Homewood Suites by Hilton Hotels in Chelsea

I'm going to start with the positives, because I want to like this hotel and my experience at it. First, the people are great. You won't find nicer, more polite people working at a hotel anywhere in Boston. Second, the rooms themselves are great looking, and this is a very attractive property with a really nice meeting area and a lot of amenities, including a large bar and breakfast area. The beds themselves are comfortable, as are the furniture in the rooms. I'm finding this to be increasingly rare across Hilton brands. Showers are absolutely comfortable for persons of height and size. The location itself is really very good, whether you need to be near Logan or to do business around downtown and, relatively speaking the rates themselves are pretty good. Constructively speaking...hot water for the shower is hit or miss. There are two key deferred maintenance items in our room, and the shower water handle is one of them. Air conditioning, in general, is problematic, and this was the other. The compressor on the bedroom air conditioner was extremely loud, and the general room fan was also loud. Which was a good thing because this hotel offers zero sound insulation from the outside, and if your had an odd numbered room facing Route One you had no buffer from the constant road noise. If you're someone who needs relative quiet to sleep, you're out of luck. Were the towels and wash rags clean? Well, probably, but the fewer questions you ask on what you're handed, the better. Parking is...an adventure. There are probably enough spaces but that lot is poorly designed and prone to flooding in spots. Also, people requesting a digital key do so for a reason; and that reason is because they don't want to have to stop at the front desk. Give people the digital key and stop asking for ID.