The Westin Waltham Boston — Hotel in Waltham

Considering that this was a four-star hotel I had much higher expectations than what was delivered.

When I arrived at the hotel, I will say that the hotel is clean, and it is an impressive building. However, when trying to pull my car into the self parking garage, the gate would not open to let me in because it said it was out of parking tickets? Thankfully, after waiting there for five minutes, someone exited and I was able to enter through the exit gate. When I told the check in staff about it they didn’t seem too concerned and suggested this was a regular event. They said that once I had my hotel key I should be able to get in and out without trouble, however this does people checking in no good.

I will say the check-in was very nice, and the gentleman at the front counter, Isaiah was very professional and helpful.

When I got to my room, it was around 8 PM and I needed to get ready for bed as I had been out since 7 AM. However, the room next to me had a game playing very loudly (I could actually hear them all the way down the hall when I was walking to the elevator) on the television and due to poor insulation I could hear them as though they were standing in my room. I called down to the front desk and asked to switch rooms. They were very accommodating and although this was frustrating I do not fault the hotel.

They advised that they had a sports team in the hotel that evening, and in my opinion they perhaps would want to consider but a room placement for guests in this scenario

As a note, when I got to my room, I went to get ice and The ice machine was out of service. Again, this is supposed to be a four-star hotel folks...

The real fun started when I got to room number two. I was finally happy as this one was quiet and started to draw a bath. When I stuck my toe in the water, I found out that there was no hot water? I called down to the front desk and they said that they weren’t aware of any problems and that they would send a mechanic up.

At this point, I had to get dressed again, and waited for about 20 minutes for a technician to come up who never showed up. So I packed up my things and went down to the front desk to ask for another room, hopefully one with hot water. This time I asked to speak to the manager as I was getting very frustrated. He was very nice, and I believe his name was Ron. He moved me to another room with the hope that we would have hot water.

When I got to room number three, same scenario tried to run the hot water and I was getting lukewarm at best water. I called the front desk and they said it up a engineer as I was not willing to move rooms again and at this point it’s seem to be a hotel issue. He came up and said that there was a problem with one of the pressure valves (?) and it was the hotel wide issue. I’m not quite sure why the front desk staff wasn’t aware of this and in a four-star hotel I don’t think it’s unreasonable for guests to expect a quiet room, and running hot water so that they can get clean.

Overall, it was an exhausting evening and this hotel was clearly not equipped to handle common tasks.

When I got up in the morning, I tried to use the fitness center. Similar to many gyms in hotels that I have been in before, they seem to be under the impression that the fitness center should be the same temperature as the pool and as a result it was a good 5 to 10° warmer than room should be. Which made working out challenging. Also, the hot water was not fixed in the morning either. It was a nice 72° shower.

Overall, I don’t think it’s unreasonable for guests in a four star hotel to be: able to their car without an issue, have a quiet room, take a hot shower, or exercise in a climate controlled room.

The only reason that I did not give this one star was because the manager and front desk staff were nice. I would personally not stay at this...

Hotel staff never told us about the parking per night charges, not when we checked in, not when we checked out. When we checked in late the first night, the front desk clerk asked if we already parked our car and even said he doesn't need to take down our license plate. We have stayed there before and we were not charged for parking, despite being told they've had this policy for a long time. I asked the front desk twice (2 different people) when we checked out whether we need to sign anything and if our bill was all settled. They said yes, because we prepaid our stay through American Express Travel so we don't owe anything. We didn't sign anything (despite me asking) to indicate that we didn't owe anything upon check-out. ||||A few days later, even the $100 temporary incidental hold they placed on my card came off. Then, a week later, I got a notification from American Express that my card got charged $40. I thought it was a mistake/fraudulent charge so I contacted AE and they said I needed to contact the hotel to have them take it off if it's a mistake. I contact the hotel, spoke to a guy named Rodney at the front desk, I asked why I just got charged $40 when I'm nowhere near the hotel. He then asked me if we parked our car during our stay and said that's what the charge was for. I said, no one told us about the parking fee, didn't take down our license plate and somehow a week later, someone just remembered that we parked our car? He said, "yeah, it's on our website". He just kept repeating that and said that he can't take the charge off, whether I authorized it or not. While we were talking, he proceeds to generate a receipt for it and emails it to me. On it, there was my signature, FORGED! I contact AE and they said it needs to show up on my bill so they can help me dispute it. I contact the hotel back, spoke to Rodney again at "guest services", and told him I didn't authorize this charge, no one informed us (and we would have happily paid the bill had they said something during check in or check out), AND that they forged my signature in order to get the charge approved! When I said that, he replied in a very condescending voice, "Oh, no! Really?" I can hear the smirk on his face. I told him it's a crime to forge someone's signature, he was like, "well, we can't take the charge off" and proceeds to hang up on me while I was still talking. Not once, did he apologize for not communicating properly or for the inconvenience he/they caused or for FORGING my signature (it was likely him because his name is on the receipt as the one who generated the charge), and was rude and condescending the entire time! AE has flagged the charge and will dispute it due to "fraud" and will block this merchant from being able to charge anything to my card! ||||In the meantime, we will NEVER stay there again! These people have no integrity, are completely unprofessional, and to top it off, they don't clean the room when they come in to do housekeeping! We booked a room for 3 people and they give us 1 bottle of water. The coffee supply was for 2 people. These aren't even that important. The most egregious thing is they will forge your signature to authorize a charge to your card without your permission! Do you trust to do business with these people??? DON'T STAY AT THE WESTIN IN...

We had stayed at the Westin in Waltham before and thought it was a good experience, which was why we decided to stay there again last week. We booked our travel through American Express Travel and prepaid for our stay. When we checked out, we asked whether we had to sign anything or if we should get a receipt to prove that we checked out and nothing was owed. We were told, by two different front desk personnel, that we were all set, we didn't owe anything and we didn't have to sign anything and since we booked through a third party and it was prepaid, we already got the receipt through the third party. We left the hotel and went home. A week later, my card was charged $40 by the Westin and when I called American Express to inquire, they said since it's a pending charge that I will need to speak with the merchant to find out if it was a mistake and they can just take it off. I contacted the hotel. I spoke to someone named Rodney at the front desk. I inquired about the $40 and he asked me if we parked our car. He then proceeded to say that it's $20/night for parking (we stayed two nights). I told him we weren't told by anyone that there would be a parking fee and we weren't asked to provide our license plate number (in fact, the person who checked us in even asked me if we already parked our car and he said he won't even need to take down our license plate number). All Rodney kept saying was, "It's on our website, I can't take that charge off. I'm sorry no one told you about it". While I was talking to him, he generates a receipt and emails it to me. On the receipt, it shows that my card was charged $40 for parking but it wasn't my signature authorizing the charges. Someone had forged my signature on the receipt. When I called back to dispute this, the same person, Rodney, answered the phone, and when I told him that someone had forged my signature on the form, he just said in a very condescending tone, "oh no! really?". He continued to say he cannot take that charge off, even when I said that forging someone's signature is a crime. He just kept talking over me and then proceeded to hang up on me. I contacted American Express, who has put a flag on the charge and will dispute the charge when it's on my bill and block this merchant. It is despicable that a well-known hotel chain will go to any length to make a buck! Needless to say, we will never stay there again. Who would trust to stay there when anyone could just not tell you about fees, forge your signature and charge things to your card? They screwed up and didn't deduct the $40 out of the $100 hold for incidentals when I checked in and now they're trying to cover someone's mistake. There were a hundred ways to handle this, none of which included them throwing us attitude and forging my signature. No one called us from the hotel to let us know about this before they went ahead and charged the fees to my card and they were not remotely apologetic at all when we called them about it and for the inconvenience it caused. DO NOT STAY...