Hampton Inn Boston/Peabody

Needs an update STAT Hotel is not up to par with other Hampton hotels. First room smelled. Second room didn’t smell but is old and run down. Price was the cheapest and you definitely get what you pay for. No laundry area. You have to go to sister hotel next door to do laundry (which is down a steep hill or a good distance walk. We will pay extra to get better quality from now on.

A lovely basic hotel with great staff What a friendly place to stay. Room is basic without a safe but we had no reason to worry. It’s a low star hotel but what it lacks in facilities it makes up for in friendliness and helpfulness. It is only a B&B but my mum and I loved the buffet style breakfast! Proper American pancakes amongst other things and a waffle maker where you made your own waffles from a choice of 2 batters. Hot drinks were free all hours of the day in the lobby and it was ok to take breakfast to your room. The TV was on every morning too so you could watch what was happening in America. The room had 2 queen size beds in as we shared a twin room but it was big enough for a 5 day stay. Plenty of hot water and toiletries should you forget your own! Rooms also had good tea and coffee making facilities. What I would say though is that you need a car as it’s about a 30 min drive into Boston. There isn’t a local bus so we used Uber cabs to go everywhere. The hotel also sits back off of a main highway and there aren’t any shops nearby although there is a good Italian a short 5 min walk away. There was a Wendy’s fast food place across the road from the hotel walking distance, a pizza place and another drive through like a McDonalds before the Italian restaurant. Like I say you really need a hire car. But overall a great stay. They also put out warm freshly made cookies late afternoon that are free and VERY tasty! There is also a small area where you can buy packaged snacks like chocolate, crisps, drinks etc.

Horrific employee interaction As a leader of a school group, we purchased 16 rooms for two nights while visiting Boston from Canada. I have done this using various hotels, depending on location, for 20 years, with no issues from any hotel. On our second night, this was different; a first. It was interactions with an employee that were unprofessional and unacceptable. To somewhat briefly explain: We arrived at 9pm (on our second night). The students proceeded to use the pool. The sign in the pool area states that 30 people are permitted. Almost immediately upon arrival, the front desk attendant enters the pool area, is shaking and shouting, and indicated that the policy is that only 7 students can use the pool at a time (we had perhaps 10 at the time). The attendant will not explain nor discuss. Shocked, but we comply while trying to digest. Moments later, with still only the 7 students in the pool, the attendant returns, shouting and being rude. She states that she is shutting the pool down, that the we must leave, that she will, (and does) turn off the lights. She will not discuss it, proclaims that this is the hotel policy, and leaves; borderline runs away. It is bizarre. At this time I remain a bit too stunned by what is happening to react, and I have teenagers all around who are confused and disappointed. A colleague tries to go to speak to her calmly - again. No success. We make the difficult decision to send the students back to their rooms. Moments later, the attendant arrives on our floor (it is now 9:45pm) hands me and other teachers a piece of paper, then shouts at us (again) that she received complaints and that "we better deal with." She turns, leaves (again) and will not discuss. A couple of points: It was 9:45pm, the students were not abnormally loud, but there are 52 two of them, so there is some normal noise in the halls when they go from the now closed pool (that should be open) and back to their rooms. Shortly thereafter, I walk by the pool area. The pool is being used by other guests. In other words, because we booked many rooms as a group, providing the hotel with a large amount of business, we cannot use the facilities while other guests may do so. If this is the policy of the hotel, we happily would have booked a different hotel. The hotel happily accepted a group of 56. When doing this, the hotel must understand that some normal noise will occur, as for any guest young or old. The situation left me frazzled; the students disappointed. Regretfully, this led me to this review, and I will recommend that the travel agency who uses this hotel with whom we do business, that they should no longer use this hotel for its clients, as the hotel has no interest in any group. Out of fairness: The night previous, I believe the assistant general manager checked us in. She polite, calm, and helpful. She was willing to be even far more accommodating than my students needed. We wish we could have received that for two nights.

An Enjoyable Stay Stayed here one night on my way back to Boston Airport. Although not recognized as a valued Hhonors member (which are they supposed to do), this was a very nice stay. The folks on the counter were somewhat friendly. The breakfast workers were very nice. The cleaning folks we talked to were very nice. The room was clean and comfortable. Virtually no noise level considering we were next to the elevator. The breakfast was typical Hampton Inn fare which is good. The eating area was clean and tidy.

not good The good: Beds were very comfy, and the room was clean. The bad: Toilet did not flush the whole time I stayed. (3 days, 2 nites) They kept getting the guy to come up and plunge it. He had to come up 5 times. If we really had to go, we had to go to the lobby, because the toilet would not flush. They sent us to a king room when I booked a double bed room. They changed it, then the key lost its magnetic strip 2X. Elevators were dirty and extremely slow. we had to go up and down 3 times because of the wrong room and key problems. Hallway was dirty. Rug in hallway and elevator was old and disgusting. Breakfast oatmeal was slimy and gross. Couldnt eat it. Hard green bananas, impossible to eat. Why put them out if they're not edible? When I called in the front desk to tell them the toilet wasn't working, no one answered. Went downstairs, the woman at the front desk was rude and angry. I avoided asking her questions because I did not want to deal with her.