Theo M.
Yelp
(12/8-12/14/21) What a difference a couple of years makes. I don't necessarily mean that in bad way, just oddly different in some ways. It continues to be an outstanding property and I will always stay there during future visits to Boston. I just wish the guest service and courtesy would get back to the excellent level it used to be. With this in mind...
The front desk staff, (completely different from the former staff) upon check-in, was rather stiff and detached. Which is fine, and admittedly, my partner and I do not look very snazzy after a long day of travel, a bit haggard and feeling the great relief upon arriving at the hotel safe and sound makes you relax. You know the feeling. It's usually followed by collapsing on the bed for a bit. (Oh, their wonderful beds...) So I would appreciate a little warmth and welcome smiles as we check in. Not the robotic "Do you have a reservation?" Do I have a...? No, we've been traveling since 6am to roll the dice, with our luggage, to see if you have a room. Sheesh. At the very least, a gracious greeting would be, "Welcome to the Godfrey, what name is on your reservation?" Tighten it up!
When booking my reservation I requested a handicap room. I've always received it without further mention on my several prior stays and figured my need was quite apparent by my use of a cane and the pronounced hitch in my giddy-up. Apparently not. The gentleman (big, white guy) who checked us in put us in small regular room. When we trudged back down to the desk, again, exhausted, after not receiving the room we requested, he replied, "Well, a lot of people request those rooms and we determine who should get them." I guess they should have rolled me in on a gurney, obvious enough? I guess if he had actually looked at us, he might have noticed. The room he then gave us was a converted room, with a tub and one hand bar on the wall. Not a handicap room. No handicap room should have a tub! (You should have to request a tub, not a step-in shower.) Very dangerous. I didn't like having to be so stressed taking a shower after a long, exhausting day of touristing. The callousness of his apathy and disregard of my request is baffling. But I won't let it cloud my opinion of this property. Anomalies happen...
Where is the old staff? They were so great. Conversations coming and going. Greetings coming and going. The current crew? None of it. Just heads down pretending not to notice, when they were even there. Weird. That's no way to run a front desk. The front desk is the personality of a property. They are the first and last people you see. They set the tone for your stay and leave you with good feelings when you depart. This is an upper tier hotel in Boston, not Holiday Inn Express. You are located in a rabid market for my tourist dollars, and still carries the residue of being a not so wonderful area. Outstanding service needs to put you over the top.
Where did the doormen go? There used to be one or two doormen all the time. Now, spotty at best; but during our visit, rarely. When one was actually around, it was usually the tall white guy. Very spot-on, chatty, greeted us leaving and returning. But no one to help us with our luggage. No doormen, the valet never looked up. On all our previous stays (4) a doorman always took our bags to the front desk. Too fussy? I expect certain things commensurate to the price.
Which brings me to the new addition, the valet... To preface my comments, I will state I was a valet for a luxury hotel in Richmond while in college. The customer service training was intense and unforgiving. One screw up and you were fired. You never let a guest open a door or unload their luggage. He completely detached from the comings and goings of the guests. He just kept staring down at his desk without any awareness, and judging by the glow, he was clearly playing on his phone. Big surprise. I walked back from the grocery one night with a heavy bag and struggled to open the door with my cane hand, two tries, and he never looked up from his desk. Not good. Fix it.
But the shining gem of this property is the housekeeping crew. They are outstanding. We're not fussy folks at all. But when we occasionally needed something like toilet paper, a bottle of water, they were there within minutes. The somewhat diminutive gentleman, the only carryover from the pre-covid days, seemed to be everywhere all the time, and very friendly. My partner and I liked engaging him in conversation, he was very funny. One night, we needed more toilet paper. It was around 11pm. It was delivered in ten minutes by a very tall black gentleman who was very friendly and gracious. A keeper. I always wondered if a tp request was red lighted. Nobody wants a guest stuck on the the toilet asking, "Is he here yet?!" Ha!
So let me put some polish these few scuffs. It continues to be a wonderful property. The rooms are very nice, the bedding is terrific. The beds make it very difficult to get going in the morning.