Hey Ninjas! Welcome to another official Booking Ninjas hotel review. If you didn’t catch last week’s, I wrote a lot about my stay at the highly recommended CitizenM Hotel at North Station in Boston. This week, we’re staying in beantown and taking a look at the Revere Hotel at Boston Common. Be sure to sign up for our email list to be notified when we drop a new blog. Without further ado, these are the results of my stay.
Booking/Prices
I booked a standard superior room for a Tuesday night at the after tax price of $131.02 through Expedia. This was a pretty good steal as usually rooms at The Revere average around the $160 range. The hotel does offer a $25 food and beverage credit when you book directly on their website. This is something we talk about frequently at Booking Ninjas as third party sites such as Expedia and Trivago have taken a lot of business away from hotels just by being more convenient and accessible to the consumer. Hotels can take advantage of our PMS features to boost incentives to book directly and extract valuable data from these third party sites. Ok, that’s enough corporate shilling.
Note that you can sign up to The Guestbook for free to redeem a ton of discounts and credits from this hotel. The Guestbook is a collection of hotels that support independent and boutique hotels, so enrolling can save you money at not just The Revere, but many other boutiques as well.
Getting There/Location
The Revere Hotel, as the name suggests, is located near Boston Common. It’s easily accessible through the orange line Tufts Medical station and the green line’s Arlington and Boylston stations. For outsiders, Boston Common is essentially a large public park in downtown Boston that is perfect for a springtime walk. There are two neighborhoods within a five minute walk of the hotel - the Theater District and Chinatown.
The Theater District encompasses many nationally recognized theaters such as the Boston Opera House and Emerson College’s Cutler Majestic Theatre. Chinatown, as the name suggests, is a neighborhood featuring the best Asian cuisine Boston has to offer.
Being located smack dab in the center of Boston, it’s a great hotel for first-time visitors of the city as you’ll have a short commute to most of Boston’s best attractions.
Check-In
I arrived at approximately 2:30pm, an hour and a half before the check-in time of 4pm. Early check-in was accommodated at no extra charge. An important thing to note about The Revere is that they do place a $150 holding fee on your card for the duration of your stay. So if you’re low on cash, that could be a dealbreaker. They also charge a $25 fee for amenities which includes admission to their breakfast buffet in the morning.
Another thing of note is the sensitivity of the room keys. The front desk agent informed me that the magnets on the room key were frequently demagnetized when rubbed against surfaces such as a phone cover which I found odd. You will need a room key to access the elevators.
Room
Upon entering the room, you can see the prominent theme of the hotel - The American Revolution. Late 1700’s themed artwork is scattered along the walls; Paul Revere, horses, a creepy black and white portrait of a battlefield that looks like a still shot from The Exorcist hanging above the toilet.
Immediately to your right is a coffee station. Fiji water is made available to you for $5 (taken out of your amenities fee). The room temperature can be easily adjusted with the on-the-wall thermostat which I found worked quite well. One of the coolest aspects of the room were the dimming features on the lamps. All the lamps are designed to resemble lanterns of the time and give guests plenty of flexibility when it comes to lighting the room.
The view from my standard room (their lowest level room) still had an amazing view of downtown Boston. You can’t go too wrong with hotels in Boston Common as the site offers great views and a convenient location for getting around the city quickly.
One of the issues I ran into was the lack of a fridge and microwave. Even for standard rooms, most hotels offer at least one of the two. Because of this, it’s hard to recommend the Revere Hotel for a long-term stay, at least at the standard room level. Though keep in mind, they do have refrigerators on request at a fee.
A note is left on the bed informing you of their “pillow menu”. The hotel offers pillows that cater to what kind of sleeper you are (back, side, etc..). They give you a sample of each pillow but they are not labeled so I was unsure of which pillow was for each sleeping position and I wasn’t a big fan of most of them, so I tossed and turned quite a bit before falling asleep.
The bathroom is small, but neat and clean. You’ll find your standard lotions and moisturizers on the sink along with a makeup mirror for women. The shower had good water pressure - your average shower - nothing to write home about.
Amenities/Lobby
Bar none (no pun intended but it works so I’ll lie and say pun intended), the best amenity and overall feature of The Revere Boston Common is the rooftop bar, appropriately named the “Rooftop at Revere”. This bar features some of the best views Boston has and offers cabana and couch rentals for non-guests as well. Keep in mind, the bar is only open during the warm months (March-September/October). The rooftop is also available for booking events and group gatherings.
The lobby bar is a dimly lit eatery with a comfortable lounge area serving local brews and a full menu. Similarly, the hotel owns and operates the adjacent Rebel’s Guild Restaurant with an authentic Boston aura and locally sourced dishes.
This is a great venue to hold meetings and business events. I was blown away as the meeting rooms are spacious and have their own floor. The hotel offers 42,000 square feet of event space and a beautiful, quiet waiting area outside each room.
Some other notable amenities/details:
- Room service (delivery was nearly instant)
- Breakfast Buffet
- On-site parking is $42, Valet is $54
- 9th floor is pet-friendly for a fee
- 24 hour fitness center
- TV has access to streaming apps such as Netflix and Hulu
Check Out
An interesting aspect of The Revere was the option to check out through the TV. I tried it out, at which point I was shown any charges incurred to the room during my stay. I made it to a screen thanking me for my stay.
As I was leaving, I stopped by the front desk to drop off my room key. I informed the front desk agent that I had checked out through the TV and she looked at me with a puzzled expression. After the awkward exchange, I went through the check out process again with her at which I was told the same information as was on the TV. I’m not sure if she was a new employee or I was hallucinating the TV check out process. In any event, both my check outs were fast and efficient.
Quick Hitters
Who’s it for - Business professionals, Companies, Short term stay, History buffs
Best Part - Rooftop bar, Meeting rooms
Worst Part - No fridge or microwave, High incidental hold
Time of year to visit - Spring/Summer
Would I recommend to a friend - Yes
Pass/Fail - Pass
Parting Thoughts
The Revere is an opulent hotel that brings to life the Revolutionary War era and Boston’s historical figures during that period. The amenities and dining options are fantastic and its premier location lends itself to being one of the best hotels near Boston Common. I won’t rate it as high as the CitizenM at North Station, but The Revere is a solid hotel with way more positives than negatives.
This blog was written by Justin Deagle, a content contributor for Booking Ninjas. If you’d like us to do a feature on your hotel, motel, or b&b email Justin at [email protected].