While not exactly waterfront, if you are given the right room you can have a view of the water. But wonderful is the word for the Westin Waterfront Hotel in Boston. Located about a half mile from the South train station and right next to the convention center, you notice the Westin difference as soon as you enter.
Check in was a breeze at the individual check in stations at the time we checked in but that wasn't always the case. Several times while in the lobby we noted long check in lines with one or two people performing check in. At one point, we saw four employees at the desks with three people waiting on line and suddenly three staff members went behind an office door leaving one person doing check in, and the line quickly built up.
Staff was warm and welcoming. Our room was 859 with a view of the hotel roof and a sliver of the waterfront. There were two queen sized beds, a flat screen t.v., refrigerator in the credenza (empty, perfect to store your bottled water) safe and three drawers. A desk, chair and small table were near the window.
There was an extremely small closet and good sized bathroom. The shower had a rainshower head. Bathroom amenities include shampoo and separate conditioner (yeah!), soap and body lotion. A hairdryer is in the room. The room was very clean. There is a coffee maker in each room, but we had to ask for creamer.
Westin Hotels feature the Heavenly Bed system, and that is an apt description. The bed felt like a cocoon, and I woke without the usual backache from a new bed. There is a pillow menu as well. Take advantage of this - I didn't and woke up with a stiff neck from overly high pillows.
Internet service is $12.95 per day in the room, free in the lobby. Breakfast buffet in Sauciety Restaurant (open for breakfast and lunch) was $21.
M.J. O'Connors was one of the restaurants inside the hotel, which features an Irish type menu. If you sit at the bar or at one of the outdoor tables, you can order from the $7 bar menu. On the menu was excellent ribs (3), fried mac and cheese bites (5), olive sampler or pretzels with a chipotle sauce (3 long soft pretzels). There was also City Bar in the lobby that had a small menu of bar food. A comedy club is expected to open within the next month or so.
There is also a gift shop, Starbucks,pool and gym. The pool is indoors and the room was oppressively hot so we didn't use the pool or hot tub although we wanted to.
We were at a conference and the conference rooms were very large. Most are windowless thus very dark inside. The rooms were were also cold so bring a jacket.
Unless you are going to The Boston Convention Center for a convention, the location of the hotel is not ideal. There is no place to eat in the immediate area besides the hotel restaurants and you are trapped with their high prices. After two days, an employee gave me a hint about a Greek deli that was in the building across the street and had great sandwiches for half the price of M Donahue's and Starbucks and the sandwich was ready in two minutes.Otherwise it was a long walk over the D Street bridge to the waterfront for restaurants, a 7-11 and Dunkin Donuts. One night there were fireworks on the Harbor and I was able to enjoy them from inside my room.
The Aquarium and Fanuel Hall are walkable from the hotel over bridges and up Atlantic Ave. It is a little over a mile, longer if you walk the waterfront path through condo and hotel yards.
The area is being built up with planned apartments and condos so hopefully in the next few years there will be more restaurants and amenities in the area. The hotel is a beautiful one with great staff and can be so much more if there were more things to go in the immediate area.
No comments:
Post a Comment