All things considered - a good place to stay
We stayed at the Boston Common Hotel during the Back Bay Blackout in March of 2012.
The lobby and common areas of the hotel are nice and comfortable, however our room was outdated and in need of repair. It badly needed painted. The paint was chipping off the walls and showed cracks and stains from years of non-maintenance. The sitting chair in the room looked like it had gone years without being cleaned and had dust in the crevices. The bathroom was below average, outdated with an industrial toilet and a shower that looked like it was 35 years old. We only had one towel rack as the one in the shower was broken off. However, the bed did NOT have any bedbugs in it, although it did have stains on the sheets. We just tracked down the cleaning lady and she gave us another, no problems there. Note: before our trip, we checked out the traveler photos here on TripAdvisor, and got a real good idea of how our room would look. They were very accurate. The professional photos are not as good of an indication of the actual room. I do not see these user pictures on this site anymore.
However, despite this, the hotel was not awful and the price was excellent for Boston. The morning continental breakfast was kinda bad but it was free (and there is a dunkin donuts just out the door). The staff was friendly and helpful above and beyond what you would expect with hotel rooms of this quality. In fact, the staff went above and beyond trying to make guests comfortable not only during the blackout, but also when you would approach them with questions about the city and area.
If looking for a spectacular hotel room, you will be disappointed with the Boston Common. But if just looking for a place to crash in a good location for a good price, this is the spot!