sbtinme

There is precious little on FT about the Sheraton Newton MA. I know exactly where it is (having driven underneath the thing dozens of times on I-90 heading into DT BOS!!!), but have never stayed there.

I know this place was bought by *wood corporate maybe 4 or 5 years back and they worked on significant renovations for nearly 2 years. I also am aware that the club lounge is being totally revamped now, so there is no functioning club lounge. I also know there are 12 floors.

If you've stayed here, what's the scoop? I am staying here in a few weeks the night before a conference in BOS at the Marriott Copley (wish it were at the Westin )

sbtinme

Okay, so I ended up answering my original post myself. Long and short of it: this place aint so great. (Precisely my assumption, but now I can confirm it!

This is your traditional Sheraton from 1988 -- nothing fancy pants, nothing disgusting -- just very very middling. Location is both great and miserable all at the same time. The property is located a convenient 10 minutes away from DT BOS. Hotel apparently offers FRI/SAT shuttle service (at n/c, I think) straight to Copley Square. Additionally, a very handy and regular public bus runs a block from the lobby entrance directly to Copley Sq (an express bus to boot for $2.20 o/w). So, that part is great. However, there is precious little to do in the immediate area of the hotel. No shopping, 2 restaurants (Applebee's and Pizzeria Uno) -- that's about it.

I ran afoul of the front desk in a bizarre story that included the front desk rep telling me that I was *wood GOLD instead of PLAT. Really wild. She finally admitted the error and blamed it on the central IT system at Starwood, but you and I know better. Very frustrating. Had to ask for my 500 Plat amenity points, too, of course. My res request was for a KING room on the TOP floor -- with a request for suite upgrade, if avail. Imagine my surprise when absolutely NONE of those three requests were granted! I was not on the top floor, no suite and -- to boot-- in a DOUBLE ROOM. Huh?!? At this point the hotel was too full and had nothing else to offer. I was not pleased that my Plat membership and requests had gone unnoticed until it was too late to rectify.

Additionally, the batteries in my TV remote were totally shot, so that didn't work and the alarm radio was set to a Hispanic AM station at a VERY LOUD VOLUME, so my wake up alarm was exceedingly annoying. I mention this only b/c many tightly run hotels ensure that housekeeping checks such things to ensure no surprises -- make certain all light bulbs work, check remote batteries, ensure radio is on a soothing jazz or classical station and at a reasonable sound level. This, sadly, did not occur the 24 hours of my experience at this hotel.

Also, you should know that this hotel apparently has NO suites -- or at least none that would qualify for suite upgrades for SPG members. I checked!
I left 2 msgs on the GM's voicemail and he very politely responded right back to me. He was gracious and appreciative of my input.

My advice: if you are wanting to stay very close in to DT BOS but are also planning to drive here and there, this may not be a bad option. HOWEVER, if you are thinking that this hotel is a great DT BOS option b/c of the significantly lower price or the CAT 2 award, be advised that there are solid reasons that is the case! This place is not in any way offensive or awful, it just doesn't rise to the level of what Sheraton is evolving into -- a much better run hotel organization than it was in the 1980s and 1990s. It had too many dated hotels that were marginal and offered so-so amernities. This place is still in that era.

And, lastly, for those wondering why I didn't envoke the Sheraton Promise.... I really don't like to complain or gripe. Frankly, my days stay stressed out enough with all that I have to cover at work. I really do not like any surprises when I'm on the road and I am loyal to *wood because they do such a good job of minimizing my surprises since they do such a good job of consistently pleasing me as a PLAT member. In my case, none of the complaints I had rose to the level of what I would consider qualifying for the SP -- they were a string of gripes and observations that together made my stay disappointing. In the spirit of "full disclosure," I should add that the GM saw fit to make good on the Sheraton Promise when he and I finally spoke on the phone.

I feel good about the GM's responses to me and the seriousness with which he took my input; however, I don't see myself back here again. Too many other good options.

dodo_2k

Not a very good place, and would not recommend it. I stayed Friday night

1) very crowded with a tiny lobby. one of the three elevators was not working/ took forever to get to my room
2) asked the front desk for a convenience store ... they directed me to a closed store next to a shady "spa" on the street opposite. Asking around found one on the other side. obviously the desk did not know the neighborhood
3) in the room the temperature was fine, and I went to sleep. WOke up in the middle of the night cold. The heat had been turned off (this is one of those hotels with individual heaters. By the time I figured it out I was up and it took an hour to get back to sleep
4) They have a table with an internet connection, but it has no convenient power outlets! Purchased an internet connection and did some work online, but then moved to the bed to do some work.
5) Did some work in the morning off-line and wrote a bunch of emails ... When I got ready to send them, and hooked up the connection ... It would not let me connect, without purchasing the connection all over!
6) By then it was time to check out. Went and told the person at reception who couldn't care less. She went back to her personal phone conversation, and no vestige of the Sheraton promise. Asked that at least someone let me hook my laptop, to the internet so that the mail could go out. A tech guy came out, but refused to connect my laptop to their internet connection. The front-desk people had no inclination to be of service ... Making me feel almost guilty for disturbing them!
7) If I could figure out whom to talk about this service promise business I would have, but if the people at the desk will not give you an opportunity to talk, that is hard.

Overall as someone summarized below this hotel is in a time warp (though it does have the sweet sleeper). Because of its convenient highway and close-to-Boston location it appears full.

Gajules

Where do I begin with this stay? We actually paid extra to stay on the club level of this hotel, but I am not sure what the benefit to doing that was. The club room was closed because a company called Galaxy was using it. The room had mildew in the tub and a rusty light fixture in the bathroom. I assumed that the windows would be insulated since the hotel is located over the MASS Pike, I was wrong. I might as well have just laid down on the highway because that is what it sounded like. The room did have a big desk but it was not of much use since there was a big fax machine in the middle of it. Why do some hotels continue to charge $10 to use the internet?? ( I would think it would be a nice benefit, especially on the club level, to let people use the internet for free) Being in Boston and so close to the airport I would think it would be a popular place for business people to stay. Business people are often up early to catch flights out, and the means serving breakfast before 6:30AM, at least put out a muffin or something that you can grab on the way out. I knew I should have come to this board first and asked your opinion.

sbtinme

Indeed. There are numerous postings about this place all over FT. Generally speaking, they are all in line with your sentiments. Sorry you had to learn the hard way.

skibum_nj

Yes sir, the place is truly a dump. If you're in the area again and plan on staying in the Boston suburbs, try the Sheraton Needham or Sheraton Braintree or Framingham (Braintree & Framingham are former 'Tara' hotels. Not great, but much better than Newton). My personal favorite Boston area hotel (excluding Westin Copley Place and Sheraton Boston, which are in Boston proper) is the Westin Waltham-Boston.

Oh yea...and stay away from the Four Points Logan Airport. It is nowhere near the airport and leaves much to be desired.

gsilliman

Years ago this hotel was a HoJo's -- the tiny rooms still survive that era.

There's really no good reason to stay there unless you have business in Watertown/Newton. Don't be fooled -- it's not very convenient to Boston

wideman

Actually, the best thing that can be said for this property is its convenient location, especially in relation to the airport. You can get to Logan more quickly from the Newton Sheraton than from any other *Wood except the 4Pts Logan (and even that one is doubtful at the morning rush hour).

fastflyer

This is one of the funny aspects of Boston. That the closest hotel to the airport may not be the quickest trip there. The Sheraton Boston is also "on top of" the Masspike. However, there are no eastbound on ramps between Allston and South Boston. So you have at least a 30 minute trip to Logan. The Sheraton Newton is also over the Pike, but is 10 miles further from the airport, and is adjacent to an on ramp. Total elapsed time, 20 minutes without traffic.

Helena Handbaskets

Or you could take the "T" (subway) and the associated airport shuttle bus between Logan and the Sheraton Boston or Westin Copley for a 20 minute transit time, regardless of the traffic, AND avoid parking fees, chances of getting lost or involved in an accident or pulled over for a traffic violation, rental car fees, and the transit time between the rental car lot and the terminal. And at the Sheraton Boston (not sure about the Westin), you don't even need to go outside between the T stop and the hotel.

fly co to see the yanks

i hope everyone that has these sentiments reports them to spg and HOT. that might help if enough people complain.

regarding paying for the club level and then having the club closed for a private party, i would definitely request a refund via starwood customer service, 800-328-6242. for what they received from galaxy corp., they could give you your $10 back, or whatever the upgrade cost was.

fastflyer

I used to live near the Sheraton Boston, and I always budgeted one hour from my door to the Logan security line for the subway and bus. Once the silver line is complete, this might be a bit quicker, but for now I recommend budgeting one hour.

In order to stay entirely indoors, you would walk from the Sheraton toward the Prudential Tower, and toward Copley Place via the shopping arcade. Then through Copley Place and down the escalators south of Neiman Marcus, down the stairs under Dartmouth Street, and into Back Bay Station. There you catch the orange line to the blue line to the terminal bus.

A closer walk is to the Prudential stop on the Green "E" line, but you can wait up to 20 minutes for that trolley to arrive.

Generally, Logan's public transit offering is rather slow. The terminal bus has slowed down enormously since Massport demolished the old train station.

Gajules

The difference in the upgrade was actuallly $20,and I did write a letter to SPG as soon as we got home. Thus far we have not had a reply. If we don't hear back in the next few days we will call the customer service line.
Thanks for all the great information of better places to stay. I guess we were lucky because we were at the airport in 20 minutes, but this was at 6AM so not much traffic on the roads.
Julie

Helena Handbaskets

I can't argue with fastflyer's advice based on long term experience, as my own experience is limited to just a single instance a few weeks ago. But in that one instance, I had to wait only a minute or so for the Green E train, the transfer to the blue line was similarly efficient, and the airport transfer buses were swarming all over the place, so my transit time was pretty close to 20 minutes. Maybe 30. This was in the approximantely 8:00 a.m. time frame. Similarly, the trip from the airport to the hotel was about 30 minutes at about 3:30 pm.

But based on fastflyer's experience, maybe next time I'll allow for more time.

sophiegirl

Pro's: Staff is very nice. Easy, straight hop to BOS. Starbucks coffee in the room.

Cons: Everything else. Property is OLD. Old and worn. And grimey. Not "dirty"- just not clean.

I was on the CL floor - the carpets were stained in the hallway, the carpet was ripped & stained in my room, as were the curtains and bed skirt. Large desk - but all furniture was old. And worn. Bath is the (old style with sink out in the room - toilet and tub in the bath. It DID have fairly new tile - with only minimum amounts of mildew. Heat & A/C unit worked really well. On and off. On and off. On and...

The concierge lounge is in a room where they took the bed and dresser out and added chairs. (I am not making this up). There was no refrig or anything, just soda's set out on a table with some ice cubes. The food was cheese and crackers. Oh, and grapes.

It was pouring rain, so I did not want to go out to get something to eat -but could not eat in the restaurant as it was closed for a private event. On a Wednesday. The room service menu is on the TV. But it was broken. They did make me a hamburger; brought by the CL lady. Because she works in the CL unless there is a room service order. ( I am NOT making this up)

You must pay to park in a parking garage - they do give you in/out privileges. (My recommendation is to head OUT and never come back.)

I made the mistake of thinking that since it was built over the Mass Turnpike, it would be soundproofed fairly well. My bad. I was on the 12th floor and might as well have had my pillow and blankie in the median. (and I can sleep through just about anything) At 3AM I finally gave it up; got up and left for the airport!

The staff really were very nice, and I feel bad listing so few positives. But really - just stay away.