Holiday Inn Boxborough

The pool room and huge dining room are beautiful and very well kept. The staff were friendly, and when we realized we’d underbooked our room, they had already noticed our things were still there while cleaning. We came back hours later to find everything untouched, and they’d booked us an extra night without charging us more.

The bed was nice enough and the sheets were clean, which is what got this place three stars from me. I was traveling alone for business, but the single king room I wanted was overbooked. They offered a suite with two double beds, and I thought, “Hey, whatever, it’s a suite,” until I walked in. It must have been a really cool room 20-30 years ago. There was a balcony, a fireplace with a sign saying “fires not permitted in fireplace,” two bathrooms, one with a huge shower, two TVs, and a sitting room with a microwave. The fridge was unplugged for some reason and smelled a bit. It seemed like nothing had been updated except the bed and TVs. The cabinets were beat up and falling apart. There were years’ worth of hair, dirt, dust, and lint along the carpet edges, plus stains all over. One of the bathrooms had no tissues. I stayed two nights, and after the first, housekeeping took the hand towel, foot towel, and body towel I’d hung up without replacing them. There were more towels in the room, so it wasn’t a big deal, just odd. The TV said to press Menu for movie options, but it only showed a loading screen before telling me to press Menu again. Regular channels worked fine. Breakfast was what I’d expect from a lower end hotel. The staff were friendly and helpful, but the food was pretty blah. The bacon was good, though. For the price, about the same as other big chain hotels nearby, I expected a clean, somewhat up to date room. I’ve stayed at this brand’s hotel 15 minutes down the road in Marlborough, and it was much newer and nicer. The staff were nice at both places, so no complaints there. My business contact is half a mile away, but the next options are 15 minutes away. If I have a choice, I still won’t stay here again.

The room had a good bed, clean washroom, acceptable AC, TV, alarm clock, plenty of plug and USB charging points, a hair dryer, mini fridge, and iron. Internet was free, there was a common microwave, and staff were friendly. They also offered free color printing. The restaurant was open every day, and the pizza wasn’t bad. Water cost $2 for a tiny bottle, so I had to cut back on drinking it. The rooms had somewhat stinky carpets, shuttle service was unavailable most of the time, and breakfast wasn’t complimentary for every guest.

I was in a large group, though there were only about six other people there. The waitress mostly ignored us, got my drink wrong, and seemed to struggle to bring us our food. I’d paid in advance and ordered the guest of honor a drink, but she ended up paying for it twice, as I found out later. The waitress never checked whether I wanted another drink. I regret leaving such a generous tip.