due to needing a health inspector.

Bikes and scooters were stored outside and carts were in the hallway. We walked by one of the open room doors and items were piled high, kids running around in the room. A smoke alarm was going off in one of the nearby rooms for over an hour. I went to the front desk to tell the person and was told the smoke alarms were individual rooms and not tied to the building, which I found odd since the smoke alarm in our room had a track on the ceiling to it so it would have been hard wired. My kids did not feel safe in the hotel with all that.

All the hotels I have stayed at for work and my family has stayed at traveling, this is the second worse hotel that we have ever stayed in. This was an absolute disgrace of a hotel and Holiday Inn should be embarrassed about this place. This will undoubtedly change my opinion on future Holiday Inns or any of...