Hotel Indigo Newton Riverside, Newton

I have stayed at this hotel a few times over the last 6 months or so, each time because the Intercontinental in Boston was sold out. I should have learned my lesson after the first stay. The standard rooms this hotel offers are the smallest hotel rooms I have EVER seen, and don’t bother upgrading to the “king room with a couch” it’s just more money for the same amount of space just with a couch, and by the way the doors to not close behind you unless you practically slam them. But let’s keep in mind all this hotel really is an old renovated Holiday Inn, and it shows. When it comes to service at this hotel forget it. Apparently the Indio chain does not have concierge service, so you are left calling the front desk with question and requests. Keep in mind the front desk is usually staffed by one person. During my most recent stay the hotle GM called me from his home and I was told that I was asking too many questions / making too many requests of the front desk and If I didn’t stop I would be asked to leave the hotel. The requests I made were actually very simple. I asked for a basic bar setup of glass ware and asked where stores were around that I could pick up few things. Not that this should matter but I am a Priority Club Intercontinental Platinum Ambassador. Pretty much that means I spend WAY too much time staying at Intercontinental hotels. Later in the evenimg I was asked to move my car from the front of the building to parking garage, keep in mind my car was the ONLY car parked in front of the hotel and there was about 10 open spots that they told me were reserved for short term parking. Did they really think that at 10:00PM the parking lot was going to magically fill up? When I went back into the lobby after moving my car I asked the front desk clerk “DJ” if there was anything else I needed to take care of before going to bed. His response to me was “Go F*^& yourself” followed by “tomorrow is my last day so I don’t give a F*^& what you have to say” This all took place in front of who I assume what the night Manager “Lee”. When I returned to the room I immediately phoned the Priority Club Ambassador Services department to explain the situation. They truly went above and beyond trying to help me however the hotel refused to deal with them. The gentleman I was speaking with had a conference call with myself and Lee about 30 minutes after this took place. Lee refused to talk about the events that took place and actually hung up on the Ambassador Representative. At this point I was tired and just needed sleep so I told the Ambassador rep that I would follow up with his department tomorrow. The next day I again spoke with the Ambassador rep who told me they were still looking into the issue, however at that time they were unable to locate the notes the Ambassador Rep had taken that night and that they would have no choice but to close the complaint. On 2-3-11 I again spoke with the Ambassador department, this time they were able to locate all of the notes taken that evening and based on the severity of the claims would be escalating this matter to a supervisor. I was told to expect a call from them tomorrow. They also told me that the Hotel had marked my account and I was no longer welcome to stay at that property. This is something the Ambassador folks told me that would have removed right away, not that I would ever stay there again. Also as a quick side note, In order to have any kind of maid service I was to call the front desk 3 times. I’m sure that the hotel GM Bruce Leaver will try to craft some sort of unique rebuttal to this review. I would however say in advance that as I am sure he knows everything that went on is documented and if the need arises I will post another review with even more specific details. The only response from Bruce should be “I am very sorry to hear about your experience and I have taken the steps needed to ensure this never happens to another guest.”

My mother always said if you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything at all. I will start out with the one nice thing I have to say about our stay at this hotel. I must say that despite what you are about to read, the staff at the hotel is incredibly friendly and provides stellar customer service. Unfortunately, it's not enough to overcome all of the other blazing shortcomings of this property. Please also be mindful that we have to move rooms the second day we were there because of constant problems with the A/C in our room so this review is based on our being able to see two rooms. First of all, let me say do not be fooled by the pictures of this hotel on their website or any other sites using these pictures. This a grade A top notch airbrushing job. The hotel inside or out looks NOTHING like the pictures they displayed! This hotel is located in the wilderness right next to Turnpike with nothing else around. There are no eateries, no shops, absolutely nothing. Their website indicating that they are within 20 mins of downtown Boston is a total fabrication. Unless you are renting a car and looking to pay for parking each day, there is nothing within less than 45 mins away and if you are considering the T train which is within a reasonable walking distance and the reason we selected this hotel, everything desired is at least an hour away by train as it is the last stop of the green line. Also don't look for any options other than one overpriced onsite restaurant with limited options and overpriced food. The room service menu is even more limited. There are no options for purchasing water or snacks other than an onsite quasi coffee shop with odd hours. Secondly- the rooms in the hotel. The size of this rooms would cause the most calm person to have a panic attack and become claustrophobic! They are as tiny as prison cells and that's what you will feel like being inside of them. The showers are small, there is no sitting space other than the bed and the IKEA closet is even worse. You will likely have to leave your clothes in your suitcase the entire stay as your empty suitcase and clothes won't fit in the closet. Thirdly and most important to me was the cleanliness of the room which was nonexistent! This hotel is old with poor presentation (i.e. holes in the wall that had been plastered not painted over, mold in the shower and bathroom corners, dirty walls and floors, stains, etc.). Both rooms we stayed in were absolutely FILTHY, FILTHY FILTHY! We found hairs in all of the beds, stains on the sheets, there was some sort of odd smell emanating from the sheets and bathroom. There were some kind of worms in both rooms were stayed in. The towels were stained and smelled stale. My face broke out the entire stay there I believe from laying on filthy pillow cases and sheets. The headboards and other items in the room looked as though they had not been dusted since 2009 and the leather ottoman had grease on it along with a sticky substance on the remote. In one word, these rooms were the ultimate DISGUSTING! I am by no means a neat clean freak, but this place will give the most liberal person nightmares. It was GROSS!!!! Lastly, I read another review that mentioned the doors don't close and he was right. You must be very careful to make sure you pull the door close behind you because they do not automatically close. I am not sure why this is, but beware! All in all, if you are looking for even a decent place to stay I would not select this property. It has the potential to be a great place to stay, but they haven't gotten there yet and have a long way to go. Choose somewhere.