Kate C.
Yelp
I neglected to book my hotel for the American Psychological Association convention in Boston before the rooms were all sold out, and I ended up outside the city in the ONLY affordable alternative, the Boston Courtyard by Marriott South Boston. Upon arriving at this hotel, I really wanted to kick myself for not making the deadline for booking at a conference hotel in the city. This hotel is in the middle of NOWHERE, I really felt like I was in hell, and it was only about to get worse...
When I was checking in, there was a woman in front of me at the desk complaining about her room and asking to be moved to another room, I did not think anything of it, until I arrived at my room with key in hand. The door was open! There were people inside! The same woman was inside and informed me "Don't worry, we'll be out of here in a minute, we're just moving to another room!!" I marched back downstairs and requested to be moved to a new, clean, and UNINHABITED room!! How bizarre that their computer would place a new customer in a room that had not been fully processed (i.e., vacated and cleaned) before booking again?!?!
The young man at the desk was very helpful and IMMEDIATELY moved me to a new room that was actually quite nice. The room itself was very clean, updated, large fridge, wireless internet, cozy bed, clean bathroom...I really have no complaints about the room itself.
The location of the hotel itself really sucks if you are expecting to be close to the city. The hotel is RIGHT NEXT DOOR to a giant big box shopping center with all the major retailers (Target, Old Navy, etc). From my window, I had a view of the Home Depot every morning! This is a really scary thought especially for someone who is expecting to come to the city to get AWAY from that crap. But alas, like I said, I got screwed because I waited too long to book my hotel and got shut out of every available hotel room not priced above 400bucks a night in the city!!
After calling every imaginable hotel in the city to inquire about availabilities, I was finally resigned to staying here for the entirety of my conference. I was forced to reappraise and see some positive in the situation including:
* Free wireless Internet service
* Within walking distance to a T stop
* Free airport shuttle (to and from hotel)
* Clean and updated guest rooms
* One good locally owned and operated restaurant within walking distance (see http://www.yelp.com/biz/224-boston-street-restaurant-dorchester#hrid:i_uAOGws1_-Sr4bbExZ5ww)
One last thing that really ticked me off...When I arrived, I asked about how to get to the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. The man at the desk told me how to take the train to get there. I asked if the complimentary shuttle could take me and he said no because it is reserved for trips to/from the airport and nearby. On the LAST DAY that I was in the hotel, I called down for the front desk to get a cab for me to the exhibition center. The young man at the desk informed me that the complimentary shuttle would be leaving for the convention center in FIVE MINUTES! WTH?!?! A fellow traveler on the shuttle informed me that he had been taking the shuttle EVERY DAY to the conference. This inconsistency in the information that I received really annoyed me. I don't think the right hand knows what the left hand is doing in this hotel.
If you really don't care about the location and are content with taking the train in and out of the city, then this hotel will be just fine for you. But if you are like me and prefer to not feel like you're in the suburbs even if you're just there for work, then I would recommend that you don't make my mistake -- BOOK IN ADVANCE, especially when there are about to be 16,000 psychologists descending on the city.