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The Westin Boston Waterfront
Category: Event Planning & Services Hotels Hotels & Travel Hotels Hotels
425 Summer Street(between Viaduct St & C St)
Boston, MA 02210
Neighborhood: South Boston
(617) 532-4600
40% off Your 2nd Night!
For every night you pay regular rates, you get the next @ 40% off. Arrive Thur-Sat. Rates are pre-paid & non-refundable.http://bit.ly/uDRi2y
- Nearest Transit:
-
Summer St @ D St (4, 7)
Summer St Opp Wtc Ave (4, 7)
Summer St @ Wtc Ave (4, 7)
- Price Range:
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$$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Wi-Fi:
- Paid
82 reviews for The Westin Boston Waterfront
Review Highlights
"The dual shower heads were pretty amazing as well."
(in 4 reviews)
"Love the Heavenly Bed, love the Heavenly Bath."
(in 7 reviews)
"A Silver Line T stop is right next to it too, so you can..."
(in 8 reviews)
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82 reviews in English
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Review from Jim T.
Houston, TX
11/9/2011
Super solution for attending a convention next door.
Room was clean, staff was accommodating I would definitely stay here again -
Review from Brian B.
Dorchester, Boston, MA
1/23/2012
I attended a company event held at the hotel this past weekend and would highly recommend you NOT have your event here.
1) They charge a minimum of $12 for a bottle of beer at your event while only charging $7 in the bar off the lobby.
2) The food was marginal at best
3) the set-up for validated parking is the worst... I got stuck with a $33 bill for just over 3 hours and they refused to even discuss reimbursing when everyone attending was suppose to be covered.
This is so surprising considering all the great events I have attended at the Westin Copley. Clearly there is a management problem at this specific hotel. -
Review from J R.
Vallejo, CA
11/12/2011
The Westin is one of those fancy hotels that constantly reminds you how fancy it is by charging ridiculous prices for everything. Need wireless to work? $13-18 per day (depending which speed option you choose). Want food? Saucity, the hotel resteraunt that does breakfast for them charges $23 for a breakfast buffet with fewer options then most free hotel breakfast buffets.
Sure the hotel lobby is pretty, so what? The rooms are unremarkable, the bed uncomfortable, and the prices ridiculous.
For the second half of my stay in Boston I switched to the Marriott Courtyard. Free wifi, a better bed, minifridge in my room, and a better breakfast for $100 less a night once fees were calculated for both places. That's not even a contest which I'll stay at next time. The Westin should be embarrassed.Listed in: Hotels
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Review from Jeff L.
10/7/2011 1 Check-in Here
HOLY CRAP! (read on...)
The hotel is well maintained and centrally located to many of the local points of interest.
flat screen tv, ipod dock all standard.
$32/day parking stung a little bit.
HMMMM, WHY DOES THIS ROOM SMELL KIND OF FUNKY?
a giant dukie left in the toilet upon our check-in deserves negative five stars.
Yes, a dukie. a log, a poop, a floaty, a crap, piece of s**t...Listed in: Running the 50, The SUCK wall
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Review from Michelle C.
Ann Arbor, MI
10/28/2011
Beautiful hotel. Rooms are very clean. It's exactly what you would expect of a starwood hotel. You can take the silver line to/from the airport. If you're driving, it's only 5 minutes from the airport and 5 minutes from South station.
Parking is ~$30 for self park, and around $40 for valet. Love the bed, love the shower, love the products.
There is a starbucks downstairs, great workout facility. You do need to pay for wireless- but it's free in the lobby.
I RECOMMEND THIS HOTEL! -
Review from Jes. C.
Albany, NY
9/1/2011
I wanted to like this hotel. I really did. I was so impressed with the speedy check-in process, the condition of the room when I first entered, the Heavenly bed (it really is!) and the Heavenly shower (amazing!), unfortunately, I wasn't happy with the overall experience.
I was there working a conference that took place in the hotel. We were the behind-the-scenes folks and, as far as I know, none of the problems we experienced were evident to the customers. The problem is that we still had to deal with all of the issues caused by the hotel and staff.
There is a severe lack of communication among the hotel staff here.
The networking folks were unavailable to us. The day before the conference, when we were supposed to be testing equipment and making sure we were ready, the network folks were completely unavailable, and those who made an attempt failed miserably. Our talented team of IT professionals wound up cobbing things together just so we could make our servers work.
The kitchen staff were decidedly unhelpful when it came to my food allergies. When I explained my food limitations, they decided to bring me boiled whitefish and steamed, unseasoned vegetables. Despite the fact that they were serving buffet-style food that could easily have been altered to meet my restrictions, they brought me something entirely different and unrelated and made me feel singled out in a bad (and bland) way.
The front desk staff was hard to get a hold of when calling from the room. They also put holds on my credit card for things that should not have been held, including my in-room internet access, which was paid for by my company as part of the conference. This caused me financial stress, which I was unable to resolve with the hotel staff. I had to make arrangements with my bank. They were largely unwilling to accept that they made a mistake and completely unable to remedy the situation.
The concierge was not knowledgeable about the Boston area. Whatever questions we had were better answered by one of our group (I visit Boston from time to time and other team member lives in Brookline) and we had better information than any of the concierges we encountered, who worked solely from the pamphlets available next to the concierge desk.
The restaurants are extremely pricey. Unless it's fresh-squeezed, I refuse to pay $8 for a glass of orange juice, but that was the going rate. The cocktails were cheaper than the breakfast beverages.
For an upscale hotel with a high nightly rate, they offer little incentive to go back. The bed and the shower were, truly, amazing, but all the other promises fell flat. They do have a better in-room cable package than most other hotels, but good cable used to be standard, and in an upscale hotel like this, I consider their cable package acceptable, as opposed to good.
I would prefer not to go back to this hotel. They need some mystery shoppers or something to come in and point out the myriad of problems that they have. -
Review from Jonathan N.
New York, NY
7/22/2011
I recently stayed in the Westin Boston Waterfront for a family wedding. Aside from one small hiccup with the bellhop (THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT!), I had a very nice stay.
The rooms were not huge but definitely big enough and overall they were very clean. I did see a couple of hairs that definitely were not mine stuck to the bathroom ceiling over the shower, but I chose to ignore them. :)
The beds were very comfortable and cushiony. If you like firm beds, this isn't the place for you. The attached Irish pub was decent enough and the bar/lounge was dark and quiet, but the service was slightly on the slow side. Not a huge deal.
I'm in the middle of training for a marathon and needed to do an 8-mile run, so I checked with the concierge to see if he had any recommendations. Sure enough, they had a 3-mile and a 5-mile route already mapped out, so I just did them both! It was a great way to see some of the city. My parents also did a trolley tour, which picked up right in front of the hotel.
Technically in South Boston, the Westin is a stone's throw from downtown and within walking distances of many shops and restaurants. There's also a nearby T stop that connects directly to the airport.
Enjoy Beantown! -
Review from Katherine S.
La Jolla, CA
9/15/2011 2 Check-ins Here
I really like this hotel! I
typically am not a hotel fan, because hotels mean being away from my 2 loves (dog + fiance). Typically room service means overpaying for crap food, but the dinner I got was delicious! Warm chicken, well-seasoned mashed potatoes, and tasty asparagus. Yes, hotel room service is expensive, but this service was good and the food was high quality.
However, this hotel has great service, yummy food, helpful and nice staff, comfy beds, and a truly HEAVENLY shower. And there's a Starbucks in the hotel...convenient for conferences!
Yay Westin! Especially at a conference discounted rate. Yay! -
Review from Michael S.
Schaumburg, IL
8/27/2011
This is a great convention hotel. Connected to the Boston convention center, The Westin Waterfront it was about a 5 min walk to the hall. Overall the staff was very friendly and helpful and room service was very quick and tasty.
I will gladly stay at this hotel again..... -
Review from Jaclyn S.
6/7/2011
The Good:
Very clean, well-lit room with lovely beds. Everything in there felt bright and fresh. The bathroom had an anti-fogging mirror, although something about the lighting distorts the look of make up so best to do it in the other room. The shower was terrific, heavenly indeed.
The front desk staffers are friendly and efficient. I lost my cell phone in one of the ballrooms and it appeared at conference registration.
The hotel layout is easy to navigate - wonderful when you're rushing between rooms for conference panels.
There is a kiosk that prints out boarding passes so you don't have to pay the business center a whopping $1 per page.
The Not So Good:
Hello - the business center charges a whopping $1 per page (baseline!) for printing!
The mini-fridges are not cold. Barely colder than room temperature. But I should point out that the front desk staff told me this would be the case and offered to send up a proper fridge if I needed to store things in a cold environment.
We asked for extra toiletries to be sent up, since we were a bunch of girls staying in a room (all properly booked, paid and accounted for, natch). We received two shower caps and a sewing kit - no shampoo, conditioner, or body wash. We were unable to communicate to the front desk that it is difficult to wash with needles and thread.
Overall, a solid choice and a great rate for the conference. I'd be happy to do business at the Westin again. -
Review from Mireya V.
8/12/2011
I really love the Westin. They have deliciously comfortable beds, heavenly showers and delightful bath scents! The hotel itself was really modern and the smell of tea tree soap permeated the entire lobby! They staff was nice enough to hold our bags for us while we went out to breakfast and when we came back, offered to check us in a couple of hours early.
Overall, we enjoyed our stay. However, there were a few mishaps that occurred during our visit...
Mishap #1: A member of the hotel staff walked into our hotel room while we were napping. He said he was there to clean the windows but he didn't realize someone was in the room. SCARED the bejesus out of us!
Mishap #2: I noticed that the shower heads didn't move which resulted in water hitting the wall and spilling out onto the floor. We wasted quite a few towels just cleaning up the puddles off the floor.
Mishap #3: We called the concierge and told her that we wanted to go to Cape Cod for the day and she told us we needed to take the bus to Wood's Hole. Coming to find out, $200 later, Wood's Hole is in Martha's Vineyard, not Cape Cod. If I wanted to get lost and be out $200, I wouldn't have needed the help of the concierge for that! I could've done that myself! I was NOT a happy camper! -
Review from Farrah K.
6/23/2011
Despite the fact that I live in Boston, there are occasions when sometimes I stay overnight in a Boston hotel. Now, before you go jumping to scandalous conclusions, I will explain that it is usually because there is some awesome holiday party or event taking place at the hotel and I am offered a reserved room rate and it is so nice to stumble upstairs instead of outside in search of a cab.
The room was really nice. Linens and towels were clean and fresh. The service was pretty OK, I don't remember checking in, so I assume it didn't impress or alarm me.
The view from my room was lovely! When back in the room and gazing out and enjoying the view, I ordered late night room service.I remember it was astonishingly expensive as room service usually is, but that I inhaled my burger and it was so good and I felt justified in splurging.
If you are not from Boston and want to explore, it is sort of out of the way while still being in the city. You may want to be more in the middle of things...Listed in: Lodgings
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Review from Kristine H.
Seattle, WA
7/27/2011 1 Check-in Here
I've stayed in better properties but when you have an event at the Hynes, this is physically the closest to the venue. The Westin is attached to the Hynes via a sky-bridge or you can walk to the Hynes outside if the weather permits.
The lobby is well-appointed and spacious while the rooms are average. I felt the rooms were overpriced for what was received and we had a problem upon check-in. I requested two beds and we were given a single bed. They offered a roll-away at no charge but were flippant about the fact that two beds were needed. I was given no loyalty points for the trouble and the front desk staff just seemed irritated by the influx of gamers into their lobby.
There's a Starbucks under the sky bridge which can get pretty busy during peak hours. And if you like overpriced pub food, there's an Irish pub at the other end. The next time I have an event at the Hynes, I might stay across the street at one of the other two properties. -
Review from Beatrice E.
Union City, CA
8/24/2011
I really, really like this hotel. I stayed here with my mom when she went on a business trip and I enjoyed my stay.
We arrived significantly earlier than expected, but they were able to accommodate us despite that. Unfortunately, the only available room had only one bed, so that was a downer, especially since my mom's coworker was by himself and got two beds. It's OK though--the bed lives up to its "Heavenly" title.
Our room was very clean. There were no missed spots or anything. The bathroom was amazing, the water pressure was great considering it was a hotel. I felt like I was in heaven in the shower.
Room service was also good about not interrupting us or rearranging things too much. I liked that.
No waterfront view, so that was deceiving. -
Review from Carolyn M.
Media, PA
9/3/2011
Everything looks closer on a map.... My family and I ended up at the Westin Boston Waterfront due to Hurricane Irene (our originally booked downtown hotel wasn't available).
Someone on Yelp wrote downtown is a "stone's throw" away.
Maybe....if Godzilla throws the stone. Downtown is a good 20 minute walk. Something to consider if you have young children. The walk on Summer Street passes over the water and the views of downtown are picturesque. But I digress.
I thought the hotel was clean, well designed, modern and comfortable. The beds were ever so comfy and the pillows were plentiful and of two different densities (firm and soft). Our room was nicely sized. I liked that there were six elevators (no long waits). The indoor pool and whirlpool helped us unwind after a long day walking.
I also came to appreciate the quiet location of the hotel. After listening to horns honking, sirens blaring, trucks roaring downtown, it felt restorative leaving the chaos and heading back to a quiet place.
The hotel is close to the Black Falcon Cruise Terminal. We enjoyed seeing a cruise ship, Norwegian Dawn, dock.
Seaport Blvd (the true water front street) is a five minute walk from the hotel. Lots of dining venues as well as the Bank of America Pavilion. (On a whim we bought tickets to a Sara Bareilles concert!) The Pavilion might offer a good night-time activity for business gatherings.
Come to think of it, I like the location of this hotel. It's within walking distance of the Aquarium and Boston Harbor, public transport and taxis abound, and you'll see views of downtown you can't appreciate from...well, downtown. -
Review from Sylvia Y.
Oakland, CA
5/28/2011 3 Check-ins Here
For anyone who is going to attend a convention at the Boston Convention center, this place is the best place to stay.
The hotel is connected to the convention center.
Parking is $35 a night (self park). WHAT?
NO free wifi. :( fail.
BUT. they have a really clean hotel + rooms.
AND great service.
:) those two things make me very happy.
Also their beds are really comfortable. OH! they do have refrigerators. A must for me when I travel, as I like to have fresh fruits while I am traveling.
They have starbucks downstairs, and 2 restaurants. One is a casual irish bar.restaurant. one is more of a fancy restaurant.
Great concierge service, their bell staff is awesome. Housekeeping is the best of the best :) -
Review from Gaurav P.
6/18/2011
The Westin Boston Waterfront is a new-ish hotel in my most hated city in the US. It's what you'd typically expect at a Westin but in this case, attached to a convention center so it can get QUITE busy especially when there's a convention in town at this convention center which happens to be EVERY TIME that I'm staying there. And I'm not a part of the convention! LOL. I'll keep it brief:
Pros:
+ Large hotel and has plenty of rooms
+ Beautiful views of the city on a clear day, it's some nice downtown views at 558am during the summer
+ Close proximity to the highways, airport and next door to the convention center.
+ Within a 5-10 minute walk to South Station and several of Boston's notable restaurants (O Ya sushi etc)
+ Safe area albeit industrial
+ Several elevators so you don't have to wait too long
+ Rooms are large and clean, and so are the bathrooms
+ Fitness center is large with plenty of cardio machines
+ The pool is VERY nice and so is the jacuzzi/hot tub
+ Front desk staff are friendly and efficient
Cons:
- Twice in a row, my room wasn't made while I was checking-in. This caused me to get quite irritated as it made me go back downstairs twice. The 3rd room they gave me was MADE/clean. WTF?
- They are always sold out of suites...
- Parking is expensive! WTF? THIS IS BOSTON!!! NOT NYC OR San Francisco!
Overall, I am "fine" with this hotel and although it's not in my top 10 favorite Westins, it's still "decent". The front desk gave me 5000 Starwood points for the room shenanigans.
THIS has been a review by Gaurav -
Review from juan g.
Richmond, VA
3/24/2011
Seriously if I am already paying $200+ bucks a night do you think it makes sense to still charge $32 for overnight parking and another $16 daily for internet?
Your place is not so nice to merit these kinds of prices. Just seriously overpriced with a touch of price gouging.
Nice looking place, don't get me wrong. Just do yourself a favor, use the $150 you save a night plus parking and internet cost and go to some decent motel and use the money on something else. -
Review from Greg S.
New York, NY
8/2/2011
The area is called "The Waterfront"; and the hotel has a peek of the water from certain areas, but it is not directly on the waterfront and there is no way to access the waterfront as the name implies.
Nice, new, modern, hotel located within an easy commute of the touristy part of Boston right next to a convention center and about a $10 w/ tip taxi ride from the North End, Gov't Ctr. The beds are indeed "Heavenly". I literally fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. The housekeeping could stand some improvement. If you look closely, you can find several areas where they "missed a spot".
The doormen and bellmen were very pleasant and upbeat. Ironically, it was the concierge and front desk personnel who were not. The front desk clerk - a young, tall, brunette, sounded like she had marbles in her mouth and reminded me of one of the adults from the cartoon Charlie Brown, who always sound like "Woonk, woonk, woonk, woonk, waaa". She acted like she was doing us a favor by giving us a "city view" room. We could see the tops of some buildings, but it was obscured by the mammoth convention center next door. The concierge - an older, blonde woman with typical Bostonian attitude (I grew up close by, so I know) - acted as if she was in pain. She forced a smile every once in a while during our several encounters, but was never displayed a true "I'm happy to be here to server you" type attitude.
There are just enough eateries and bars, including the iconic Starbucks, so that you don't have to forage for food. The macaroni and ham dish at MJ O'Conner's- an Irish pub was delish and reasonable prices as was my dining partner's seafood dish.
I can see how this can be hit or miss as several reviewers have pointed out, but overall we enjoyed a very pleasant stay. -
Review from Robert R.
6/16/2011 1 Check-in Here
Quality was good with excellent bed and location. You sort of know what to expect when staying at a Westin.
Only stayed one night so I didnt have time to check out the other amenities.
Glad I didn't have to park a car there as valet parking is $42 a night and wi-fi access was charged at 12.95 per day. -
Review from Pamela S.
San Diego, CA
6/4/2011 1 Check-in Here
The hotel was nice as Westin's usually are. Great beds and clean rooms. It was a little out of the way but still easy to get into town. They told us parking was 42 per night but, lucky we turned in our rental car since we know it is easy to get around Boston.
We had a wonderful view of the City from the 11th floor.
The room service menu is really poor compared to most hotels. -
Review from Richard B.
Laguna Hills, CA
10/6/2011
Their pub, M.J. O'Connors, features lobster rolls and chowder that is the bomb. Too bad the service is very erratic. Perfect if you are in town for the convention space. Just plan on a long wait between dishes.
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Review from Dana B.
1/10/2011
The hotel itself did not disappoint. The lobbey was beautiful, our room was a decent size, the bed was large and comfortable and they had the DUAL shower head. Seriously I love the dual shower head. We were only in town for a short 40 hours so we didn't spend a lot of time in the hotel.
Thanks to a deal with hotwire we scored the room for pretty cheap. But next time we are in Boston we'll be picking a hotel that is more in the thick of things. I felt like the hotel was a bit out of the way but in reality it was only about a 10-15 minute taxi ride to get to the areas we wanted to visit. There are a few other hotels and the convention center in the immediate area, but that is about it. -
Review from Erica C.
San Diego, CA
9/25/2011
Nice place directly connected to the convention center but not close to much else. There is a starbucks in the lobby which is nice. Unless your company is paying for it, I would opt for something closer to the north end of Boston.
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Review from Aaron B.
10/26/2011 1 Check-in Here
a fantastic hotel for a conference, lots of space and adjacent to the conference centre
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Review from Athena T.
Las Vegas, NV
10/3/2010
Walking into the hotel - my senses were immediately awakened by a refreshing, crisp scent of magnolias (I remember this growing up). I walked up to the contemporary registration desk and everyone was so happy and friendly. I loved their name tags - the representative's passion was written underneath their name. For example, the rep who assisted me was "Alexandria" (protected name) and her passion was "writing". I thought it was very clever and it struck a conversation between us because it sparked a sense of intrigue which eventually turned into interest. great marketing by adding that personal touch.
The entire place was nicely laid out architectually. It certainly aligned with the right feng shui. The elevators and hallways were clean, and the rooms are fantastic. Everything was nice and lined up to a tee. I felt as 'homey' as one lonely traveler could feel (think "Up In The Air").
This place is pricey, but definitely well worth it if you are coming into town for a convention at the Boston Convention Center which is right next door.
The bars and restaurants are class A. The only downside is that you'd have quite a walk from any other civilization in the city. If you're seeking nightlife, this isn't the area. If you're looking for good food, go to the North End - great original Italian food wtih a European neighborhood feel. -
Review from Madeleine H.
Northampton, MA
1/19/2011
The short version: Most of my disappointment comes from knowing this is a Westin.
The longer version: I stayed here as part of a larger convention this past weekend. The staff were always friendly and accommodating, if at times a little thin (I checked in early, but when the majority of attendees arrived there was an absurdly long line and only two people staffing the check-in desk). When my friends and I arrived at our suite, it was barely that -- merely two adjoining regular rooms with the bed taken out of one and replaced with a pullout couch was unmade, and it took four hours and three phone calls to have sheets delivered (they finally arrived at 1 in the morning). If there is a "Front Desk" button on any of the three phones in our room(s), I failed to find it.
The dual-head shower was awesome. The gym was small, but suitable for my purposes. The "heavenly bed" left me wishing I could have brought my own mattress with me. The entire hotel was COLD. I mean, yes, it's January in Boston, but come on. You'd think they'd have this whole winter thing down by now.
Speaking of Boston, the location was a bit out of the way of the downtown (a five minute drive to Faneuil Hall, but I would have rather walked), and despite my east-facing room on an upper floor, the supposed waterfront was nowhere to be seen.
Overall, if this had been any other hotel, I would have been happy. 5 stars, with a possible deduction for the sofabed incident. But I didn't stay in just any hotel, I stayed in a Westin. My expectations are a little higher for nice hotels such as these, and it's not like I don't have other experiences to compare this one to. Luckily, I paid a good rate, and that discount for that convention's weekend I'd stay again, but for any other time, I'd stay away. -
Review from Carl S.
Garden Grove, CA
8/6/2011
Overall it's very nice hotel. Pleasant stay, plenty of space, a heavenly room with heavenly soap, tv service, shower heads etc. They sure do love the word "heavenly" at this hotel. One negative, Wi-Fi not free in the rooms but free in the lobby. Other than this horrible mistake, I definitely recommend this hotel!
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Review from Krsna V.
6/11/2007
I stayed here for 5 nights when visiting Boston for a conference. My key would not work on the first day. I had to go downstairs and ask them to give me another key. The front desk said it may be because I kept the key close to my credit cards. So, the next day i put the key in my suit pocket and nothing close to it. Same problem. This problem happened everyday. is very frustrating when you come to your room on the 10th floor at 11:00 p.m. and have to go down to the lobby because you cannot get in.
Other than that, we had to call for room service to make our bed everyday. We used to leave the room around 9:00 a.m., come back around 7:00 p.m. and the bed would not be made. What kind of a service is that?
The one star is for the convenient location.Listed in: Oh he-ell no!!
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Review from Ken P.
San Francisco, CA
6/9/2008
I rarely complain about hotels. I had an ex-girlfriend who was a sales and catering manager at a hotel. It's a hard business, and I often heard the war stories....but this place needs serious work if they want to call themselves a high end hotel. Here's my story....
After a red-eye flight, I arrived at the hotel about 8 in the morning on a Sunday. I had asked for early check-in and that my reservations be connected, so I was expecting to get right into my final room.
I was offered a fitness room that supposedly had a treadmill and an exercise bike. Sounded interesting as I would definitely use the bike. I get to the room - its not a sports room as all - its a normal smallish room with a treadmill taking up all the space where a lounge chair would normally be. No bike. View of the HVAC.
Back to the desk.
New room - handicapped suite - not an issue for me. Normally there is a good shower and a larger bathroom. This sad room with a view of some weeds and railroad tracks was unfortunately on a maintenance corridor with paper thin walls next door as staff probably prepared their mops and got their cleaning supplies. I finally put in ear plugs to try to take a nap. Didn't help. After an hour trying to sleep, I gave up. Back to the desk.
Ok - finally off to what sounded like a good room and on first look it is. Nice city view and average size - larger than the fitness room. I then walk into the bathroom - hair all over the floor. I'm not too uptight about these things - people including cleaning staff and me shed. ...but this is a crazy amount - a quick scan reveals at least 15 hairs and the floor looks dirty.
Off for a day out and gave them a chance to clean it.
I ask the Concierge what she'd recommend for a day trip to cool off from the high 90's heat. She recommended Glouchester. After a 1 hr milk train, I learned that Glouchester is an unremarkable industrial town. My first encounter with a resident is someone trying to bum money off of me. For all its glorious fishing history, it is now a pretty sad place - 1/3 are the shops are borded up, 1/3 are closed on Sunday, and 1/3 are completely uninteresting and it is as hot as Boston. The only redeeming part of the visit is that I now know where fish sticks come from and after miles of walking I saw a fairly nice beach too late in the day to utilize it.
Back to the hotel after now a two hour train ride to Boston (due to mechanical failure). A sweltering day largely wasted.
At the hotel I order room service. I miss the 11 pm cutt-off so the choices are very limited. I order the quesadilla. It arrives as an unappetizing coldish lump on the plate with a warm beer. It was worthy of being sent back, but I was too hungry by this point.
In the am, I called the front desk to verify again that they had linked my two reservations as they had promised they had done the previous day. I was checking only because all the other service issues suggested they might have screwed this up. I was right. After being on hold for an eternity, the reservations were once again linked. If I had to change rooms, I probably would have looked into changing hotels.
As I complete this review, it is almost 6 p.m. I've been gone most of the day at the conference. Upon returning to the room, it had not been cleaned. I called an someone did come within 15 minutes.
All this fun and more can be had for 350 dollars a night. Sure they have the heavenly bed and updated decor, but for this kind of money you'd expect a vastly different experience.
I don't think this tool will let me give zero stars or I probably would. Again, the hotel business is a hard business, but so far there have been many opportunities to delight me, or disappoint me or even recover from disappointment.
So far the Westin Boston Waterfront is batting 1000 in the disappointment category. Basil Faulty would be proud.
There are lots of choices for business class hotels close to the convention center in this part of Boston - many of them cheaper. I'd look at reviews carefully before you consider parting with your company's money at this particular hotel.
ADDENDUM:
Some other choice experiences you can have at this hotel:
* I am adding to this review from my cellular card. The wifi isn't working again. It hasn't worked most of the week. The general manager, David Connor, MBA sent a cookie, a couple of berries, and a warm bottle of water to our rooms with a note throwing the wireless vendor under the bus.
* It is 11 pm on my last night. I was at the confernce this am from 10:30 - 12:30 and left the room before two. My room wasn't cleaned AGAIN!
* My cards demagnatized 3 times during this trip. I've travelled for work for the last 20 years and this has NEVER happened to me.
* There was no cream put in my room for the last three days. I had to go get some myself.
I couldn't invent a worse 4 star experience. -
Review from Kristin S.
Somerville, MA
1/30/2007
When you stay at a hotel attached to a Convention Center you expect a certain degree of professionalism. When you stay at a hotel that is hosting a major event you expect a certain degree of professionalism. When you stay at a Westin you expect a certain degree of professionalism. The Westin Waterfront does not have this.
My husband and I arrived and went to check in. The line was long and we noticed that only one person was working on the reception desk. How do you have one person, on NYE, when you are hosting an event, working the front desk? After waiting in line we checked in and went up to our room. About 5 minutes after we arrived a very frantic woman busted into our room and started searching all over because they just moved out of the room and she left a bag behind (Um, WHY did they leave??) Definitely the way the hotel should handle that.
After she left I went to take a shower. Or at least I wanted to take a shower but there were no towels! How do you not have towels in the bathroom when guests arrive?! I thought maybe it was a fluke but after talking to friends staying on a completely different floor I learned they did not have towels in their rooms either.
While we waited for them to bring up the towels my husband and I decided to pop open a bottle of champagne. The ice bucket they had in the room was not shaped to fit a champagne bottle, nevermind a champagne bottle and ice. So we put a call into housekeeping
Hello?
Hi, can I please have an ice bucket and two champagne flutes sent up to Room 123?
S**T! What? Hold on.
Ok....
You want a what?
An ice bucket and champagne flutes
What?
Ice bucket and glasses to drink champagne
OH! Champagne glasses. There is a charge for that
There is? Well, just send it up.
We were charged $9 for two flutes and a bucket. A paper bucket that you get your popcorn in at the movies. They charged us to drink our own champagne! Maybe I'm spoiled because in Vegas you call up and you ask for ice and flutes and you have it, for free, in your room in 10 minutes.
Fast forward to late night. Its about 2am and we decide to order from room service. I noticed that they state on the menu they don't serve breakfast until 6am (what kind of hotel is this?!) My husband calls up and tells them matter of factly that we want two omelettes with peppers, onions, and cheese. "We have a breakfast burrito" Great, we'll take two.
When the burrito finally arrives it was laughable. First of all the only thing inside of it were minuscule bits of bacon....no cheese, no veggies. The burrito didn't even come with homefries or toast! We also ordered tea but were give no lemons and no milk. When we looked at the bill we saw we were charged for 4 burritos. Stellar.
To their credit they did take everything off the bill that shouldn't have been but come on. This hotel is attached to the convention center you would think they have their act together -
Review from Melissa M.
Medford, MA
9/12/2009
I had a 99 dollar coupon for this hotel, so I decided two use it a day before it expired, which coincidentally was my ten year anniversary of courting bliss with my fiance.
I found the hotel lobby to be really nice, light, fun, kinda exciting -- if you can say a lobby is exciting. The lobby is huge. The staff was welcoming. We were only here for less than 24 hours and most of it was spent being tourists in our own city so I can't report extensively. But, I can say they had a nice enough room, it was almost clean save for some dust on the black marble(?) countertops over the sink and there was that creepy lil hair in the bed -- I always check the bed on arrival. But, other than that, the place was clean.
The sheets though, were ROUGH!!! I am really sad and surprised about that. It was very unfortunate to sleep on rough almost sandpaper-esque sheets. That is the one thing that really gets me. I don't understand how hotels -- like the Westin, which is a HUGE chain of hotels could not spring for some actual comfy, soft sheets.
Anyway, the room overlooked the tops of buildings -- we were on the top floor, and it looked at the back of the financial district. Nothing breathaking about that. If you craned your head and turned your neck to the right you could see a bit of the water - but it was absolutely nothing to write home about.
The hotel is situated a hop from the financial district and a hop from the waterfront. It's a hop and a skip from the north end. We took a cab from the north end back to the hotel as were were celebrating a bit too much and were drunk.
I slept horribly the whole night. I was woken up by a baby crying at 12:45am and woke up every 30 - 45 minutes until I finally emerged from the scratchy sheets around 8am.
I did not sleep well and I'm blaming the hotel. They need to make their doors not SLAM shut as that what kept waking me up. I'm a light sleeper but when I'm drizzunk I normally pass out until the next day. This did not happen due to to the itchy sheets, SLAMMING doors, baby crying and in general, complete discomfort from the itchy sheets.
The next day we had the overpriced breakfast buffet. All hotels have overpriced food. The breakfast buffet was eggs, blah blah blah, sausage, bacon, cereal, you know BREAKFAST. The service was nothing stellar since they probably know they are not getting a huge tip since we serve ourselves. The orange juice was SIX bucks and tasted like it was expired and/or from concentrate.
I don't think I'll be back. I was going to give three stars but the issues of cleanliness really bothered me -- and the sheets. My god. The sheets. Aaaand, they did have a "rain" shower -- which was appreciated, but it's really too little too late.
If you are looking for a hotel near the financial district/waterfront and can stand to sleep on itchy sheets then book a room. But, make sure to check the bed! -
Review from Phil K.
San Mateo, CA
7/30/2007
Yeah, this place mostly sucked. I had a very similar experience to Kristin S. in mid-May when I was there for eBay Live 2007.
The Westin is attached to the enormous Boston Convention Center, so I'm sure they are frequently packed full of conference goers. I doubt its unusual for them to be nearly sold out. I ordered room service breakfast on the first night and it arrived a little hour an hour late the next morning - after I'd left to work a full day on the conference floor. My girlfriend got the meal and they didn't charge it to our room, even left us some chocolates. I foolishly thought they were just overwhelmed b/c of a full hotel. Well, the next night I tried to pre-order breakfast again and found that there was no order card in the room. I called room service and ...
me: something like, "I'd like to order breafast"...
her: you can fill out the card...
me: there isn't one in the room...
her: damnit, those guys are so lazy, they're supposed to leave you a card. I'm gonna call and complain because I can't be taking orders for breakfast all night long. ok, what do you want? ... etc, etc.
me: not amused
Breakfast arrived on time the following morning, but wasn't really very good at all. We had French toast, oatmeal, and some fruit. It didn't "hit the spot."
More or less the same thing happened the next night as, again, no order card had been left. Apparently they ran out of order cards to leave in the rooms.
Over all - this is the place you'll stay if you're going to a conference and some one else is paying. It only makes sense. The hotel is relatively new and the rooms are nice. But it won't be as good as it should be, especially for a Westin and in this price range. The service isn't well trained and doesn't really have the "customers first" attitude you'd expect. Definitely wouldn't recommend for vacationers in Boston because it's not in downtown. -
Review from Gina N.
2/16/2008
Great location if you're attending a conference @ the Boston convention center, as it is right next door. It's located right by the pier, and across the street/bridge to the train station. The hotel is huge, w/ various amenities. There's a nice bar as you walk into the lobby, along w/ 2 restaurants, a business center, and a nice pool & gym. Our hotel room was gorgeous..a very modern feel equipped w/ a huge plasma tv, w/ one side of the room being a huge glass window overlooking the water. Just like one of those u in a magazine.
We also paid a great price, considering how expensive hotels were out there.Listed in: Vacay Must See & Eats!
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Review from Adrienne T.
Boston, MA
11/6/2007
I was so NOT impressed. This place hosted an event for my work, and so we stayed overnight. First of all, the place has such high ceilings that it feels cavernous and impersonal, and the lobby area is damp and cold. Brrr. There were only 2 people checking in guests- not nearly enough staff for this task.
Room was average, bed was nice and comfy.
Tried to reach front desk to ask for late checkout, but phone kept ringing and ringing, finally Room Service answered and said they had reported to management that the front desk wasn't picking up its calls.
Room service was good and quick, BUT- a CAN of Pepsi for $3.75- isn't that illegal?
There's only one restaurant in this whole big joint, and a Starbucks. There is no place to walk to get food. You are at their mercy- hence, the $3.75 cans of Pepsi.
I heard horror stories about the fire alarm having gone off the night before we arrived, by some coworkers who checked in a night early.
I would NEVER pay out of my own pocket to stay here. BIG DISAPPOINTMENT! BOO! HISS! -
Review from Erin M.
11/9/2008
Note: This is a review of the catering/event services only.
My company recently held its annual fundraising gala at the Westin Waterfront and had a wonderful experience. Although I was not with the company for the entire planning process, from my understanding and experience the staff was extremely accommodating and seemed to personally care for the event we were holding.
As a non-profit in a failing economy we needed to price things on the lower end of the spectrum and our catering and sound managers constantly took that into consideration. Never did they push higher end things on us that we simply could not afford. The Westin is expensive enough to hold an event and we just could not keep throwing money around!
On the day of the event there was a conference using the Grand Ballroom before us up until 1 pm and our gala's reception began at 6 pm. That left us less than five hours to set EVERYTHING up. Between our staff, the hotel staff, and our producer's staff we were able to get everything done seamlessly. At no point was there a panic that something was not going right, things were missing, something was not working, etc. Everything was going right.
The servers throughout the evening operated seamlessly according to the various cues we gave them. We requested no service during certain pieces of our program out of respect of the speakers and they were more than able to accommodate and were extremely quiet when they did serve. Many of our guests complimented the servers to us following the event because it is so rare to get through an event without massive amounts of clanging.
Sound had a few flubs, including playing the incorrect walkout music for our host, but unless you read our script you would never know that.
The food (chicken and salmon) had mixed reviews. No one said it was bad, but few raved about it. I had some of the chicken and found it to be more on the bland side, but was still surprised at the quality considering it was still a banquet meal being served for nearly 600 people. The hor'dorves apparently were phenomenal and the drinks were strong (guest had a LOT of those).
We did not hear any complaints about parking or T-accessibility so it worked out for our guests and our staff did not have any issues getting to or from there at any point. Overall, this is a great event space if it can fit within your budget.Listed in: Home Away From Home
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Review from Melissa H.
Los Angeles, CA
2/24/2010
I stayed here for a conference that took place next door. Super convenient in that regard, but not for most else.
It is such a pretty hotel. The lobby and rooms are gorgeous. The cleaning staff is great; they were really flexible with us in the room at weird times.
Minus 2 stars for the other staff I had to deal with...
I originally booked the room to share with one other person, but a month or so before, I called to explain that there would be 3 of us and to reserve a cot. "I can't change your reservation now," he told me, "but you can request a cot when you check in."
When I arrived at the hotel, there were 2 or 3 people staffing the front desk, and each were having involved conversations with the people they were helping. I stood there for at least 5 minutes waiting for someone to help me... Those 5 minutes felt like an eternity.
Knowing my roommates already checked in, I didn't bother requesting a cot, as I figured they would have. When I got to the room and spoke to them, they told me that the hotel doesn't even _have_ cots, and that it is, apparently, against the fire code to have one in our room. Why the person I spoke to over the phone a month ago didn't mention that is beyond me.
One evening it was too cold and slushy out to venture for more exciting food, so one of my roommates and I decided to go to one of the restaurants in the hotel. Before we made a reservation, knowing it was going to be a pasta buffet, I asked if my friend could order something small off the menu, rather than get the buffet. "Sure," she told me. You know where this is going...
Of course, as soon as we sat down we asked for the menu. The hostess told us it was "Buffet only" tonight. Oh really? Why didn't you say that when I was making the reservation? (And the food at the restaurant? It was just leftovers from the luncheon that was held downstairs... and I attended that day. Lovely!)
Perhaps their policy is to always say "yes" -- regardless of whether or not they plan to fulfill your request.Listed in: Hotels
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Review from Dixon T.
San Francisco, CA
11/5/2007
The bed is comfy....
We stayed here for three nights in November and two of those nights between 4am and 5am the fire alarm for the building went off. The alarm, a flashing strobe light, whooping noise, and a recorded bored woman's voice alerting you that an alarm has been triggered and to stay in your room, is effective, but copasetic to sleep, it certainly is not. The alarm flashed, and boomed for 10 minutes, before a tired man's voice came into our room, said that something happened in the kitchen and that's about it.
I suppose in a way it was exciting.
I had never been in a hotel when a fire alarm had gone off.
Going off at 4am, wasn't too pleasing though.
It happening again the next morning at 5am was even less pleasing.
In addition to this, and a complete lack of apology (let alone acknowledgment) from anyone, the hallway floors are dirty. I can't imagine that they ever vacuum. The entire place is over run by conferences, and it is not remotely located close to anything helpful, interesting, or historic, beside perhaps the convention center and the airport (and the airport bus stop).
On the bright side, the staff are friendly and cordial. So they have that going for them...
Then again, if you happen to get a handicap room, plan on the shower flooding the entire bathroom and possibly the rest of your room.
Honestly, for the money you pay to stay here, you should get a lot more. However, since it was obviously built to go with the new convention center and they seem to have no lack of business, I doubt they are going to change anything, any time soon.Listed in: Boston
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Review from Eric C.
New York, NY
12/28/2008
I was unexpectedly stranded in Boston recently and Westin really came through for me. It's primarily used as a convention center so it had ample availability in the middle of the snow storm which led to remarkably low last minute rates (89 / night) on http://spg.com. Also for the budget traveler, it is a very easy walk from the t station (except in a blizzard).
The hotel lobby was pretty spacious and clean as was my room. The gym had relatively new equipment and well kept.
The only knock on the hotel is that there is no airport shuttle. They have a shuttle that goes downtown but not one that goes to the airport so travelers are faced with a $15 - $20 cab ride or a walk to the tee station. Also, though not the hotel's fault, the bar that's attached to it only has directTV. This is perfectly fine in any environment except a snow storm in which case if you want to go grab something to eat, you get to stare at static while you do enjoy your meal. -
Review from Erika S.
10/30/2008
I will preface this review by stating that I was here on business in the convention center. As far as convenience, you can't get much better. This Westin delivered on all counts. The design is very modern, yet calming and serene. There is a Starbucks Cafe, extremely appreciated. The restaurant in the hotel Sauciety, is decent. They also have the Breathe Westin system which some of the old Westins do not. You've got to appreciate the heavenly bed and the "rain" shower heads.
The only reason for 4 stars instead of 5 is because my room key kept demagnetizing each time I needed to use it and WiFi was not working one night.
I would not recommend this Westin for sightseeing around Boston, it's a bit out of the way.
