Hilton Boston Back Bay

As a Hilton Gold Member, I’m very disappointed. I booked through priceline because I needed a place to work at the hotel the next morning, but the property had ongoing renovations and no facilities available. priceline says Hilton didn’t tell them everything was closed; reception says priceline should have read its emails. The result was an unhappy guest. They also charge a $150-per-night deposit as well as a $36 resort fee. The room had poor mattresses with no support, and I could hear the next room’s toilet flushing. There was a coffee stain all over the mattress protector. I asked twice for a replacement, then had to change the bed myself. The mattress smelled of coffee, so I assume it was fairly new. The air conditioning didn’t work, it was far too hot, definitely above 27 Celsius, and my water was warm by morning. I asked to check out and get a refund within the first 30 minutes, but that was refused. They offered only a refund for the next night, half the stay, with no guarantee that I’d succeed in getting it through Priceline. Things can go wrong at hotels, but how they handle them matters. I didn’t feel treated kindly. I’ve had problems at Marriott hotels before and felt they responded with kindness. I also saw another couple in the same queue asking for an early checkout and being spoken to condescendingly about the resort fee. Maybe I was unlucky, or maybe this is just a bad hotel. I’ve never had issues with Hilton elsewhere, but this felt like a really poor example of one.

We’ve been coming here since 2008, and we return whenever we’re in Boston. The hotel stays quiet and clean even at busy times. Staff have changed over the years, but they’re consistently friendly and helpful, and the restaurant team is terrific for both breakfast and dinner. If you’re lucky, you’ll meet Kevin, the doorman and bellman who’s been here for 31 years. I’m already looking forward to staying at Hilton Back Bay again.

I’m finally looking for another hotel for my monthly Boston stays, after five years of coming back mainly for the location and friendly bar staff. I’m a diamond member, but this hotel repeatedly acts as if complimentary upgrades and late checkout aren’t available. They tell me to ask in the morning without saying when, then say they’ve already given too many late checkouts. They also say upgrades aren’t possible because the hotel is sold out, even when there are ten rooms per floor available for paid upgrades. I messaged for two days about an upgrade and was told it wasn’t available, then heard someone at the bar say they’d been given that same room type for free at 2:00 that day. After five years of monthly visits, they still act like they don’t know me. Loyalty doesn’t seem to matter to them. The place is very dark and dated, and the bathrooms are rundown. You get either AC or heat depending on the season, with no way to switch it yourself. I often find someone else’s hair in my room, and the rooms and hallways frequently smell like weed. There’s a destination fee that gives you credit for the restaurant, bar, or hotel shop, but staff don’t mention it, and they recently changed what it can be used for to things many guests probably won’t use. That saves them money. It makes me sad to write this. I love the bar staff and their manager, but the rest of the front-of-house staff are unhelpful and follow rules that don’t seem typical for Hilton. I don’t know who owns this hotel, but it doesn’t operate like a normal Hilton. Hilton should be ashamed to be associated with it. I travel several times a month for work and personal trips, and no other Hilton property I know acts this way. Incredibly disappointing.

The service desk staff made us feel like we were bothering them, though the cleaning staff were helpful. For what the room cost, I expected more from Hilton. There was no ice machine or lobby coffee and tea, just chamomile tea in the room. A concierge across the street at Four Seasons let us use their complimentary coffee and tea area. Our room was very dark, with dark panels and carpet and lights no brighter than 45 watts. It wouldn’t cool below 75 degrees F, so we opened the window and had to put up with constant sirens, horns, and people yelling. On Wednesday night the power went out intermittently for about four hours. We were on an upper floor with no elevator service, and the front desk wouldn’t discuss the outage. With so many stairs and no easy way to manage them, we felt trapped. Probably won’t stay here again.