Holiday Inn Boston-Brookline

This should be a five-​star hotel because it’s a nice hotel but the staff it my staff was really rude

Let me start by saying I’m an ambassador spire member. I called the hotel 48 hours ahead and again 24 hours ahead to make sure they knew I would be arriving after midnight and was requesting my upgrade. I was told it wasn’t guaranteed but then The day I was leaving to go up to Boston I got a call and told that I would get the upgrade and was even told that I would be on the 5^th floor. I didn’t arrive to the hotel until almost 1 am and not only was I exhausted from traveling all day, I arrive with the man at the front desk arguing with a young lady over a package that was waiting for her and since she didn’t have ID wouldn’t give it to her. This went on for at least 10 min while I waited. I won’t name the mans name, but he didn’t greet me as a spire member, but then said I wasn’t getting the upgrade! Seriously?! I confirmed this in the morning and your hotel called me to confirm. He said he would upgrade me BUT the room was above the kitchen and vibrated. Wow. Just WOW! I told him that was unacceptable and that the young lady I spoke too had confirmed me on the 5^th floor. He told me they only had that room left but could put me in a double. At this point I didn’t care. I said how about you comp me breakfast then. He started to argue with me that since I didn’t purchase the breakfast in my rate he wouldn’t do it. A $ 10 breakfast ., you can’t comp me? Then he told me that I also did my reservation through a 3^rd party and therefore wasn’t allowed to have it. Ummm I’m a travel agent and purchased it directly through IHG on the phone! Nope he continued to argue with me! So up to the room I go. Now the hotel is being spruced up so the walls were being redone etc. that didn’t bother me. Well let’s see the room. Every time the a/​c turned on it made this awful clanging sound. Then the man above me decided at 2:30am to have a fight with his wife. Every time I went to call they would stop. But at 4:30 he decide to have relations with her and let’s just say I got to hear that too! Now I had a meeting at 7:30 so I slept maybe 3 hours! I went down that morning and had coffee. It was gross and who is at the counter but my favorite man from 1:00 am! I tell him what happened and he said «you should have called me about the fight but can’t do anything about the other». I said you will move me today! He then had another argument with me and said IF something comes available he will call me. I never got a call. I finally called the hotel around 11:00 and spoke with the same woman who called me the morning I left. She accommodated me with a better room. She was wonderful! So that afternoon I moved to a different more quiet room. I again asked to be comped a breakfast for the disaster, but again that was a no. I couldn’t even get a glass In The bathroom. I wound up using the coffee cups that were by the coffee maker, which was broken. Never did get a new one. Why I couldn’t get a glass, and they’re plastic, in the bathroom is a mystery. Let’s just say that IF I stay there again, things better be different. The breakfast I had was good. The woman I dealt with was lovely. My overall experience was deplorable. Not up to standards at all with IHG.
I was contacted by Jeff, the general manager the next day with a very lovely letter. He assured me that this won’t happen again and apologized for what had happened. He has addressed the issues and has spoken to the people I encountered while there. I would like to thank Jeff for getting back to me. I will try this hotel again when I go up to see my daughter and review their hotel again. I can not stress enough that there were good things about the hotel, but the bad outweighed them. Thank you Jeff for understanding the problems and getting back in touch with me.

Hotel was just ok. Way outdated and old. The fire alarm went off at 4 am and the people at the front desk had no idea what to do. Stay somewhere else

The room is just OK, and a little dated, but the customer service and flexibility of the front desk staff is AMAZING! Edgar was accommodating to my very early check in after a red eye flight.

Management here is inept. We were awakened early Sunday morning by a ringing phone. It was an automated wake-​up call. But we had not asked for one. Called front desk to complain. They said they would take care it. Two minutes later we got another wake-​up call. I got dressed and bleary-​eyed went to front desk to ask why this kept happening. I was told that’s how the system works. There’s nothing we can do about it.

Should be 2 ½ stars, I called several times just to Make sure after seeing reviews. Few Choices short notice, but everything negative is true here. My Bed linens were dirty, long hairs on pillows also sheets, crumbs, a bandaid used asked for new bedding which was a hassle had to change my self. Very dusty on T. V dresser drawers had a funny mold oder. Stuck here two days asked for new room it wasn’t any better, baby wailing purgatory torture during conference call. Surely, unhappy staff from check into maids. I tip house keeping but they acted so rude and unpleasant what’s the point didn’t even bring towels or sheets had to go to front desk for everything.

This hotel is poorly staffed, poorly ran, and the room was tiny for how much it cost. They did not send someone to fix our toilet that did not flush after asking, messed up the parking, and overcharged for brunch. I’ve worked at a holiday inn express and am horrified at the quality of this «hotel».

I stayed at the Holiday Inn in Brookline last week for 4 days after booking without reading the Unilocal or TripAdvisor reviews first (shocking — this is the 1^st time I’ve basically ever done anything without reading reviews first). I was in a rush when booking, knew this hotel was right on the T, and thought how bad can it be in Brookline?!
Answer… pretty bad. When I arrived at around midnight on a Sunday night, no one was at the front desk to help me for a good 5+ minutes. The room itself was small, had no outside windows, and the beds and pillows were lumpy and uncomfortable. It was relatively clean during my stay (no hair or stains on the bed as others have mentioned) and luckily I did not see any mice, but I wouldn’t recommend this hotel until it gets renovated.
The best part of this hotel is its location.

I recently stayed here with my husband for 4 nights. I chose it because of its walking distance to Fenway Park since we had plans there during the week. We arrived hours earlier than check in time and were promptly provided with a clean room and even given the option of a king bed or two double beds. We chose the king but were ultimately disappointed in the room. It was clean but there was no outside light. The only «window» looked down into the interior of the hotel, more specifically the restaurant. While a view isn’t important because we weren’t spending a lot of time in the room, the noise level was irritating. Every morning we were woken up to silverware clattering and diners talking, that can get annoying very quickly.
We did order room service for breakfast one day and while it was prompt and displayed well, it was nothing special and cost a fortune. I do wish we had had a fridge in the room, I had to use the ice bucket for keep things cool. We sat at the bar one evening for burgers and the bartender was very nice and the burgers weren’t terrible. We chose not to have housekeeping come in during the stay.
Overall the hotel was fine for what I needed it to be but not exceptional. The design is very poor. Every person we came in contact with was very nice!

I had to stay here for a couple days after my apartment flooded up the street. I have to say, it was the most uncomfortable stay I’ve had. Not only was there hassle checking in and finding my reservation, but they also gave me the wrong key and room. The beds had stains on the sheets and were very uncomfortable. The worst part was that I had my first day of my new internship I had to get ready for and instead woke up feeling sick with pink eye from sleeping there.
I’ve stayed at Holiday Inn’s before, but this particular location was not worth it.

Stayed here for 5 days because of a fire at our apartment. Hotel is awkwardly put together and the beds are really terrible. Room didn’t have any windows and the bathroom was super small. As usual in Boston the hotel was really expensive and the quality was really bad– Story of my life in this city ;)
Food is okay, not great. Parking Is outrageously expensive. We had to stay here because of our dog, but I’d recommend any hotel. I’ve stayed at the Envision by the health street stop at JP for half as much and it is a far better hotel, albeit a slight worse location.

This place isn’t great. It’s like one of those motels with the doors that open to the outside, but it’s an indoor courtyard so no natural light through the windows. The pool doesn’t look deep enough to drown anything but your hopes & dreams. The rooms are appropriate sized for Boston but it’s a bit dingy.
It’s very reasonably priced and in a great location, so that’s a positive. The staff is very nice.

I don’t enjoy writing negative reviews but it’s hard to have much positive to say about this place. A buddy of mine and I met in Boston for the weekend and were supposed to stay at an Airbnb. Unfortunately, the person we were renting from canceled just a few days before our trip so we had to scramble to find a place to stay. This was the best we could do on such short notice.
But don’t think that by «best» I mean that it was reasonably priced. It seems all hotels in Boston are insanely expensive, but to pay $ 400 a night for this place is seriously ridiculous. As others have said, the entire building is badly in need of renovation. Apparently that is in their plans. It can’t happen soon enough. On the positive side, the staff was very friendly and accommodating. No complaints there. And the location is not bad. Easy to get on the T and head into downtown.
I’ll close by saying that this hotel worked ok for the situation we were in. It was me and my friend from college, so our standards were not too high. If it had been a weekend with my girlfriend, it likely would have been a different story.

Hear me out, this hotel is a little dated and is in a terrible location for sleeping (tons of noise at night from cars/​trucks and yelling locals). BUT the staff is fantastic, I asked for a room higher up, hoping it would be quieter and they sent me up to the top floor. It made quite a difference.
You will pay about $ 32 a night for parking but the upside is that you park in a below ground garage, downside is the garage is wet and musty.
There is continental breakfast, it’s alright for standard hotel breakfast. But there also is a small restaurant downstairs where the food is actually really good. If you don’t feel like eating in the hotel there is a Whole Foods down the road, and a ton of restaurants like Lineage, Brothers, Fugakyu (authentic Japanese that I highly recommend)
If it wasn’t for the phenomenal staff and decent location I would probably have given it 1 – 2 stars. But those factors made all the difference.

2 stars because they gave us 2 free water bottles
iHG hotels should tear this place down and rebuild
Last call on a Friday night was 10:50
Heat/​air conditioning was very unresponsive
Parking $ 32.00 a day
They upgraded us to a king suite, but failed to tell us it was a handicap room
Didn’t dare have breakfast

This hotel was below average for me.
I wish I had stayed elsewhere. We went with friends who had Holiday Inn points to take advantage of. They were upgraded. We got the «average room».
Our first room we were shown was on the first floor — room 188. We asked for non smoking, king bed. Pretty standard. We were shown to a room that reeked of cigarettes, had no natural light and paper thin walls. They «upgraded» us to the 2^nd floor level.
With the upgrade — we then had a musty smelling room — but no cigarettes. Our room overlooked the breakfast (not included) area. The noise was muffled but very much there. When people were checking in to the rooms around ours, it sounded as if they were coming through our door.
There was hair in the bathroom from previous occupants. Our toilet seat was broken on one side so it was a gamble as to which cheek would be closer to the bowl at any given time you sat down. We had to hold the toilet handle down for minimum 9 seconds with each flush.
The pool was saltwater and warmer than room temperature. It was 4 ft deep but tiny and about 7 strokes long (when my boyfriend was swimming). We attempted the hot tub but the undeniable smell of chemicals was too much for me. He got waist deep.
Everything was just so outdated. We paid 150 all in all, per night. I felt it was worth less than $ 80. Still so weird that there wasn’t natural light.
The heat when we first walked in was ON… definitely on. 85 degrees. Took a little while for that to come down to normal preferred temperatures. We had little trouble with that except for the last night our of stay. Regularly 68 degrees spiked to 82 degrees sometime around 3 am. It took just as long to come down the second time. The next morning we were freezing — below 68.
The location was great. We liked the restaurants and the ease of getting around on the T.
Everything else — not so much.

I just saw a mouse in my room!!!
Everything else is pretty much the same. Please go to another hotel.

I think somebody must have slipped PCP into my yogurt, because I paid close to 400 dollars to stay in Brookline, in a gloomy room with a view of a parking lot, in a hotel with tacky fake plants caked in dust… and they wouldn’t even let me check in until 4PM. Oh… parking was extra.
I should get a free reach-​around or something for that price, don’t you think?
Dust your plants.

A terrible experience particularly since it’s not cheap to stay here. With a discount it was still $ 200/​night.
If it cost the same between a single or double (both with queen size beds) best to get a double room. The bed will be the same size but your room will be significantly bigger.
The bar has odd hours. And although it says they close at 11 pm they might suddenly stop serving at 12:30 am even though there are people still looking for a drink.
My friends then came into their room and found a random dude sleeping in their bed. Apparently concierge gave him a key to the wrong room.
The thermostat is also whacked out. Setting the ac at 70 degrees leads to heat and 69 degrees leads to freezing cold air.
The only plus is that it’s in the heart of Brookline and has great access to the T.
There are way too many other hotels in the area to choose from for a better experience. This place needs a hotel 911.

The hubs stayed here the last three nights and was disappointed! As an Intercontinental Ambassador, we usually enjoy a room upgrade. If this room was an upgrade… yikes. Cramped, dark and depressing. The location is the best thing going. It was pricey ($ 270 per night). But he could have dealt with those issues. What he didn’t appreciate was the total lack of customer service. He was ignored and snubbed more than once during his three night stay. The front desk staff was unable to print a boarding pass and unapologetic about it.
There are plenty of places to stay in Boston, we chose this because of the location and the IHG Ambassador points and usual upgrade. We won’t be staying here ever again.