Embassy Suites of Waltham, MA.; the inner city jewel

Ever since I had started staying in hotels on my own I’ve really begun to become aware of the things that I like in a property, and the things that I could do without. IT’s why I’ve become very loyal to Hilton properties. Like Disney, Hilton has become known for it’s unique properties worldwide and legendary guest service. When it comes to the Embassy Suites in Waltham, MA; this hotel is no exception to the rule. From the lavish lobby to the amazing guest service, this Hilton-owned hotel has instantly become a favorite for weekend stays. 

     This will be the first of many hotel reviews so bare with me. Please note that I am no where near a professional critic like sites such as yelp.com. These reviews are based off of my own experiences in the hotel and the things that I like or dislike in the hotel. For more in depth reviews of the properties, you can visit sites like yelp.com, expedia.com, or hotels.com; to name a few. But if you are looking for a review of a hotel by an average guest, then please enjoy this post. And with that being said, let’s dive right in and explore the Embassy Suites in Waltham, MA.

     From where my wife and I live it was about a two hour drive to Waltham, MA. From an earlier post, you know that my wife and I love to plan weekend getaway trips for just ourselves or for a weekend getaway with the kids. This was definitely one of those getaways from the family for alone time to relax from the Thanksgiving weekend. We came across the difficulty of trying to navigate to the property when our GPS could not pinpoint the best directions to the entrance to the hotel. We were able to figure it out but it didn’t have any real affect on what we thought of the hotel. 

When I entered the lobby I was already impressed with how clean it was. It felt like I was stepping in an upper-ended hotel (generally those hotels have the price point of about $200/night or higher). I was greeted right away by the woman at the concierge desk. I’ll keep her name anonymous as I don’t have permission to use it, but I won’t forget the level of service that she gave. Check in was very quick and easy and she made sure to acknowledge that I was a Hilton Honors member (I’ll get into travel based rewards memberships in a later post) and thanked me for being a member. It’s not a huge deal but it is one of those small details that you enjoy when your preferred hotel chain goes out of their way to thank you for choosing their brand of hotels. One of the downsides to this particular hotel is that they charge for parking, but for it being off-season and a low census, along with being a member; the attendant waived the parking fee. The parking lot was very well lit and easy to maneuver. It was also really well kept up, even after the snow storm that had affected the Northeast at the beginning of the week. This gave us a sense of security as we made our way to the front door.

 Walking through the lobby toward the elevator we passed by the bar/restaurant that was available in the hotel. The whole lobby was very well kept and the restaurant was beautifully placed in the middle of the lobby. We usually have the tradition of checking out the pool and hot tub as soon as we get in, but we weren’t able to locate it. We figured we’ll get settled in and then we will head down to the pool.

     We got in to our room and we were deeply surprised. The rooms were setup as two-room suites having both a living room and a separate king bedroom.

This is definitely a property that you can stay at with your kids and still be able to close yourselves off for some privacy and relaxation after a long day with the family. Each room had it’s own TV and sat on either side of a kitchenette that felt like it was a little more. 

     The living room itself felt very inviting to everyone who just wanted to relax from a busy day, before they wanted to head out for the evening. To be honest, it felt like a smaller apartment than a hotel. It was laid out nice and comfortable. The sofa was fairly plush and contained a pullout bed for other guests. This why I had mentioned earlier that this would be a good choice to stay as a family or with other guests.  
     It was privately situated away from the door way into the the master bedroom located on the other side of the kitchenette and the bathroom. As far as the kitchenette goes it held a microwave and a mini fridge which is standard in most hotels nowadays. The kitchenette did have silverware and dishes on the ready for guest who wanted to eat in, and with the restaurant in lobby
offering room service it was easy to see how people could make

that decision to do so.
     The bedroom was extremely comfortable with a very plush king sized bed as its main focus. Hilton properties are known for going out of their way to bring in some of the most comfortable brands of bed into their properties. The Embassy Suites is no exception. The bed did offer a comfortable nights rest. But the room itself seemed more Like a standard room that you would find while staying at any of the other mid-rated chains.

               
     The room offers a simple design that includes the dresser/tv stand. In the corner of the room sits a desk designed for people who are staying for a business trip. I will give the setup this much; the room would be excellent if you were staying in the area for business. The desk offers many different charging outlets including an outlet station that includes multiple USB ports. The TV that is offered was a 42” LED TV with a good offering of channels but also offered the chance to order in-room movies. Another option that they added was the ability to see your bill and get information about the area all on the TV. A good portion of the Hilton properties have this available, which is nice so you don’t have to go down to the front desk to get information on a charge. They truly went out of their way to make everything as convenient as possible.

     We got ourselves settled and headed down toward the pool. It was difficult to find. For this property the access to the pool was on the second floor from which you walked down a set of stairs back to the first level to the pool area. My thought is that the pool was after the hotel was built so maybe this was the only access point to the pool. Still, it was an adventure to find the pool and hot tub. The area was really well designed with a large pool and a fairly large hot tub that can seat about 12. The staff did a very good job of keeping the area clean with an attendant checking in every 30 minutes to restock towels or clean the area. After a good swim and some relaxing time in the hot tub, we decided to back to the room and change to head out to dinner.

When we got back to the room we decided to explore the lobby and first floor of the hotel. When we first got in we set up to take a photo in front of The Christmas Tree in the main lobby. Here’s where the Embassy Suites showed that guest service is extremely important to them. We didn’t even ask, but the same woman at the front desk came over and offered to take the picture for us. But here’s where it went above and beyond. She offered to move the chairs and table from in front of the tree so that we can get the best picture that we could. We both couldn’t believe that she would go that far out of the way to help us with making a great memory. After a great few moments with a few laughs, we helped her reset the the lobby and continued on our expedition.

The lobby lead directly into the restaurant and bar area. It was a bit quiet but there was also a special event going on at the hotel. I was impressed that they were able to keep up the high level of service even though they had a large group being entertained on the mezzanine level. From here, we headed back up to the room and had a great night’s sleep.

    The next morning we woke up and headed down to the lobby for a hot breakfast. Many of the Hilton-owned properties offer a free hot breakfast buffet. The Embassy Suites is no exception. However, this was probably one of the very few times that we weren’t impressed with the hotel. The breakfast ended up being cold, and we had gotten down there pretty early. Check-out was a very easy process and after we had finished we were once again thanked for being Hilton Honors members and with that, we were on our way.

    The overall feel of the experience at the Embassy Suites was that it was an amazing property with some of the best guest service I have experienced since staying at the Walt Disney World Resort. I show high praise for this hotel that even though they were an off season, they still treated us like high end clientele. I would definitely recommend anyone choosing this hotel. It has a high-end feel for a mid-level price.