Ben Wilkins

Review of Sheraton Boston Hotel & Towers

The room was nice. The hotel is well located, up ...

The room was nice. The hotel is well located, up to date and squeaky clean. The pool and workout facilities are the best I have seen in a long time. The lobby and bar area are really nice and provide great space for getting together with people. There is not a breakfast option inside the hotel that provides table service. The lobby includes a little "grab and go" place that has a very limited set of breakfast options, and the hotel adjoins a mall that has an au Bon Pain and a few better options. I was travelling with a group of folks during snow storm that made it difficult to know when we could get out of Boston. We found that if you call the main number for the hotel, the staff who answer it are very helpful with tentatively extending your stay, but if you ask at the front desk, they tell you no and that you have to come back the next morning to find out if they can let you stay that day. Fortunately, they were able to accommodate everyone. Another mild irritation -- and this is common in chain hotels -- was the disconnect betwen what the reservations staff promise regarding credit card payment and what the front desk staff will do. A staff member who coordinates staff travel (but did not travel with us) booked the rooms and asked specifically that all the room and tax charges be run on her agency credit card, as the staff travelling to Boston for the conference do not have agency cards. She filled out and faxed a credit card authorization form, which the reservation staff indicated would lead to all of our charges being run on her card, and then she called the local hotel management, who confirmed that it would. And then when we arrived, the front desk staff appeared to have no idea of these arrangements and instead ran all the room and tax charges on our personal credit cards, which we had provided for incidentals. I spoke with one front desk person who said no, unless that staff person who coordinates travel can come by and swipe her card, that's not going to work -- despite that the reservations staff had indicated it would. I have had this experience at many hotels, so it's far from unique to the Sheraton.