I recently stayed at this hotel on the last day/ night, and morning before leaving Cambridge after visiting extended family there. What stood out to me as a superb quality of this hotel was the staff and service. From Amy at the front desk to the staff at the Zephyr restaurant, the service was impeccable and the staff was friendly, helpful, informative, pleasant, and attentive. The meal I also ate at the Zephyr was well prepared! The lobby atrium was also impressive, architecturally unique, and clean as well. If you're looking to be near a busy event-filled location that is easy to walk or travel to like Central Square, this is not the hotel for you. It is more isolated than those close to the area. The MIT campus is the closest attraction to the hotel. However, the hotel does have a shuttle to take anyone to a desired location and pick them up.
The personal negative I had with this hotel is the mixed situation with the room I had. In the beginning, I do admit that I arrived very early way before the suggested check-in time so the fault may have began with me. The Queen room I requested by reservation wasn't ready yet so I was generously given a choice whether to wait an hour to get into that room or receive a complimentary upgrade with a Charles River view. Because I had things to do and was aching to get on with my schedule during the day I had to get done, I took the upgraded offer. In my head, I imagined that it was going to be an absolutely PERFECT room, but it wasn't. I was situated on the fourth floor which wasn't bad since the view out the window was incredible, especially at night. THE POSITIVE ROOM ASPECTS: I really like the floorplan/ layout of the room, and how the furniture was arranged, the bed was comfortable and it and the rest of the furniture was in good condition. I liked how a guest was able to choose whether they wanted to watch t.v. from the chair of the bed, all lighting and plumbing worked well, the closet was very roomy and had a dressing table next to it, and the desktop had a lot of extra work room. THE NEGATIVE ROOM ASPECTS: the bathroom was nice, clean, and well- appointed, but it was a tad smaller than hotels with a low ceiling.There was no refrigerator. That was surprising because I was used to the idea that most hotels have or should have refrigerators equipped in their rooms. The drawers next to that empty refrigerator cabinet were not as large as usual hotel drawers which contained clothes. The decor was ok. Kind of plain colored, but it worked. The only bad thing about the arrangement of the furniture was that the desk and its chair was partially in the way of the aisle by the bed.The defects with the most impacts were that the room was clean except for dusty tabletops, finger marks on the drawer cabinets, blue marks and gouges in the wallcovering and underlying drywall of the entry foyer, the clock was hard to figure out how to set/ reset the time, and the right outer curtain rod track was falling down from the ceiling. Aside from the negative factors, the stay was good. Also because the stay was for one night only, and I couldn't really judge it too suddenly because of that, it wasn't too bad. Just not great. The service, lobby, facility, food, and the unaffected working aspects of the room helped me through the stay besides being out and visiting my family that day. If I stayed longer, I would have thought differently or had requested another room.