What is your IHG One Rewards status?
Diamond Royal Ambassador Inner Circle

Were you (or for multi-stayers are you generally) happy with the hotel/stay?
I am afraid not.

Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
Booked Essential room.
I first received a so called King Exterior View on high floor.
As it was a connected room, I declined it: you could hear everything from the other room.
I then received a canal view room. This room is obviously a category lower than the previous one.
But actually I found the view nicer and it was much quieter.
The view from the first room was not exactly great: a road with heavy traffic (poor soundproofed windows) and partial view of the city of Boston.

How are the rooms?
Around 32sqm.

Elegant design.
Very comfortable single bed. usb sockets next to the bed.

Desk (usb and power sockets within the desk).

Television with good selection of national and international channels.
Chromecast (which actually did not work).

Small closet.
Tiny bathroom with walk-in shower.
Atelier Bloem toiletries.

No free PressReader.
Empy (but very noisy) minibar
No espresso machine or kettle.
Windows cannot be opened

Very quiet.

What was good and what was bad?
Good:

• Pleasant room design (even if nothing extraordinary: last generation Holiday Inn hotels can have a perfectly good design too. In addition, the bathrooms are really tiny). The rooms have been renovated, but the lobby and public areas are still in their original kitsch neo-empire "style".
• Free bicycles, which is definitely the best way to discover the Boston region.
• Pretty good breakfast (but no fresh orange juice, no buffet and Inner Circle members can opt for two dishes only).

Bad:

• Everything else.
• The Kimpton Marlowe is very much like those hotels in the United States where the staff have absolutely no training in hospitality, and who confuse laid-back atmosphere with carelessness.
• The check-in member of staff was a caricature: no smile, no eye contact, clearly carrying out his tasks mechanically as if he was working at a McDonald's drive-through counter or making a welcome announcement on a Delta Airlines domestic flight (I do it because I am asked to do it, but I don't give a damn). When I asked him to assess the quality of the welcome he has provided, he looked at me dumbfounded, not even understanding the question. Let's just say that this poor boy is a long way from the Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne’s quality standards.
• Obviously, I wasn't asked if I wanted breakfast for Inner Circle benefits, and of course no basic information was given about the hotel.
• The cleaning of the room was basic to say the least: There were holes in the sheets in the first room (I was told that the holes were created by the machines of the laundry subcontractor, which means that the problem is known but not solved), glass marks on the marble table (obviously this hotel doesn't know how to remove stains from marble with white vinegar), bathroom taps that hadn't been descaled for a long time, bathroom strewn with stains (toothpaste?) on walls and furniture, a spider's web on the ceiling, a feather on the seat, and even a trace of the last guest on the shampoo bottle: a nice touch.
• The hotel does not offer in-room espresso machines like the latest generation of Kimpton hotels. Which means you'll have to get dressed and wait until 7am if you want to have a (horrible) Americano coffee in a paper cup.
• At breakfast, the member of staff welcomes you as if you were at a funeral party, seating you (I was among the first) without even asking where you wanted to sit. When you ask what's included with the coupon, the answer is: er, I don't know. Great. Can you call me someone who knows?
• When you ask for a bike and find that the front tyre is deflated, you're gently handed a bike pump so you can do it yourself. Do it yourself is not exactly what I call quality of service. On the way back, you'll obviously have to walk the last few miles... because the tyre is completely deflated.
• You ask for a room until 4pm. When you return, the do not disturb sign has been removed by housekeeping and the key has been deactivated.

In this disaster, only 3 members of staff stand out: two members at reception (one member tried to erase the disastrous impression left by his colleague), and one breakfast staff (when I wished to leave a generous tip for this person, I was made to understand that this is complicated…).

Value for $ or IHG One Rewards Points? Would you return?
Any hotel is too expensive when the basics are not delivered.
The Kimpton Marlowe is a caricature of a hotel that pretends to be cool but is in fact just a bad hotel.



Exterior






Lobby











So called business centre

Access to the rooms

King canal view room












Bathroom



View from the room


Empty (but very noisy) minibar

Closet

Inner Circle amenities

Morning coffee

Breakfast




Free bicycles

Fitness centre