Great location, noisy rooms
We stayed here on points for 2 nights - i had requested a quiet room, and we were given a room on the side street (which i assumed was away from the noisy main road opposite the TD Garden). The room was incredibly noisy unfortunately and it was not a good night's sleep. We asked to be moved (as did others the next morning, so I think it might be a common problem) and later that day were put in a room on the 5th floor facing out the back of the hotel (over an alleyway so no view) - this was much quieter and the 2nd night we were able to sleep, but it is a shame that we weren't given this at the beginning. Most of the lights in the 2nd room did not work. The staff were very helpful, although they seemed to be kept very busy with phone calls and residents. The breakfast was the typical Holiday Inn Express breakfast and was good quality - the cinnamon rolls were very nice, the bananas were just ripe and the new pancake machine was a delight.
All in all, an average stay due to the terrible night's sleep the first night - if we had been given the same quieter room for 2 nights then probably 4 stars due to staff friendliness, good location (for the North End and the Italian district of restaurants) and the breakfast.