The $450 stain...

I'm up in Boston this week meeting with various folks and telling them about disruptorMonkey.  One of my days is mostly in downtown Boston, so that's where I wanted to stay.  I thought I'd share some entrepreneurial joy with you all while I travel ;-)

I use Priceline a lot for hotels -- I've had some great deals and mostly good experiences.  Different story altogether on flights, but for hotels and rental cars, it's great.

However, finding a hotel in downtown Boston is tricky, especially if you're a cheapskate like me.  After many attempts, my wonderful wife scored me a room at the Back Bay Hilton.  Great location.  As you'll see from the image below, it's wallet-clenchingly expensive:

Yes, $533.01 after tax, per night.  Now I am only paying $185, thanks to Priceline, but you get the idea.

I've traveled a lot all around the globe.  For $500 per night, I have high expectations.  In Kauai, that gets you an Ocean View and some serious kissing up.  In Hong Kong, it gets you harbour-side in Kowloon with a view that will keep you up at night.  Even in L.A. or N.Y. you'll get some serious hotel room for your money.

I took the train from Providence (visiting a customer) and called the hotel for directions.  They had some trouble with that.  When I finally spoke to someone who knew how to walk, the directions they gave were awful.  Thanks to Google Maps on my phone, I got there in the end.

On check in, I was given a room on the 8th Floor.  Despite clearly stating non-smoking on the reservation, they gave me a smoking room.  I went back down and asked for an alternative room.

Now I'm on the fifth floor.  The room is fine, but the carpet is chock full of stains.  Big (12" across) and small, and obviously here for some time. 

I wondered initially if I just had the shitty Priceline suite, but then I noticed the elevator has big stains in the carpet too.  I'm no Monica Lewinsky stain expert, but they look like stains that would shampoo out pretty easily to me.

For your viewing pleasure, here are some highlights:

The little pink stains...

The crusty brown stains...

And the giant something-exploded-in-my-room stain:

Yes, that is a standard sized pen in the photo...  Ay caramba!

So all in all, I'd say not worth $185, and for sure an utter rip-off at $533.  I can't imagine how pissed off the full price folks are when they get here.  But I thought I'd share the joy of budget business travel with you all...

Maybe Paris just hates me and it's all a revenge thing...

p.s.  Dave: thanks again for dinner :-)

Comments

[Tara Anderson]

I never thought I would say this, but thanks for sharing your stains with us Nick. Maybe bailing Paris out of jail is causing the Hilton family to cut corners on other costs.

[Phillip Rhodes]

Wow, that's just ridiculous. Amazingly one of the nicest hotel experiences I've had was a fairly inexpensive Best Western in Middletown, Rhode Island. That's as nice a hotel as any I've spent time in, including some that were much more expensive.

[DisMonkey]

@Tara: Always happy to share with friends ;-)

@Phillip: Yup. The Homestead Suites I was in the next night was cleaner and quieter. And $65. Go figure.