Crowne Plaza Boston - Woburn by IHG — Hotel in Woburn

Property discriminates if you do not appear to be White!

I'm an IHG Gold elite member. Stayed at Crowne Plaza Woburn multiple times while traveling. Saw Meghan, assistant manager, insult and throw out a petite, soft spoken British lady, medical doctor. That lady was shocked and told me, "Meghan is a racist". On my last stay, I asked front desk and Meghan for a cart. They did not provide. I had to check out and I have a disability. I requested a White couple who had parked a cart in the center of the lobby and were sitting and relaxing waiting for their room to be ready. The couple gave me push back and then sharply told me to bring it back to them. I thanked them, told them I really appreciate it and of course I would bring it back immediately. Minutes later, Meghan began shouting at me calling me "very, very, very rude". She yelled at me non-stop, until I was shaking, with tears in my eyes. She made me give the cart back to the White couple. I asked her how I was to take my things to the car and she said with your hands like everybody else. But it was just fine for the White couple to be seated, relaxing in the lobby with their pillows and blankets and suitcases and bags piled up and parked on the cart? Two other guests saw what was happening and came to me and offered to take my things from my room to the car. When Meghan did not stop screaming at me, they intervened and shouted back at Meghan and said, why are you shouting at customers for a cart?? Meghan was so close to me and berating me so badly I thought she would hit me. I felt unsafe and shocked. I made multiple trips myself to the car, instead of just one with a cart, with my knee severely inflamed and buckling. When the hotel makes a cart available to a White couple and not to me, particularly when the cart is not being used, but is lying parked, that is unfair and unequal treatment. I spoke to Jared, Director of rooms, the following day and asked him to refund me for the 2 days, and make personnel changes/train Meghan. He said, he was very sorry and would work with me on compensation and follow up with me on Monday to resolve this. He said, it was a very serious matter and it is important for the hotel not to create "hostile" environments for guests. He also told me that Meghan had gone ahead and canceled my reservation for the following week without informing me and also blocked me from staying at the property!! A week went by, I received no help after three emails, and instead the GM wrote this back to me -- "This is out of control. She remains on the do not rent and there is no refund".

Clearly, discrimination comes from the top. They may as well put up a sign that reads -- "Do not enter if you don't appear to be White". It was a shock, and extremely sad, disheartening, offensive and illegal per Massachusetts civil rights law which prohibits discrimination in places of public accommodation including at Hotels or other places of lodging. I will be following up with the Attorney General's office and I have asked the hotel to not destroy the video.

I tried multiple times to resolve this with the hotel, but seeing such mistreatment, and retaliation, I want other guests to be aware. Go somewhere, where you are truly valued as a client and the business goes out of their way to be hospitable and shows that they are truly grateful for your business -- not where you are subject to a torrent of hate, anger, disgust and frightening abuse JUST because you requested a White couple for a cart which they had left parked in the center of the lobby? Wow! And which you respectfully and with gratitude and kindness thanked them for and briefly borrowed because you have a disability and you have to check out of the hotel? To then cancel my next stay without notice and block me is retaliation. Remember this is what they do to elite IHG members who've stayed there and paid top dollar multiple times. Shameful. Unfair,...

Disastrous Experience: Food Poisoning, Negligent Service, and No Response

My stay here was an absolute nightmare, marking the worst hotel experience of my life. It began disastrously: the first room key I was given opened an already occupied room, a shocking lapse in security and basic hotel operations.

Later, I went to the hotel restaurant and they first brought me a glass of water that had visible dirt in it, even the waitress was disgusted by it. Then i ordered the haddock which tasted a bit off… I woke at 3 AM with severe food poisoning, vomiting relentlessly for hours. When I tried to buy vitamin water from the front desk to rehydrate, their self service payment system has a problem in that it shows as if the transaction doesn't work, but in reality it does charge your card, so I got charged double for every payment attempt…

The real failure, however, was the hotel's response. Despite informing the front desk of my food poisoning, I received zero meaningful help. Jared, the Director of Rooms, after putting me on hold because he had other guests to serve, offered only an ambulance, refusing to assist with anything else like helping me order basic electrolytes or helping me finding local IV therapy places, making me feel like a disturbance. In my severely dehydrated state, I had to coordinate sourcing electrolytes and IV treatment myself, and I missed an entire morning of critical business meetings I had planned at a very important Conference. This cost me $200 for treatment and significant lost business opportunities.

To make matters worse, despite emailing the General Manager and Front Desk Manager directly on June 17th, following up on June 19th, and escalating to IHG on June 23rd (and again on July 4th), I have received absolutely no response or apology from the hotel's management to this date. Their complete lack of accountability and disregard for a seriously ill guest is appalling.

Update: The hotel's response to this review is as disappointing and unhelpful as my stay.

It's telling that the first and only communication I've received from hotel management, after four separate attempts to contact them—including escalating the issue through IHG twice—is this public comment. This response confirms the hotel's priority is managing their public image, not resolving serious guest complaints.

Their claim that the kitchen was "inspected to ensure that everything was and is fresh and clean" is hard to believe, especially given that I was served water in a visibly dirty glass and subsequently suffered severe food poisoning from the fish they served me.

Furthermore, their statement that "Contacting emergency services is the best solution" completely ignores the fact that I was not asking for medical advice. I was asking for help with basic logistics—like getting electrolytes—when I was too ill to manage it myself. Dismissing this request by saying an ambulance was the only option demonstrates a total lack of empathy and basic guest support. Their response, much like my experience, shows a complete failure to take any responsibility for my well-being.

I have decided to report this incident to the local public health and food safety agency. If I can help save one human from another food poisoning and bad guest services experience from the hotel management, something good will have come...

Planning to attend Boston with two national sports teams we worked with this property's management to arrange our stay and had all final details sent to us via written contract. We signed and returned the contract - which stressed that ALL staff and players were to present a CC at check in and then pay for their own rooms at check out. In total we had approx 120 guests totaling some 240 room nights over a two week period.||||The property itself was fine, but during our first team's check out a player contacted me to advise "hotel staff wouldn't accept their payment" and was telling them instead all charges would be directed to our organizer's personal account. This was contrary to our written contract and an obvious issue. I attended the front counter in minutes, ensured all additional check outs were allowed to pay for their rooms, AND identified those who had been turned away. I then provided personal contact details for each player that hadn't been allowed to pay at the property and assisted the hotel with getting in touch with them.||||Fast forward.......||||5 months later, while I was away on another sports trip in Bermuda, I was astonished to had received an unauthorized charge to my personal CC for the amount of $7000 from this property! No contact, no communication, contrary to our written agreement and 5 months after our teams' visit to Boston. When I enquired I was told the property never actually signed their own agreement (that they had sent us in the first place) and felt they were owed for outstanding rooms.||||Upon investigation, I learned the property's severe mis-management of our booking had created errors all over the place. Again, through EXTREME difficulty, I connected with the property to find out the problem and weeks later was provided a list of 8 names they felt had not paid for their July rooms. I connected those people with the property and confirmed their payments - but still was not reimbursed.||||Over 6 weeks later, with the assistance of a 3rd party broker, we appeared to have everything settled - albeit completely unprofessionally.||||Then - last night - late on New Year's Eve - my card received another unauthorized $3000 charge from this property. In both Canada and the USA, this is the very definition of fraud.||||I'd also like to advise would-be travelers that EVERY player I had contact the hotel reported EXTREME difficulty in getting through or getting anyone to accept their payments in order to square things up. In most cases - our players were turned away and had to try multiple times. ||||Lastly - this property stopped communicating with us all together on Nov 9, 2023, and for all you IHG REWARDS MEMBERS - switch to Marriott Bonvoy......because despite notifying IHG Corporate, and being charged repeatedly for this stay, we still have not received the associated 70,000 points owed for the stay.||||In summary - DO NOT STAY HERE AND CONSIDER CANCELLING YOUR IHG ACCOUNT for a more reputable company.||||Best of luck everyone & safe...