Nightmare on School Street
Last minute decision to stay over in Boston prior to a west coast trip so I went Priceline w/ 4 stars in downtown in Boston as how coukld I go wrong at a great price? Well, it ended up as the worst stay in any hotel since I have been travelling over the last 30 years.
Actually pretty excited as I got Omni Parker House and I had passed it a number of times and had walked through the lobby in the past which reminds me of old world elegance, albeit, a mite shabby. Checked in and as the front desk was handing me the keys (my wife and I) he slipped it in w/ a smile that I had a nice room w/ a full size bed. I told him(will take it up w/ priceline) that Priceline guarantees a bed for 2 people and of the numerous times I have used Priceline it is either a queen bed or two doubles or fulls. The desk clerk immediately launched into telling me the ONLY way I could get a queen bed was to upgrade at $50 and his sales department set the policy and he was listening to it. After a few minutes of give and take and w/o wanting to make a scene we said we would check it out before making a judgment.
Well, it was a very small room w/ a very small bed facing the back alley and clearly was not for two people so I called down and spoke w/ the manager. Have got to believe this was a staff room. Ugly conversation w/ the on duty manager and he ended up threatening to escort me out and verfied that it was a sell up policy but I should have booked it differently and it was all my fault. I offered to split the upgrade, he kept shouting at me that I was changing his words so I just caved and gave up. Too embarrasing... he kept summarizing position which I had not staed and it was a very unnecessary conflict. It was clear this was a sell up.
We actually ended up habving a great dinner at a nearby restaurant, a wonderful walk @ Boston and a great breakfast at a nearby coffee house. Good trip but certainly marred by this exchange.
The issue was that the manager made it so nasty, that I started noticing the peeling paint/wallpaper in the room, the too small bathroom w/ no room to even put your bathroom essentials, the thin walls where we got woken up in the morning twice by hallway exchanges, the mini bar on a basket in the room rather than locked away and all the little things that spoil a good hotel visit. Would have liked to say that all the little things saved the visit after such a disappointing management response but it was all downhill.
Love Boston but unfortunately will avoid this place....