Boston West Hotel

It’s a lovely, quiet place, but the mattress in room 11 really let it down. It felt like sleeping on springs. I know it’s a budget place, but that mattress was the main problem. There also wasn’t an option for breakfast.

The restaurant food looked thrown together, and the spec sheet the staff brought from the kitchen looked just as bad. I asked who thought half a grilled chicken burger on top of half a ham sandwich was a good idea. If that’s what the development staff told them to serve, it says a lot about their imagination. The room is badly dated, with filler on the wall that’s been poorly sanded and left unpainted. People constantly leave to smoke outside and slam the doors, which gets annoying.

Breakfast was awful, and I’ll be avoiding the restaurant from now on. My partner’s scrambled eggs were fine, but the toast was soggy bread that didn’t look like it had been toasted. My eggs Benedict was more like a plate of slop. I hated sending it back, but I showed them a picture of what it should look like. The replacement was better, though still very wet. Before that, the stay had been pleasant. This was our third visit, and by far the worst. The room itself was nice and the bed super comfortable, but the bathroom let it down badly. The bath sealant and grout are tricky places to keep free of black mould, but mould growing on the tiles should be easy enough to clean. The cold tap was completely broken. A cleaner told us they’d known for a few days and were waiting for a part, and was surprised no one had mentioned it at check-in.

I’ve stayed at this hotel five times and have seen it improve on each visit. The rooms are clean, though they’d benefit from redecorating. They have tea and coffee facilities, a hair dryer, heated towel rail, plenty of hot water, free to view TV and free WiFi. I’ve always found the staff helpful, and there’s a good-sized parking area. The buffet breakfast looks much better now, and I’m looking forward to trying the new Bistro Menu in October.