Coolidge Corner Guest House, Brookline

Threadbare, cold, not very clean, shoddy. My room had lots of tables so covered with old heavy junk that I could not use them. Host is very creepy. I would most definately not recommend this place.

The Bed and Bagel is located in an old house, a bit threadbare and sad-looking, the common areas a bit untidy, the place is definitely in need of some revamping. Privacy is minimal. It is not fabulous, but it has some important things going for it, a great location near the T, shops and restaurants. A solid if uninspired breakfast is served, boxed cereal, fruit, coffee, tea, and the aforementioned bagel. Because it is reasonably clean and well priced, I would likely have stayed there again but for one thing, the incredibly inhospitable "manager". He seemed to view any question as a disturbance and was only grudgingly responsive. He even seemed bothered by having to take my money at check-out. Never mind getting him to correct problems. I asked him to take a look at the shower in my room which was in need of a minor repair. Most of the water ran down the drain instead of coming out of the shower head. When I pointed this out to him, he insisted that it was working well enough. Ditto the television set. I showed him that the controls for the cable box did not function properly, I could not change channels. He implied that it was a deficiency of mine, surely I had done something wrong, because it, too, was working just fine. One morning as I showered, not having closed the door between the bed an bathrooms, the steam set off a smoke detector. The noise was unbearably loud. As I rushed to dry off an dress so that I could go out and get the manager to reset it, I could hear another guest pleading with him to find the source of the alarm and turn it off. He responded only by saying that the house had a whole bunch of them.... and then did nothing. I could not see the scene, but I could imagine the befuddled guest's expression in the face of this refusal to act. It was so funny I had to laugh. And of course, I was chided for doing such a stupid thing as showering with an open door. Anyone staying here should be provided with a user's manual and a warning not to expect to much in the way of good manners.

Don't go.... Unless you like to be treated incredibly rude by the hotelmanager. He was so unfriendly towards me right from the very beginning that I sincerely thought about checking out. But he would have charged me the whole period I booked for, so i couldn't afford that. My mistake? I don't know. Anyway, the room was very noisy, you can hear the other guests whispering in their rooms, you wake up from zippers being opened. And if you don't have a room with a private bathroom: the bathroom is right next to the kitchen and breakfast room, not very private at all.. The room looks okay enough on the pictures, but is in fact run down and dusty. Not good if your are allergic... Also, it is quite expensive. You can find a B&B for the same rate right in Back Bay area.