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W Boston: a wonderful Wow Suite upgrade and excellent (2nd) stay

100   Recommended
Room 1426 , Wow Suite
April 17, 2018 by EXPERT

 Map | 3 Reviews | 67% Recommended
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W Boston
 Map | 3 Reviews | 67% Recommended

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Room 1426

Wow Suite

Liked:
Location
Service
Food
Amenities
Room
Stats
Room
Wow Suite

After a disappointing 1 night stay to end my spring tour business season in April 2017, I was a bit hesitant to try the W Boston again. Over Easter weekend, in fact, I chose to stay at the Ritz Carlton Boston after finding an outstanding $600 AAA rate for an Executive Suite. But I still had both the W and RC booked for the final 1 night stay to end my spring tour business season in April 2018.

About 2 weeks prior to the stay, I saw that I had been pre-upgraded at the W Boston to a Wow Suite from my entry level $233 deluxe room booking. That was too good a deal to pass up, so I cancelled the RC regular room booking for $623 for the same night and decided to give the W Boston a second try.

(Please note: I am SPG Plat100 Ambassador status, and I am certain that and my amazing Ambassador had a lot to do with getting me that upgrade to the Wow Suite so far in advance!)

I'm delighted I switched to the W Boston and gave it a second chance. The W Boston came through with flying colors on this stay. While there was a service hiccup at registration and a minor issue with a room service breakfast order, my stay really was pretty much flawless. Overall, the service easily was as good and attentive as that at the Ritz Carlton only 2 weeks earlier. And the air con was fantastic and 100% reliable, something that can't be said for The Liberty's Charles River Suite or the RC's Luxury Suite.

I will return to the W Boston with much more confidence on my next visit. 

Check In

Check in was the biggest miss for my entire stay. After checking in around 2:00 pm and knowing the Wow Suite likely wouldn't be ready (my Your24 request had previously been denied for 2 pm), I was told they were trying to get the room ready ASAP. The FD agent took my luggage and promised to get that to the room.

Unfortunately, when I asked for 4 pm late checkout the next day, the FD agent balked and told me that I could only get 2 pm since I'd been upgraded to the Wow Suite. That was patently ridiculous, and I knew it--and said so. The FD agent tried to cover and come up with a ridiculous excuse, and I was having none of it--as this was reminding me of the incompetence I suffered a year before. I asked to speak to the front office manager. 

That changed things REALLY quickly. The front office manager came out a few moments later, apologized profusely, and made it very clear there absolutely was no problem with 4 pm late checkout. With the FD agent still standing there, I made it quite clear that such a miscommunication (or lie) was not to be tolerated at a W. 

The front office manager invited me to wait for the suite in the lobby bar, with a free drink on the house. I declined the drink, while being grateful for the gesture. I proceeded to do a little work in the lobby bar when the bartender still brought me water and certainly tried to look after me.

Just 20 min later, the suite was ready. Another agent brought my keys over to me and asked to escort me to the room. I was pretty pleased that I was into the Suite by 2:30 pm, a good 90 min before official check in.

The front desk area:

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The lobby bar area beyond check in area:

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The concierge desk:

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The elevator area:

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The elevator bay on the 14th floor:

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The hallway to my room 1426, end of the hall on the left:

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Room

The Wow Suite is very nicely appointed and extremely spacious at just under 1000 square feet. The living room is a wall of windows, though the view is just OK to me--but not the reason why I'd want the suite!

Walking in, you know it's a big space:

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To the right was the spacious powder bath, which was considerably warmer than the rest of the suite due to the afternoon sun glaring down on that side of the hotel:

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The large living room:

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The view from the living room:

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A small closet by the entrance:

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The living area/entrance closed off from the master bedroom/bath with the frosted sliding door panel:

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A larger closet with safe on the bedroom side of the separating panel:

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A spacious bathroom area...unfortunately with only a single vanity.

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The screens by the tub slid in one direction or the other to open up into the bedroom and view if desired--a bit clumsy but perhaps more desired by others.

The bedroom area was quite spacious:

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The bedroom area had no trouble achieving 65 F:

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The living room had more trouble, considering the beating sun. But it did, with 2 separate units, get to 68 F. But I need the bedroom cold, and the suite achieved that in spades (it helped that the bedroom was not exposed to the afternoon sun side of the hotel).

The suite was very comfortable. Its only weakness so far as I can tell is the single vanity in the master bathroom.

Service

Service, barring the glaring late checkout mistake at check in, was excellent. The front lobby bar service was very attentive in the short time I was there. My luggage was waiting for me in the suite at 2:30 pm. I got the suite early. The valet was quick to help whenever I needed a cab/Uber. The in room dining team was extremely helpful and prompt. 

When I had a disappointing issue with a room service order, the team brought up a replacement in short order without anything more than a profuse apology. It was pretty impressive, actually.

Everyone was fabulous. I received an email apology from the W Insider for the late checkout kurfuffle, for which they comp'd an in room movie I enjoyed. After the breakfast issue, they completely and unnecessarily comp'd the breakfast--even though they had quickly corrected the mistake. I insisted they not bother, but the breakfast was not on my bill. 

The service experience was every bit as good as that at the Ritz Carlton Boston only 2 weeks prior, to be honest. Very impressive.

Dining

Dining was good, but I did have a slighgt isse with the more limited in room dining menu for breakfast, lunch, and dinner compared to other W hotels at which I've stayed. Otherwise, a fine F/B experience.

I only had in room dining for dinner and breakfast the next morning. I never tried the restaurant.

Dinner:

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Dinner was pricey at $75, but it was delicious. The deviled eggs, in particular, seemed a waste of money for $12...until I tried one. They were so good. I'd order them again at that price without a second's thought!

Breakfast the next morning:

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The English muffin was burnt, making it almost impossible to cut the Benedict. I was paying so much, I called and asked for another to replace. But the eggs/salmon were wonderful.

The second order was equally good, if perhaps the muffin a bit undercooked LOL:

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The mocha at $7 was a steal with the extra small pot. It was like having 2.5 cups of mocha, actually:

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All in all, food was excellent--and when I had a complaint, it was corrected with another fresh order in like 15 minutes! They still comp'd the breakfast order, despite fixing the problem, too.

Location

Location of the W is excellent--and just about a 15 min walk from the Ritz Carlton (and maybe another 15-20 min walk to the MO). 

Overall

It was a very impressive, comfortable, and enjoyable stay at the W Boston. I look forward to returning in the future! A hearty thanks to my Ambassador again!

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