Okay, let's face it, we don't stay at W's to consume award winning Les Clefs D'or concierge service. We stay at W Hotels because it's hip, modern and fun. For me, I love the interior design as it is closest to my own personal style at home, and home is where the heart is.
Aside from the "Whatever.... if ever!!??!!" service that seems to plague the W Hotel chain, I did enjoy my stay. Granted, the Customer Service Representatives at W or "P.Y.T.'s" as I call them (pretty young thang's) are in my opinion, not hired for their ability, but rather their genetic inheritance. And yes, I would definitely state that the W staff are better looking than your average hotel, and there is nothing wrong with that. We all know what the W product is, for example, Volvo's and Bimmer's are both exceptional products, but one is more "Wow". Despite BMW's fish-tailing flaw when driving on ice, similarly, we love W because of it's charm and we mysteriously keep returning back to it. As Pacino once said, "Just when I thought I was out...they pull me back in."
I had the fortunate opportunity to stay at W Boston early August using the SPG Free Weekends award- hence FREE!!^^ As this was a complimentary stay, I wasn't expecting much in terms of upgrades, and in my experience, upgrades at W properties is hit & miss, even for paid stays.
The "W" gods must have been shining on me as I was upgraded to a "Marvelous" Suite, which was in one word, MARVELOUS!!
floor plan- Marvelous..... close, but no cigar to the adjacent Wow or Extreme Wow suite
main living area w/ king size bed
the frickin huge washroom with grigio sardo granite galore
photo taken from the washroom looking into the bedroom through the canvas scrim (the reverse side is the wall hung art as shown in the bedroom photo, 2 pictures above)
hand signed note (and a brimful cup of purple marshmallows that didn't quite make it through the photo shoot...burp!!!)
come Friday & Saturday night, the hipsters queue the line in hopes of passing the velvet ropes...W guests can breeze right in
the W Lounge- serves the best/interesting cocktails I have had in a while- the ginger beer ones are not to be missed!! Thanks Jessica A. for the complimentary champers!!.. hiccup...
The hotel restaurant is Market, which foodies may know is brought to you by the infamous Jeans-George Vongerichten. The food was great, service was okay. It doesn't help that the server knocks over a glass of beer in spectacular fashion, recreating Iguazu Falls.
I've eaten at many restaurants from local dives to Michelin starred, this tuna dish is one of THE BEST I've had!^:
There are two hotel service flaws that I should mention:
1) as my room was not ready, I checked my bags into luggage storage. When my room was ready, the Customer Service Representative gave the luggage ticket to the bell hop, who promptly dumped my LV luggage on the lobby floor without offering to bring it up to my room. A far cry from a 5 star hotel that would have it waiting in my room.
2) I had to literally chase down the Platinum Amenity for a span of 2 days, constantly asking the CSR for the W umbrella which was NOT in the munchie bar.
As you can see, the architecture and interior design are bar none in Beantown and the W Boston is now one of my favourite W's (I heart W Montreal, with the ratty W Chicago Lakeshore coming in last place).
In summary, I would recommend this hotel to colleagues and I would return for another stay which are my two main criteria for evaluating hotels and restaurants.^^
p.s.- In regards to the rumours of the elusive GM, I don't know what this nonsense is, I had no trouble contacting Mr. B or his staff.