I arrived at the Homewood Suites after reading previous reviews with some trepidation, but was pleasantly surprised (it was booked by my husband's company). Our room was clean, bright and spacious and appeared to have been recently renovated. All facilities were provided and worked well, although there is definitely an issue with the air-con as mentioned by another reviewer - we were either too hot or too cold most nights. Staff were friendly and helpful and the included breakfast is pretty reasonable, with lots of choice. Best way to get to Boston or Cambridge/Harvard is definitely the 77 bus outside the door - the walk to the Alewife subway station is not very pleasant and takes around 15 minutes, by which time you can be at Harvard on the bus.

I had stayed here two years ago when this was a hotel run by the Hyatt chain. I was very pleased with just about everything and thought it was a fair deal for the money in the Boston area. Hilton took over this establishment about a month ago.

I returned for 14 nights in May/June of 2008 and have been very disappointed in the changes that the Hilton chain has initiated. For some silly reason, they have replaced the controls on the air conditioner that allowed several choices of fan strength to one setting on a wall mounted control unit. Everyone who is staying here is complaining about having one high setting that freezes you out all night, but if you put it off, you are miserably hot.

The elevator to the garage has been constantly out of order and has been major inconvenience to me as I have been carrying scads of goods in and out of this hotel. The staff is poorly trained and of no help at all when you are struggling with heavy items. They sort of smile at you and then go on their merry way.

My biggest complaint is that this is still advertised on the website as 100% non-smoking, but I am surrounded by people smoking in their rooms. When I complained, I was told that it is Hilton policy to have at least 5 rooms in every hotel delegated for smoking. When I checked in, I asked specifically for a non-smoking area and was assured that the entire hotel did not allow smoking. They changed the policy while I was here!!!! Unfair, unconscionable and downright dishonest. They told me that I could move to another floor, but then rescinded the offer in a telephone message later in the evening. They did comp me one night, but if all the other hotels in the area were not fully booked I would move out immediately.

They also advertise that they have DVD units in every room, but in fact, they say that they are, "on order". The free internet access constantly disconnects, and the TV has no instructions as to how to turn it on and use it.

The breakfasts are adequate, but not especially healthy, and they do offer a very limited choice of free dinner four nights a week.

This is a property with good potential but at this point, I am not planning on returning here.