Ramada by Wyndham Boston

The room was roomy enough and had a mini fridge, coffee maker, safe, and hair dryer, though the hallways are worn down. Free hot and cold breakfast was included, with bananas, oranges and/or apples, cold yogurt, two waffle makers, and a juice machine offering cranberry, apple, water, and maybe orange juice. The Boston area rate seemed like good value, especially with free cancellation up to two or three days ahead. It's within a 20 minute drive of Thomas Menino Convention Center, formerly BCEC, where we went for the NIKE Boston National Qualifier. The hotel offers a free shuttle to the metro or subway area and charged $10 for the Logan airport and Convention Center trips. The wifi was terrible, and the only TV channels were a limited selection of local ones.

The location is great, close to everything. Jose the manager is great, and so are Kory, Shawna, and the other staff member with dreadlocks. I was disappointed with the cleaning staff, except for two of them. If you're going to hire cleaning staff, they should speak all languages, not just one. The shuttle should run all seven days of the week, and the manager needs to do better. There should be an ATM in the lobby so guests don't have to go to Boston Bowl. You should keep quarters in the drawer all the time, not just rolls, so we don't have to go to Boston Bowl for quarters either.

The hotel's condition wasn't great either. Water was leaking from the ceiling in the hallway outside our room, and the property's cleanliness fell short of what I expected. I travel with a trained service animal for a medical condition. Staff raised several issues about ADA service animal rules: first they said I'd have to pay a pet fee, then asked me for documentation, said my dog couldn't come into the breakfast dining area, and told me there was a 40 pound limit even for service animals. I've taken my dog to many hotels and on flights without ever encountering these kinds of restrictions. My dog was calm, quiet, and well behaved the whole time. Guests traveling with an ADA service animal may want to know about this before booking. My stay at Ramada by Wyndham Boston was disappointing.

The general area is mostly commercial and doesn't have much to it, though there's a candlepin bowling and billiards place with food right across the street. It was fun to walk over to and seemed family friendly. The shower had weak water pressure and a somewhat short showerhead, but the hot water was excellent. The walls are thin, though our neighbors kept the noise down. We stayed two nights. The room was clean and adequate, nothing fancy, but we didn't pay for fancy. There's a simple complimentary breakfast from 6 to 10 a.m., parking by the hotel was easy, and the staff were friendly and helpful when we arrived around 11:30 p.m. Room service came by around 10 a.m. after our first night. Four stars because it could use a general update. Still, it met our expectations. We didn't have the problems described in some other reviews: no bed bugs or ceiling leaks, and the key cards worked fine. I'm honestly confused by all the bad reviews. Hope this helps anyone deciding whether to stay here.