Coast to Coast

The first six days of a certain US trip were to be spent in San Francisco. I was looking for somewhere special to stay not least because one of these days was to be my wedding day. There are a handful of five star hotels in San Francisco but the Ritz Carlton is one of the highest rated, has just had a $12.5m refurbishment and I think I was won over by the impressive white façade complete with roman pillars.

Booking, prices and pre-stay
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We did not book the hotel directly ourselves but rather this was part of a Kuoni holiday. I have to admit I am not sure exactly what rate we got but it was somewhere between £200 and £250 per night. I felt that this was reasonable as I had carried out some research on-line (which I have just repeated) and the best rate available for a standard room is currently £230 a night on expedia, but more commonly it comes out at about £250 a night. It is not possible to book online direct with the hotel, the reservations section of their website provides phone numbers.

Before we travelled to San Francisco I had reason to contact the hotel about a couple of things. The first was that I explored the possibility of holding my wedding dinner here and I made contact with the hotel by completing the query form in the wedding section of their website. To save on phone bills I liaised with them by e-mail but was not entirely satisfied with the responses I got mainly because of the poorly explained pricing structure and I am an accountant and things like this do not normally trouble me. We went back and forth many times and I finally calculated that a private wedding meal for eight people would easily be over $4,000 (£2,200) and so decided to pass.

I used the "request for services" form on the website twice more before we travelled. Once was to explain it was my wedding and to enquire about facilities for having hair / make up done and the other was to try and book a table for dinner in their restaurant "The Dining Room". This is one of the best restaurants in San Francisco and I wanted to make sure we got a table on the day / time we wanted. I did not receive a response to either query and this troubled me slightly before we travelled. Happily, my concerns proved to be wrong.

Arrival and room
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We travelled the 14 miles from the airport by taxi and it took about half an hour. The hotel is in the Nob Hill area of the city just off California Street and within easy walking distance of China Town and Union Square. The walk back is not quite so easy being up a very steep hill but cable cars help out here. These are frequent, convenient and a nice way to get around the city they also stop very close to the hotel.

Upon sweeping up to the hotels entrance on our first day, we were immediately greeted by very smartly dressed doormen who dealt with our luggage and led us to reception. There were about three people manning the reception and we had to wait just a few minutes for our turn to check in. From this point on, we were greeted by name each and every time we entered or left the building or walked to / from the lifts past the reception desk.

After checking in we headed up to our room and our luggage was delivered a few minutes later. The recent refurbishment included all guest rooms and this was evident as it was beautifully furnished. It contained a king size bed which was almost completely covered by pillows and cushions, a chaise longue, armchair, desk, 30 inch flat screen TV, DVD player, safe and minibar. The room had wifi access and we were given two vouchers each allowing us one movie and a bowl of popcorn from room service. I was equally happy with the marble bathroom especially the double sink as we are always fighting for space around the sink as my other half does not travel light when it come to beauty products.

Food and drink
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During our six days we made use of a few of the eating and drinking options. We had room service breakfast three times and one evening we had dinner. Menus offered plenty of choice and we received our meals within thirty minutes of calling each time. The meals were served with style too, huge trolleys, heavy silver cutlery and plenty of complementary bread and iced water. For a five star hotel, I thought the prices were very reasonable, about $15 (£8) for the average main course for example. Like all American hotels I have been in though, the cost does mount up once they add on a few more dollars for delivery and 15% gratuity.

We also visited the lobby lounge a couple of times for drinks, service was very quick, polite and being accustomed to London I thought the prices were nothing out of the ordinary, about $8 for a glass of wine for example. Every day high tea is held in the lobby lounge (similar to our own Ritz in Piccadilly) but we did not have time.

On our last night we had dinner in the restaurant called "The Dining Room". This is one of San Francisco’s most renowned restaurants, has accolades coming out of its ears and unsurprisingly is not only frequented by hotel guests. There are a few dining options, you can either chose one of the chefs tasting menus which have six to eight set courses for $90 - $100 (about £50) per person. If you don’t fancy six courses then you simply chose your own three courses for one price of $68 (about £40). We opted for this and had 15 starters to choose from and 10 main courses with a slight emphasis on fish but there really was something for everybody. The food was fantastic, service faultless and I can confidently say this was one of the best dining experiences I have ever had and an absolute bargain for this price. When we returned to our room later we had a card thanking us for visiting the restaurant.

Service
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The service provided by the staff at the Ritz Carlton was simply outstanding and not least because it was provided by each and every person we came into contact with and not just the ones with highly visible roles such as the greeters on the door.

Whenever we left the hotel we were offered a complimentary lift to our destination if there was a hotel limo, which was more often than not. Room service was always delivered with a smile, wine was poured for us and the dishes were explained, this was not just for a good tip either because they don’t accept tips (having already added service to the bill). On my wedding day I remember having a giggle with a couple of chamber ladies who I had summoned to zip me into my dress and later that evening I got back and they had left me a little note wishing me all the best. Even though we did not actually hold our wedding at the Ritz, we had champagne in the lobby lounge afterwards and obviously they could not fail to notice our outfits, so when we retired that night they had decorated the bed with rose petals, left champagne on ice and a plate of strawberries which had not just been chocolate dipped but the chocolate was painted on as dinner jackets! They left another plate the next night too.

Summary
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I don’t think there is any need for a long summary here. I have stayed in a lot of hotels and a lot of five star hotels. But this was and to this day remains, the best hotel I have ever stayed in.

For me only the Bellagio would do once we had decided to visit Las Vegas as part of our honeymoon. The hotel featured in the Oceans’ 11 film which I loved and I was particularly looking forward to seeing the famous water fountain show.

The hotel is located roughly half way along the main Strip area and is beautiful to look at from the outside. It is set back from the street and the front of the building gently curves around the imitation Lake Como. Providing it is not too windy, from 3pm in the afternoon the fountain show runs every fifteen minutes making for excellent photo opportunities and selling lots of postcards.

We booked via a travel agents a few months in advance, we had to wait a few days for confirmation whilst they requested the room so this was probably not the most efficient booking process. Our agent was booking a number of flights and hotels for us and did not provide a detailed breakdown of the costs, however our check-in card at Bellagio revealed our rate for a deluxe room (which is the lowest category) as US$260 a night. A lake view is about an extra $60 per night and a suite would easily double or triple the nightly rate depending upon what class of suite.

Upon arrival our taxi was greeted by one of the many bellboys on duty outside helping both the arriving and departing guests, they took charge of the luggage, gave us receipts and told us to call the number on the receipt once we were in our room and wanted our luggage delivered. So far so good.

We then walked into bedlam. The hotel has over 2,500 rooms and was at capacity. Additionally in Las Vegas people visit other hotels and Bellagio is a popular one, adding to noise, crowds and general chaos in reception. We arrived at 10.30am and at first it appeared that all the desks were dealing with check outs but we noticed that some check in desks were open as well. In total there were about 20 desks but each had a line of at least half a dozen people and we knew we were in for a long wait. It took about 45 minutes to get to a desk and then followed most time consuming check in ever. I cannot even remember what they were doing but I have checked into a lot of hotels and it has never taken this long or involved so much paperwork. And unfortunately we weren’t done yet. We were too early for our room so this was just doing the paperwork , we had to return later to get our room key and this involved another twenty minutes waiting in line to pick up our room key.

With this number of guests and a constant stream at reception, I expected it would take ages to get our luggage. In fact we called and it was delivered to us within a few minutes.

We were more than happy with our room, which was modern and elegant. It contained an extremely comfortable king size bed, desk, two armchairs, coffee table and large wardrobe. I was impressed that in a hotel this size there was a nightly turn down service. The bathroom was in a beautiful cream coloured marble and contained a very deep bath as well as a two-person shower and was well stocked with toiletries.

Las Vegas is a noisy, glitzy, cheesy playground. The thing I liked most about this room was that at the end of the day we closed the door on that, found ourselves in a stylish space and never heard a peep from the outside.

On the Bellagio casino floor there are tables for normal people, high limit tables for others, poker rooms, plenty of slot machines and a very large and comfortable sports bar area. Waitress service and free drinks are provided everywhere but it is normal to tip about $1 per drink. We never went long without a waitress asking us if we would like a drink, even though we are not gambling sorts and frequented the 2c slot machines most often or the sports bar to watch football (it was the 2006 world cup) on big TV screens. My opinion is that when you have seen one casino floor you have seen them all and the Bellagio’s casino did not particularly stand out from all the others apart from it was better at providing drinks. Not necessarily a good thing for some I expect.

There are numerous restaurants offering both fine and casual dining and many of them overlook the lake making for perfect views. On our first day we went to Olives for lunch, this is apparently a casual dining Italian restaurant although I thought it was pretty smart. We were very pleased to get a table on the patio outside at about 2.45pm meaning the fountain show was about to start. Unfortunately 3pm came and went with no show because it was too windy to switch the fountains on. Nevertheless we enjoyed a delicious meal of pasta and a glass of wine.

Although the Bellagio has an Italian theme, it offers restaurants of various cuisines and in the evening we decided to try the fine dining Chinese restaurant, Jasmine. We had to wait about ten minutes for a table which was a much shorter wait than at some of the other restaurants, best to book a table for dinner at this hotel. We liked the feel of this restaurant, it was nicely decorated, the tables were comfortably spaced out and the food was good too. I was not very impressed with having my main course delivered before they had cleared away our starters though I must admit. It was a memorable evening though because the restaurant overlooks the lake and after we finished our main courses we had an unobstructed nighttime view of the fountain show, the accompanying music is played in the restaurant and I think you really need to enjoy the show fully. The prices in the restaurants are probably not the cheapest to be found, however they are not prohibitive and are unlikely to shock anybody used to paying UK prices. We happily took all our meals in the Bellagio.

Bellagio is one of the hotels with a Cirque de Soliel show, this one is called "O" because of a water theme. I booked tickets a couple of days in advance over the phone and got seats in the royal circle about eight rows back in the middle. They weren’t cheap though at $150 each for a 90 minute show, but I am very glad we went and don’t resent the cost. The theatre was as big as any I have been to in London, but with roomier seats and a bit more leg room than I am used to. There are two shows a night and if you don’t pre-book there is a booking office outside but in the evenings there would be long queues here so I recommend booking it.

Like most hotels, the Bellagio has plenty of shops most of which are of designer labels. We didn’t really spend our time looking round the shops.

We loved our trip to Las Vegas, it is not just about gambling and we are certain to return at some point in the next few years. I am also fairly certain that when we do return we will book the Bellagio again and indeed my only hesitation is over the check in which really was a nightmare and I don’t really wish to repeat. Once that is out of the way though, the Bellagio offers everything I would want out of a Las Vegas hotel.

I had probably heard more bad things about Los Angeles than good so it was with some trepidation that we decided to spend the final three nights of our honeymoon in the city of angels. Furthermore, after having spent the rest of the trip being pampered and pandered to in some of the best five star hotels in the places we visited, this time we decided to try something a bit different.

The Grafton on Sunset is certainly not down-market; in fact it is a boutique four-star hotel. However the other hotels we stayed in on honeymoon were elegant, sophisticated and definitely very grown up, whereas this one came across as being younger, funkier and situated in a location known for its nightlife, Sunset Boulevard. In the end we decided this could be just the ending to the trip that we wanted.

I first identified the hotel through searches on expedia and octopus, however I then went to the hotel’s own website and booked directly. It was slightly cheaper booking directly and the other advantage was that I could be very specific about the room I wanted. This was of importance to me as I had read some reviews of the hotel and a number of people had mentioned it being quite noisy in the street facing rooms or rooms overlooking the pool. By booking directly, I was able to select a non-street facing, non-pool overlooking corner room, the other advantage of the corner being that these rooms are a tad bigger.

The hotel is located in West Hollywood on Sunset Boulevard. I found the location reasonably convenient. During the daytime we generally had to take a taxi to wherever we were planning to visit that day, this is not the kind of hotel that taxis queue outside but it was usually reasonably easy to find one nearby. In the evening, we thought the location was ideal and we loved strolling down the lively boulevard and having a whole host of bars and restaurants to choose from.

Check in was quick and easy, there was nobody else waiting or at the reception desk when we arrived and we were soon on our way to the exact room I had booked some months earlier. The most popular rooms in the hotel are the ones overlooking the pool and these have a door leading directly out to it, but this was not for me as I prefer peace and quiet once that door is closed.

Our first impressions were very good. The décor was modern and very hip. Not what I would want in my own home but we were impressed and it was in complete contrast to the traditional and fairly grand décor we had seen in all the other hotels we stayed in on honeymoon.

The chic styling continued through to the bedrooms. Nevertheless I thought that the walls, which were a kind of mucky lime green colour, made the room quite dark and I would have liked something a bit brighter and lighter. Other than this is was very attractively furnished but then I have always liked funky animal skin prints. The room was smaller than we had become accustomed to elsewhere on this trip, but it was far from being too small and we were certainly not falling over each other. The king size bed had a feather top mattress and was so comfortable that I subsequently made sure I had one of these when I bought my next bed at home.

The rooms are well equipped with technology, as well as a flat screen TV we had a DVD and CD player and even an I-Pod docking station. To be honest I could have done without the latter, as I was then worried that the people on either side of me would take advantage and play their music very loud; the hotel certainly struck me as one that would appeal to party animals, whereas I like to go to bed at a sensible hour.

The hotel has a restaurant and cocktail bar, we didn’t eat here but we did tend to start our evening with a quick drink in the cocktail lounge before we hit the Sunset Strip. We noted that it attracted non-residents as well as residents and we found the service friendly and the prices reasonable. In-room service is available from 7am until about midnight, we used it for breakfast and we found this to be reasonably priced and the food was high quality. It was a great tart to every day.

The only issue we encountered during this stay was when it came to check out and we had an international flight to catch. We had been told there was no point booking a taxi and they would flag one for us when we needed it, but in the end it was bedlam in reception with lots of people wanting taxis at around the same time. Being somebody who likes to get to the airport early, this did nothing positive for my stress levels.

We paid $209 excluding taxes per night, this was a few years ago, but I have just checked and prices are pretty much unchanged, perhaps a little lower. The Grafton seemed more of a three star hotel than a four star to me, nevertheless it is a stunning, ultra chic property in a good location and I think this represents excellent value for money. I would like to stay here again were I to return to LA (which incidentally I loved, despite those original concerns). The one thing that might make me hesitate is that it seems to be marketed towards a younger, hipper clientele and I would be wary of checking in at the same time as a party crowd.

The Radisson was rated as a 3½ star on Expedia, it had a good feedback rating from past clients both on expedia and on "www.tripadvisor.com", the rate was $192 (GBP 100 approx at the time) a night and so I went ahead and booked.

Location and arrival~~~

Boston is a small city and one would have to be quite unlucky to find oneself in a hotel in an inconvenient location for this reason. So, we were perfectly happy with the central location of this hotel. Also it was only about a twenty minute taxi ride from the airport and that cost $25 with a tip.

The hotel is a rather ugly concrete building, although I would not go so far as to say it created a bad impression as I don’t judge a hotel by its cover. Stepping inside and the reception area was not particularly impressive either, it was quite large but the shades of brown and green décor made it slightly gloomy.

There were a couple of people ahead of us in the queue at reception, we were nevertheless attended to very quickly and were heading to our room within a few minutes of arrival. No bell service here, which is ok as I sometimes prefer to take my own bag anyway, however I mention it was a reminder that I was in a three star hotel this time.

In-room~~~~

Our room was on the 20th floor which we were pleased about although the lift service was pretty poor and we were not inclined to take the stairs. Our room had an accessible balcony, although it did not contain any furniture. I was surprised to find that the doors to the balcony were not locked, particularly as the wall was only about hip height and there was a twenty storey unbroken drop on the other side. I would recommend extreme caution if staying here with children or after a few glasses of wine!

The bedroom was a generous size, contained two small double beds, comfy armchair and ottoman, desk, TV, all the usual things essentially. A bonus was a tea and coffee making machine as I have found hot drink facilities are not commonly available in US hotels. The furnishings in the room all looked to be fairly new and in good condition.

The beds were the new "sleepnumber" beds which the chain has been advertising recently. Essentially it allows the firmness of the bed to be altered with the push of a button and the left and right side can be adjusted separately. A great idea as I personally find nothing worse than getting into my hotel room and finding a soft bed. Unfortunately, it seems that frequent adjusting of the bed’s constitution in this manner is not conducive to a comfortable bed. No matter what we did we found that the beds were rock hard on the edges but dipped quite dramatically in the middle. It has to be one of the most uncomfortable beds I have experienced in a very long time and if you are planning to stay in a Radisson I would recommend asking for a regular bed if they still do them.

The bathroom was beautifully and newly done. The walls were white "brick style" tiles which I thought were very attractive with the chrome fittings, including one of those oversize shower heads. It was a tiny space though, I could easily touch opposite walls simultaneously without even stretching and the door opening / closing just about cleared the loo by about an inch. The width of the room made for a very tiny bath too and definitely too small for me (at 5ft 8) to enjoy.

I did have a couple of plumbing gripes too, the toilet flush was like that in an airplane which made me jump every time and as it was so loud it meant that I heard all the nearby loos being flushed as well. Also one morning we ran out of water altogether, which was most inconvenient for my husband who was in the shower and had just shampooed up. It was restored reasonably quickly though after a phone call.

Amenities~~~~

I did not use any of the hotels amenities other than we ordered a room service snack one evening after returning from the Irish bar across the road. The room service menu was pretty good, reasonably priced and the service was quick. We had made some plans to go swimming as there is a pool and gym, however we didn’t make it.

Service~~~~

I have saved until the last the most memorable aspect of this hotel. The attitude and service offered by the staff. When we arrived in our room we found that we were in a room with twin beds (small doubles) and not a king bed as I had ordered. I called reception immediately but they pointed out that in the small print of my booking with Expedia it mentioned that this was in fact a request and not guaranteed and indeed I found that this was the case.

Nevertheless I countered that I had booked two months in advance and would have thought that the request could be accommodated anyway. Being a reasonable person, I probably would have accepted some half decent explanation as to why I could not be accommodated, however what was not acceptable to me was being spoken to as if I was some hotel parasite by virtue of the fact that I booked through Expedia.

In the same telephone call I spoke to three different members of staff as I was passed around. Independently and without provocation they all referred to me making bookings "on the cheap" and how I could therefore not expect to be treated in the same manner as a "proper" hotel guest who booked with them directly or through a "proper" agent and not the internet.

One of the staff I spoke to even suggested that I was simply trying to get some cash out of them in the form of a discount or refund of some description and told me that this was "not going to work". For clarification, I had made no such suggestion and it had not even crossed my mind, my only goal was being moved to the room I had ordered. This person also suggested that if I didn’t like the room I should call Expedia and go and find myself another hotel. This seemed a rather rude and unhelpful suggestion to make to a guest who has just arrived in a city for the first time and was politely and calmly questioning the room allocation and requesting a switch to the type ordered (sorry – requested) two months earlier.

Well I was most surprised at this treatment. Firstly I object to people who do not know me making assumptions about my personality and financial standing based on the fact that I find the internet a convenient hotel booking tool. Secondly, I did not think that $192 per night was all that cheap for a three star hotel anyway, a quick check shows the rates available with the hotel directly for a stay exactly one week later than mine are lower than I paid. But most of all it was alarming to see such an almost institutionalized hostility towards guests who have booked with Expedia or another internet company (they mentioned guests from hotel.com would be treated the same way as me) and my view is if Radisson don’t like guests from Expedia then the answer is very simple, don’t take them. But don’t take them and then treat and speak to them like third class citizens.

Needless to say, the room issue was not resolved. The third person I spoke to said that he would call Expedia regarding my booking and would get back to me. He did not get back to me but at this point we decided to drop the matter and enjoy our weekend break.

From this point on we had very little to do with the staff who were actually quite invisible even in the reception area. Our next contact was the night before we departed when my husband called Guest Services to ask for a 6.30am taxi to take us to the airport the following morning. He was told that this was not possible and we would have to get up earlier to give us time to flag one down.

I called back to request again that transportation was booked for us and somehow this issue had to go to the hotel manager before they were willing to assist with what I thought was a perfectly routine request. The manager quickly agreed that a taxi could be booked for us, however guess what, when we came down the next morning it had not been. We found our own and departed.

A few years ago, I worked for a Swiss bank and it was necessary for me to make frequent business trips to Zurich and New York. Whenever I as in New York, I tried to get a room in the New York Palace Hotel and fortunately most of the time I was successful. So this is a hotel I have stayed at on many occasions. By and large, my experiences were very similar each time; I always stayed in the same standard of room and I always received the same standard of service from the staff.

The New York Palace, or the Palace as I call it, it takes up the entire block between Madison and Park Avenues and 50th and 51st street, i.e. midtown Manhattan. I think this is a perfect location for any visitor as many of the highlights of New York are within easy walking distance. The Rockefeller Plaza is moments away and it is an easy walk to Broadway and Times Square too. When I managed to escape the office, I would sometimes take a stroll north up Madison or 5th Avenue, browsing the shops and it is then not much further to the Frick Collection (5th and 70th) or the Metropolitan Museum of Art (5th and 83rd). Alternatively one can easily head south to the Empire State Building (5th and 34th). I really only ever found I needed a taxi or public transport if I was going right down town.

I usually travelled to New York on a late afternoon or evening flight from London which meant arriving at the hotel at around 8pm local time give or take an hour or two. The main hotel entrance and lobby is breath taking, palatial and exquisitely decorated; the entrance is especially beautiful during the December holiday season.

Reception is invariably busy at this hotel but there are plenty of manned desks so never much of a wait, a relief to somebody still on European time. Staff are friendly, charming and would usually refer to my previous visits. Before my very first visit, somebody recommended I ask for a room with a view of St Patrick’s Cathedral next door, the staff are more than happy to oblige and I managed to get a room with a view on more or less every visit and it is indeed a beautiful building and a fantastic view.

I always stayed in the lowest category of room, which is known as the deluxe room and deluxe it is. At 360 square feet these rooms are huge by New York standards and certainly much larger than I found in other hotels on one of my many personal visits to New York. I often had a room with two large double beds although sometimes I would get a king. I had no particular preference as I was by myself anyway.

The décor is traditional; glossy mahogany furniture, heavy curtains and heavy expensive looking cushions scattered around, typically in shades of gold, red or green. The only modern touches in these rooms are the large flat screen TVs. The bathrooms do not let the side down either; above average in size, traditional, marble and with plenty of big white fluffy towels and robes and slippers provided.

As one would expect of a hotel of this calibre, the room has a full service during the day and a turndown and mini service with perfunctory chocolates on pillow in the evenings. I have always found the rooms to be spotlessly clean, I remember there was one occasion when I returned from the office to find my room not serviced, but this was my fault as I had accidentally left the privacy button on. One call to reception and somebody was there within minutes to rectify my mistake. This is so typical of the service in this hotel.

As I was in New York by myself whenever I stayed at the Palace, I would sometimes opt for a room service dinner. The in-room service is available 24 hours a day and there is a wide selection of meals available. I tended to go for salads or sandwiches and even these were served with a flourish; big trays, white linen, iced water, bread rolls and heavy silver cutlery. The price would soon add up though as even these basic meals I went for would be a good $30 and that is before service and delivery. Although I was on expenses, I drew the line at having breakfast in the hotel, I once contemplated ordering a bowl of cornflakes and glass of orange juice but $35 was just silly money and I object to that on principle. With so many delis in New York it was easier and cheaper to grab something to eat on the walk to the office.

Other dining options include a formal restaurant called Gilt, which holds two Michelin stars and looks fantabulous, but sadly I have not tried it myself. I have visited Istana the lobby brasserie, although my most recent experience of this was last year when I was not actually staying at the hotel but wanted to show my husband my favourite NY hotel. Service really let the side down this time and we gave up and walked out in the end without ever getting to place an order, despite our repeated attempts. This is my only experience of bad service in the many times I have visited, but what a let down.

Overall, I look back to the era when I was a regular visitor to the New York Palace with great fondness. I have made several personal visits to New York since then and would have loved to have brought my husband here, but sadly the $700 - $800 price tag for a standard room was a little prohibitive. If you have the budget, then I highly recommend it.

It is a relatively small hop from Bermuda to the US east coast and another bout of "rock fever" as the desire to escape the island is commonly known, led us to Boston for the second time in as many months. On the previous trip we had stayed at one of the large chain hotels and found it to be a wholly unsatisfactory experience and so this time wanted something a little different.

We walked past the Charles Street Inn during that last trip and decided there and then that next time we visited Boston this would be the place we would stay. It looked gorgeously quaint and seemed to offer such a different experience to the one available with a large chain hotel. We went inside and picked up a leaflet plus the email address and website information for future reference. Once we decided on our dates I booked on line through their website. This was very easy to do, a calendar shows which of the nine rooms is available for each day although this is not a real time booking but rather a request to book. Confirmation is promised within twenty four hours, my own response was received more or less straight away.

After landing at Boston International Airport we took a cab to the inn, it took less than thirty minutes and we paid $25 with a tip. The inn is located in the Beacon Hill part of the city, on Charles Street (obviously) which I think is one of the most beautiful shopping streets in Boston, indeed the exclusive location was one of the attractions for us. The inn is a very attractive Victorian style red-brick building, in-keeping with the rest of the street. Later on we spent a leisurely hour or two wandering up and down Charles Street exploring the antiques shops, small art galleries and boutique clothing stores. There are also a few restaurants, a couple of bars and it seemed some private residences as well, it is generally a pretty quiet street and we knew we would not be disturbed by street noise at night.

The inn does not have or need much by way of public areas, but as you walk in there is a small reception and lobby area and just off to the side is a library of books, DVDs and CDs which can be taken to the rooms. The reception is only manned until 9pm in the evening so the management also provides extra supplies for the rooms here which you can help yourself to when you run out, this includes beverages, snacks and logs for the fire.

As there are only nine rooms our check in was an uncomplicated process and we were soon being shown to our room. We were on the first floor and we always took the stairs although there is a lift and the building is three stories high. The nine rooms are individually styled, containing antique furniture and each is named after a Beacon Hill resident known for their contribution to the arts.

We had booked the Henry James room and were not disappointed. The room was fairly large and its 13 foot high ceilings made it feel even more spacious. We had a four poster bed that was so high we actually had a little step ladder to climb up although this would not be essential for the average person. It was a America king size too, i.e. wider than a UK king, covered in high quality bedding, pillows and cushions and it was extremely comfortable. We also had a comfortable seating area with a sofa and two armchairs positioned around a beautiful open log fireplace. We loved spending an hour or two sitting by the open fire with a glass of wine.

The bathroom was average size and contained a whirl pool bath with a good quality shower over it, there was also a little kitchen area by the bathroom, with a coffee machine, fridge with some complimentary stocks and a cupboard of crockery.

The room was quiet and we were not disturbed by noise from either the street or any of the other rooms. We did have a bit of trouble with the heating though, despite it being February the room was uncomfortably hot and we could not lower the temperature using the room controls, but only by opening a window. This was an acceptable solution for this time of year but I would not have liked to have been staying there in summer with the same temperature control problems!

Breakfast is included in the room rate but it was disappointing. Firstly there was not a great deal on offer, cereal, yoghurt and toast was about it. No hot drinks were offered, you have to make your own coffee or tea with the supplied machine and kettle in the room. You also serve it yourself on the supplied crockery, the cereal came in a sandwich bag for instance. We quickly noticed that we had toast but no butter and it was a staggering one hour later before we finally got some fresh toast with butter. We also discovered at this belated stage that our coffee machine did not work and made a right old mess on the counter top as it flooded. I had been looking forward to a relaxing breakfast in this gorgeous room but it was not to be. The second morning, our breakfast order was wrong again, although it was rectified much quicker this time and we had also been supplied with a brand new coffee machine the previous day after reporting ours broken. The third morning we had an early start and had to leave before the allocated breakfast time, which I think began at 7am.

This is probably a good point to move onto costs, well depending upon the specific room, the day of the week and time of year a room can cost anything between $280 and $500 a night (including tax). We paid a rather hefty $1,470 for three nights or roughly GBP250 a night as we chose one of the most expensive rooms and happened to be there the nearest weekend to Valentine’s Day, although that was not by design.

For this money, I think that what was being offered was lacking. The breakfast experience being a good example, I had expected a full cordon bleu style breakfast for this amount of money, not toast and cereal in plastic bags. The hour wait for fresh toast was entirely due to there being one person to man reception and the phones as well as prepare breakfast for all rooms. Again, with room rates like this, I think a little more should be spent on employing more than one person to ensure guests comfort and satisfaction. I would certainly have no complaints about the staff though, there were different people working on the different days and they were each polite, friendly and I felt they were trying hard to ensure that guests were happy but unfortunately could only do so much.

I very much enjoyed my stay at the Charles Street Inn, but have to conclude that it was simply over priced. I would definitely stay there again, but only if I were able to get a significantly cheaper room rate. Whilst on the one hand, I did not want to stay in a large chain hotel, I still cannot ignore the fact that I easily paid enough for a 5 star hotel and I don’t think that the inn’s location and undoubtedly beautiful rooms, were enough in themselves to justify charging the same as a large 5 star hotel and all the amenities and benefits that would have come with that option.

My rating is factoring in my view on the value for money, if I had paid say two thirds of what I did, then this three star would certainly be a four and possibly a five.