silver springer

[B]Were you happy with the hotel/stay?
Yes

Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
"King Deluxe" room(which is their lowest category) on the Travelzoo rate ($169 plus tax and a $25 food voucher good at the Miel or Sushiko restaurants). Received an upgrade to a junior suite (one large room with bedroom and sofa/ chair and desk). Had a view of the harbor--overall pleased.


How are the rooms?
Very nice, and comfortable. Hotel is only about a year old so everything is new. The bath was large with both shower and tub with shutters that could be closed to bedroom. LCD tv and the minibar (my first free mini bar as an RA) Nothing special about toiletries, were a mix/match variety of small containers. The minibar was well stocked. The welcome gift was a bowl of fruit, a box of two chocolates and a large bottle of water.


How is the exec. lounge?
Upon checkin, I asked about the price to access the Club Intercontinental. The hotel was fairly empty during our stay (Jan4-6) and the club access price was $50 per night--a real bargain. There are five offerings of refreshments: Breakfast, Lunch (mon-fri), tea, cocktails and appetizers and dessert. As we arrived early on Friday, we did have the lunch, which was terrific--you could order an appetizer, sandwich or salad and dessert. Lunch alone would have cost $50 for two. The breakfast was nice; two hot items--usually scrambled eggs and bacon/sausage, plus fruit, meats, cheeses, cereal, yogurt and breads/pastries. There was a wonderful cappucino machine and a small refrigerator with sodas and waters. The evening appetizers and drinks were very nice: two hot appetizers and a wide variety of cold appetizers. Wine was self-serve (my favorite NZ cabernet sauvignon was on offer both days) and you could also order a cocktail or beer from the friendly staff in the lounge. We were very lucky--most times we were the only ones in the lounge; today for breakfast there were a few other people. Staff told us over the holidays there were 60 people in lounge at one time--that would not have been pleasant!

I tried the gym and pool: gym had very modern equipment and the pool was an infinity pool--max depth only 4 feet but warm (and it was very cold outside during our stay so this was nice)

What was good and what was bad?
We felt very welcome and staff was very friendly. Susanne, an intern from Netherlands checked us in and escorted us to the room. She also staffed the lounge on several occasions. She and other staff were great!

The location was good--in the seaport /financial district about .6mile from Faneuil Hall in one direction and Boston common in the other. The concierge sent us directions and options to get from the airport. It was very cold so we just took the cab about $25 one way including tolls and it took about 15 minutes as there was no traffic. We had both early checkin (arriving at 10:30 am on Friday) and late checkout (leaving at 2:15 Sunday) with no problem at all.

I would not categorize anything as bad. We did have to ask for our minibar to be restocked the second day but that was all. Upon checkout, no problem with any items from minibar showing or the paid movie but there was an extra day ($50) access to the lounge which was immediately taken off.

Overall a terrific stay and a great first experience as a Royal Ambassador.



Value for $ or Priority Club Points? Would you return?
Terrific value for the room, considering our $169 travelzoo rate. Great value for the $50 lounge access fee as we definitely used it. I would return though in the warmer weather.