Guest User
October 22, 2024
I recently stayed at the Clarendon Square property in Boston for two nights in August 2024. I discovered their establishment during a search with Delta Stays (Delta’s hotel site). My usual choice for hotels has been a Starwood/Marriott due to convenience, late checkouts and suite upgrades, but the Clarendon Square appeared to be an interesting alternative. My Delta Stays search showed only a Queen room available so I called the Inn to inquire if there were any other options since a Queen room seemed too small for two travelers. I called the hotel directly while overseas and I spoke to the owner, Stephen Grossman. The conversation was pleasant and Stephen said that if I booked directly with him, the price would be about 15% less than if I booked through a travel site. He volunteered that the Luxury Suite was available. I then asked how to proceed with the booking. He said they had an on-line booking system that was secure (credit card info). Registration required payment for the first night but what I was not made aware of is a non-refundable $45 registration fee (similar to hotel’s destination fees although you can apply that credit toward food or services. The $45 fee at the Clarendon provided nothing like that I discovered later. I received a pre-checkin email shortly after completing my reservation but I was unable to complete the form due to an upload issue at my hotel in Scotland and there appeared to be no way to sign the form electronically. I informed Stephen of those issues, and he said everything could be finalized upon arrival. When we arrived, he never had me complete the form but he did ask for my credit card and then he said the credit card I gave him was different from the one I had used for payment of the first night. He appeared confused for some reason realizing that it was the exact same card. He then said he would take us to the room but wanted to check to make sure it was ready. In that first call, he had volunteered to take our bags up the 1 flight of stairs to the suite I booked. We had several bags as we had been traveling for nearly 3 weeks. The room he took us to was 4 or 5 floors up which surprised me as I seemed to recall he said the Luxury Suite was just one floor up from the parlor/lobby. I then mentioned that I remembered a bath tub in the picture, and he said “I am glad you said something!”. He had NOT taken us to the Luxury Suite at all but rather to a standard Queen room. He then took us to the room I booked AND paid for - the Luxury Suite which was indeed one floor up from the parlor area. It is important to note that there are only 7 guest rooms in total and only one of them is a suite. After the room situation was resolved, my daughter and I decided to go for a walk -- I texted Stephen that I really could not understand how he could have made such a huge mistake given that HE had suggested the suite, and we had communicated over several emails that had the booking confirmation which c