I had the extreme displeasure of staying here last week. Unfortunately, the local hotels were booked out.

By comparison, I have had the pleasure of staying at the Westin which is about 200 yards away with a room rate of ~$219. At the Homestead, I paid the room rate of $235. What did I experience?

The stench of cheap disinfectant upon entering the building.
The only elevator was broken.
Water dripping from the hallway ceiling.
The desk attendent was not at the desk upon my arrival or departure.
Dirty, worn out carpets in the common areas.
A room that smelled of old smoke, stale beer, body odor, urine, and disinfectant.
An air conditioner, that, while it did barely work, made a terrible racket.
Carpeting in the room that was so old, worn out, and dirty, that I kept my shoes on at all times.
Given the filth of the room, while I did not get any bedbug bites, I hardly slept due to concerns about what animals might come emerge when the lights were out.

I went to bed at 11 PM. Due to the noise of the air conditioner and wondering about cockroaches and rats, I awoke at 1:30. My limo pickup was not until 8 AM. However, to escape this building, I called a cab and checked out around 5 AM since paying to ride in a cab was preferable to staying at the Homestead any longer.

In addition to the filthy, dilapidated state of the Homestead, the other issue was the room rate. The Homestead price gouges. The card in the room indicated a maximum room rate of $200. I don't know if charging me $235/night was legal. Regardless of whether it was illegal, it leaves a very bad taste in my mouth. This is a terrible place. I emailed, complaining about my experience >48 hours ago and there has been no response.

We slept OK here thanks to the very loud in-room AC, but our child, who has traveled a lot, found the place scary, and my wife, who has traveled lots more for both business and pleasure, found it sad. There's no way we'd ever go back: there has to be a better place for the price. The guy at the desk the night we got in was very friendly as he helped us bring in the cot, but the woman at the desk the next morning was surly and unhelpful about the nearly useless internet connection. The entrance to the building was filthy--even a little sweeping would have helped a lot with that, but there would be nothing to do, short of massive renovation, for the worn interior. What made it especially painful was knowing we were committed to the shabby place when there were many other reasonably reliable chain hotels right nearby. I was suckered into thinking this was a Homewood Suites and thus at least familiar, but ours was a studio suite with none of the amenities of those chains and none of the pleasures of a local inn.

I was unable to book my 'standard hotel' Embassy Suites and this was the only available property. Front desk staff were very good; very helpful. Room itself? Bathroom stinks - I mean smells really bad. A/C unpredictable. Supposedly "free wi-fi" isn't free. crappy service. I bought the $3 upgrade and still got only one bar. Couldn't connect to work vpn. Wouldn't sit in the easy chair if you paid me. Going to sleep in my clothes as I can't even imagine sleeping in this bed. Slippers are a must. Had booked for 2 nights; cancelled the 2nd night. If you're looking for a cheap room, this would be it. Again - staff completely made up for the crappy room. Staff were awesome.
I travel about 2-3 weeks per month

I was a little skeptical once I read several reviews of this hotel, but was I wasnt looking for a lot just a nice clean place to stay while in the area for a day. I stayed in a queen size room which suited me just fine, it was clean and the bed was comfortable. It was inexpensive for an extended stay hotel and not far from Boston and Harvard University. I would definitely stay here again.