Royal Sonesta Boston

“Aesthetically Beautiful Hotel”

I stayed at the Royal Sonesta hotel for one night during a business trip to the Boston area. My flight arrived a little before noon on the day of check-in. I went straight to the hotel from the airport to see whether it would be feasible for me to check in early. Upon arrival at the hotel, I wa… more

I stayed at the Royal Sonesta hotel for one night during a business trip to the Boston area. My flight arrived a little before noon on the day of check-in. I went straight to the hotel from the airport to see whether it would be feasible for me to check in early. Upon arrival at the hotel, I was met by a bellhop who got my luggage out of the taxi and showed me where to go to check in. I was extremely happy that the hotel was able to accommodate an early check-in. The front desk clerk was very professional and courteous during the check-in process and gave me instructions on how to get to my room as well as gain access to the Wi-Fi should I choose to. The aesthetics of the hotel are really nice, and it is quite modern with paintings and unique structures. There is a big heated indoor pool as well as a gym. There are also restaurants within the hotel. The room was spacious and looked and smelled clean. The bed was quite soft and comfortable. The shower pressure was great; it also remained warm for the entire shower. The view outside my hotel room was absolutely fantastic. I utilized the small living room area to watch television, and I used the desk to do some work. Unfortunately, the remote control was not working initially, so I had to call the front desk to have someone come up to fix it. The repair person came within 15 minutes and fixed the problem. I enjoyed my stay at this hotel. It is in a location that is conducive to various activities within the vicinity. It was a refreshing experience.

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“Nice hotel, but needs some improvements to make it really great.”

The good: Room was very clean. I liked how they included free bottles of water. Parking was included in the room. Hotels in the city don't always do this, and they should, because it's way more convenient for customers. Breakfast was good. It included continental breakfast which is usually toas… more

The good: Room was very clean. I liked how they included free bottles of water. Parking was included in the room. Hotels in the city don't always do this, and they should, because it's way more convenient for customers. Breakfast was good. It included continental breakfast which is usually toast and a piece of fruit at other hotels, but here it was yogurt and granola, or oatmeal and so much of it we couldn't finish! The kids' breakfasts were amazing. Staff is super helpful and friendly. Really, they were fantastic. I couldn't complain about the staff at all. They were better than most hotels, actually! We complained about noise (see below) and they sent someone up to deal with it within 10 minutes. We've had to wait hours at other hotels for people to help us out with stuff like this. The bad: The pool was cold. Not just chilly, but like winter cold. The atrium where it is didn't seem to have heat, or if it did, it was broken or something. It was probably about 50 degrees in there. I wish I'd brought more than a thin coverup to wear after swimming. The pool was apparently heated, but it probably couldn't keep up with the temperature of the atrium, so it was about 65 degrees. I had to call our kids out of the water after 30 minutes because their lips were blue. The beds themselves were okay but the sheets were pretty hard for me to sleep on. I don't know if it was because they weren't cotton or if I was allergic to their detergent, but my skin was on fire all night. I had to sleep in my clothes. I went down to ask about it at 5am and the night front desk attendant said in the many years he'd worked there, he never heard of people being allergic to the sheets, but he did say that they send the bedding off to a service to have them cleaned and couldn't verify if the detergent had perfumes or allergens. I finally asked the management about this in the morning, and she agreed to not charge us an early departure fee since I couldn't sleep there our second night. The front desk lady was very understanding. Another win for great staff. So if you have sensitive skin and stay here - bring your own sheets. The walls are so incredibly thin, we were able to hear every word of our neighbors' conversation. When the woman laughed, it was as if she was in the room with us. We complained and the staff told them to be quieter (and they were, thank you), but we could still hear them using the bathroom in the middle of the night. Not just toilet flushing, but doors opening/closing, sink running and various bodily noises. Our room had a neat feature whereby if you get up in the middle of the night, a nightlight between the two queen beds turns on so you can see. It's a great idea in theory, but every time I woke up to use the bathroom or my kid dropped his stuffed animal off the side of the bed, the light went on and woke us up. We couldn't figure out a way to turn it off. They should remove this feature, or give customers a way to disable it. After the 3rd time it went off, we just put a bag in front of it. All in all, I wouldn't stay here again because of the sheets or the noise - maybe if the hotel wasn't full up the noise wouldn't have been that bad, but you can't always predict that. They need to put in some insulation in the walls or something.

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