We’re starting a new series where we stack up the highest- and lowest-rated hotels within the same brand in different regions.
First up: Hyatt Hotels in New England, where we stayed at both the top-rated and bottom-rated property in the area earlier this year. The two properties were the Hyatt Place Boston/Seaport District (4.5★ at time of stay) and the Hyatt Place Boston/Medford (3.9★ at time of stay).
Here’s how they stacked up:
Hyatt Place Boston/Seaport District
Overall: B+ (7.7/10) — Recommend
| Category | Score |
|---|---|
| Room | 8/10 |
| Bathroom | 7/10 |
| Bed | 8/10 |
| Value | 6/10 |
| Status Benefits | 7/10 |
| Location | 8/10 |
| Operations | 9/10 |
| Food | 7/10 |
| Facilities | 8/10 |
| Service | 9/10 |
They gave us an upgrade here which is always nice! The soft product was quite solid. The staff was friendly professional, which sometimes is tough to find in the US where some staff really lacks in hospitality skills. This hotel is located in the Seaport (big surprise), and it’s quite a nice area, but I guess not perfectly ideal for those that want to stay right in the center of Boston. It’s about a 30-40 minute walk (~10 minute drive) to Boston Center and you’re actually really close to a Silver line stop so it’s easy to get to/from the airport from here.
I really enjoyed the rooftop area, it’s a legitimately great space – you can post up and work for a few hours (which is what I did) or just hang out, and the views are spectacular. The second-floor bar is also worth a mention; it’s a nice spot to unwind that doesn’t feel like a typical Hyatt Place experience, but wonderful nonetheless.
Value scored the lowest (6/10), I paid somewhere just under $300 per night which is pretty typical for Boston, but still felt a bit high for me, all things considered. (Admittedly, I am more used to the prices overseas where something like $300/night is what you pay for something like a Park Hyatt.) I always have a bit of trouble scoring Value since it is subjective and is somewhat based on the price of that given market, but if that area has inflated prices, then the overall value is worse for consumers and therefore should score lower for Value.
Hyatt Place Boston/Medford
Overall: B (7.3/10) — Neutral
| Category | Score |
|---|---|
| Room | 8/10 |
| Bathroom | 7/10 |
| Bed | 8/10 |
| Value | 5/10 |
| Status Benefits | 8/10 |
| Location | 6/10 |
| Operations | 8/10 |
| Food | 7/10 |
| Facilities | 8/10 |
| Service | 8/10 |
On paper this hotel didn’t score much lower than the one in Boston and I think it’s a solid place, but nothing particularly special either. Here’s the catch, though (and I think why the ratings were so low), the hotel was mid-renovation during my stay. They upgraded us (again, I assume due to Globalist status) to what must have been a freshly renovated room on the top floor. However, I think the two floors below ours were fully closed off for construction. That meant that the elevators were constantly packed with those workers and stopped on floors that they were working on. There was also some construction noise on my own floor at times and the water was turned off for like 3 hours as well.
I booked this stay with points, which came with free parking and that was clutch because otherwise they would have charged for it (a minor gripe, but worth flagging). So, with the points booking, I was kind of fine with the construction, but the cash rate for that night was around $450! If we had paid that cash price with the construction and the parking fee, I genuinely think I would have asked for a refund and found a different hotel.
It looks like this hotel drops to under $150 per night for some dates, so if we had stayed during a cheaper night and if there wasn’t construction, I would probably give the overall rating a Recommend, but that wasn’t the case, so this is a firm Neutral. That is, unless you really need to be in this area or you get a particularly good rate, you might as well check other options instead of just staying at a Hyatt for loyalty’s sake.
The Verdict
Both hotels deliver the reliable Hyatt Place basics: decent beds, bathrooms, and service. The Hyatt Place Seaport is definitely the winner and I do understand how it has it has the highest rating in New England for Hyatt Hotels, but it’s still not necessarily the best hotel in Boston either.
The Hyatt Place in Medford isn’t a bad hotel. Under normal circumstances it’s probably a fine, if unremarkable, stay. Does it feel like it deserves the title of the «lowest rated Hyatt Hotel in New England»? Not really, to be honest. I think this is more due to the smaller Hyatt footprint in general and also because of people giving low ratings when they stayed during the construction. Overall, it’s a solid hotel as far as Hyatt Places go, right around 4.0 stars for a rating feels about right. So, between the construction disruption and a price point that doesn’t match the experience, it’s hard to call it anything more than Neutral.
Recommendation:
- Hyatt Place Boston/Seaport District: Recommend
- Hyatt Place Boston/Medford: Neutral
Have you stayed at either of these? Let us know in the comments! And stay tuned – we’re going to do this for as many regions and hotel chains as we can.
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