Review: The Liberty Hotel, Boston
On a recent trip to Boston I was trying to find reasonably priced hotels, however on the week that I was going, there seemed to have been an event in town and I could not find a hotel room for under $350. Unable to find a reasonable hotel room, I turned to the next best option – Splurge on an expensive hotel with a free night certificate.
Booking
The Liberty is a part of Marriott's "Luxury Collection," meaning it is supposed to be a very high-end hotel. As such, booking it will cost you, cash rates vary from $260 on the low end during non-peak season all the way up to over $500 for some of the post prime travel dates.
As such, the point redemptions for the hotel reflect this with point redemptions ranging from 55,200 on the low end to 85,000+ on the high end. I ended up using a 85k Certificate on a night the hotel was about 80,000 points or $500 cash.
Location
The hotel is on the west side of Downtown Boston along the Charles River, in decent walkable location to the arena and downtown to one of the many parks or sightseeing attractions.
Check-in
The hotel used to be a jail that was first completed in the mid 1800s. Then was taken over by the hospital next door before being converted to a hotel in the 2000s.
The architecture and aesthetics are very thought out and planned, however coming up the short escalator to the massive lobby area left me slightly confused on where the front desk was actually located. There were no clear signs, and it is tucked in one corner of the great lobby area with minimal signage.
The check-in experience was okay, apart of the enormous amenity fee is a free glass of Champaign during check-in, however I was never offered any nor really given a warm hello or greeting by the staff.
The Room
Thankfully, my room was ready and cleaned. I was offered a courtyard view room, which apparently was an upgrade from their street view rooms due to noise levels only.
Upon entry to the room, you're greeted with the large and very well appointed bathroom with both a sit down tub and standing shower along with a vanity area.
My only complaint about the bathroom, with all that room it has, is the shower. The standing shower is quite small to move around in and wish they would have moved some space around to create a larger area.
Beyond the bathroom is the main living area that is decorated to reflect its jailhouse past.
I appreciate the level of detail in the room with the lounge chair pillow with the strikes through, as if counting the days. And the wall of art including a map of downtown and keys hung up in the picture frame.
What I didn't appreciate was the massively overpriced waters on display. Who would spend that much for a bottle of water? There's a Whole Foods just a block down the way, and even they would have cheaper drinks than that. I find it tacky for such a high-end hotel to do that.
Food
Along with the lobby bar, there are three on-site restaurants to pick from. CLINK. which serves primarily seafood, Alibi which is a cocktail bar, and Scampo which is an Italian restaurant.
I only spent one day at the hotel and ate at the bar both times. I wanted to try CLINK. however, it was closed for a private party when I was there.
For lunch, I tried the burger, wanting to save my seafood itch for dinner. The sweet potato fries were perfectly cooked and crisp, along with the burger that was served perfectly medium.
I was slightly mystified about the pickle on the burger, it looked more like a garnish pickle that was to be served on the side of the plate and not on top of my burger.
One simply does not go to Boston and not have seafood of some sort. And I had to try the lobster roll, one of the Northeast's main delicacies. The lobster was meaty and seasoned perfectly. I enjoyed the lemon in the bag to avoid getting seeds in the perfect lobster roll. If I had one complaint, it was that the fries were slightly under done, aside from that it was a pretty great and filling dinner.
Service
Besides the very disappointing check-in experience, the bar staff was lovely both times I had a meal and upon check-out the person behind the counter was the polar opposite and greeted with a warm hello and made a point to ask if I enjoyed the stay.
I did have a minor snafu with billing, someone's dinner was charged to my room for over $100 worth of food. When I talked to the front desk about this, they removed that charge off my bill without much questioning.
Overall, it was an average service for a supposed high-end hotel.
Final Thoughts
While I thought that The Liberty was in the perfect location for me, the $25 a night destination fee did not seem warranted. There was nothing above and beyond to justify it. The service was just average, even for a high-end hotel. The staff were perfectly fine and when I did have a problem they were quick to resolve it.
If you can find this hotel for a low nightly rate, it's an adequate hotel for $260 per night. However, at the top end of their award and cash rate chart, I would find it very tough to justify what they ask.
