TownePlace Suites Boston Tewksbury/Andover

The pool was the main reason we picked this hotel, along with its location near the highway for the drive home. Since it wasn’t working, we had to take our kids to a community pool in Lowell. The property is also shabby: the deck concrete is crumbling and marked with yellow caution tape, the rooms are dingy, and the second bedroom had bare closet tracks without doors. We were a family of five traveling back from Connecticut, and as loyal Marriott members we booked a two-bedroom suite for one night at a Residence Inn, expecting the brand’s usual standards. Getting that room two weeks in advance should perhaps have been a warning. Check-in was quick and the staff were friendly, even though the desk worker was new. The sheets and towels were clean, but the second bedroom’s small stall shower had a razor cover and long hair on the floor, and the main shower walls still had dried dirt. There were crumbs under the kitchen cabinets too, which made me wonder how clean the floor really was. The hotel Wi-Fi didn’t work. At the desk, we were given a 1-800 number to call and told other guests had reported similar problems. It still wasn’t fixed the next morning. This place is really stretching the limits of what’s acceptable for a Marriott.

The mattress from the pull-out couch was flat, stained with what looked like blood, and moldy underneath. Maintenance replaced it and said housekeeping should have checked it, adding that it was going straight to the dumpster. No other room was available. Earlier, the room had smelled strongly of stale cigarettes and mildew despite being non-smoking, so maintenance put in an air freshener and changed the A/C filter. At check-in, Ellie (Supervisor) asked me to put down $20 a day for incidentals. I questioned that because I’d checked in online and my account showed a $380 charge while the email summary showed a $332.87 balance. With a lobby full of families, I let it go after her short, rude response: “You checked in online, correct? Is there a problem?” I contacted the desk about the condition of the room and was offered a one-night credit. On the second evening, 20-30 people gathered on the sports court outside our room, even though signs say it closes at 9pm. There was yelling, basketball bouncing, and people hanging around our door. At 9:45pm I called the desk and was told someone would ask them to leave, but at 12:45am people were still there playing basketball. When we checked out, the account showed another $166.43 for the single night while one night was being credited. We were charged $586.43 for what should have been $166.43, so now we’re waiting to see if $420 comes back. The attached photos show the property’s condition. Charcoal grills couldn’t be used because the bottoms were rusted through; trash overflowed in shared areas; flashing by the roof of a building near the court was coming loose and blowing in the wind. There was mold, mildew, and rot on balconies and building exteriors as well as indoors, and the recent repairs around support beams and railings raised questions about structural integrity. Cones and caution tape were visible in the photos. Do better, Marriott.

The breakfast staff were snappy, and when I sat down in the dining area at 6:15 am, I was rudely told it didn’t start until 6:30. The pool was also advertised, but I was told it was closed when I arrived. At check-in, staff were abrupt about whether my room was available and said there was no reservation for me. When I said I’d go to the Fairfield, the staff member claimed it was closed for construction, though only the entrance on one side was. My room had an outside entrance.

The hotel’s rooms and shared areas felt worn, trashy, and poorly maintained. We only needed a place to sleep, but I wouldn’t want to spend a couple of days here or count on enjoying the amenities. Outside, the sports court was in especially rough shape: rust, broken wood and railings, no net, rusted-through grills, and mattresses being stored there. The pool area was also a problem, with the room HVAC struggling against the late October sun through poorly insulated windows. The microwave in our room didn’t work, and the front desk wrongly told us there was an oven, so the food we’d brought had to be cooked in the lobby microwave. Of the three guest dryers, only one worked, and the housekeeping schedule seemed odd for a Marriott Residence. The hotel shouldn’t carry Marriott branding in this condition.