Room was large, with a modern design, spacious layout, great lighting, and flat-panel TV. The bathroom had a tub and a separate shower. There was no view, our window faced another building, we could hear delivery trucks in the morning, and loud bangs of the doors by the service people. On the first night there was no turn-down service (it was Sunday), on the second day room service did not leave enough toiletries (they said they ran out of them). The biggest disadvantage was the lack of in-room tea/coffee maker. Front-desk informed us that they are available to rent for 30$ per stay, and the reason for their absence was that the hotel was trying to position itself as a luxury brand on par with Ritz-Carlton and Four Seasons.

A note about the gym - it is pretty spacious and has good equipment. There is also a small pool. Location is good with a short walking distance to South Water station, and 15 min walk to Tremont Street. A number of coffee shops, including Peet's and Starbucks are in the adjacent business district, and there is a good seafood restaurant across the bridge from the hotel.

We booked via Hotwire ($150/night) for a long weekend which was great value given what that the hotel requested when contacted directly.

The rooms are a good size, clean and have a large and well equipped bathrooms. The service is generally good and the hotel has a spa area with pool and gym. The whole design is very "corporate" and lacks any warmth but the hotel does make for a good base from which to explore.

The location is not quite city centre but Boston is small and it is only a short cab ride anywhere or the T station is a 3 minute walk from the hotel.

The only complaint would be the awful bar area. The decoration is more TGI Fridays than that of a 5 star hotel and the ambience is almost non-existant. We only had one drink here and that was enough for the whole trip.

The property is new and nice - rooms are large and well decorated, bathroom design is excellent.

Beds and linen are sub-par.

The service is, in my opinion, poor. The ability to deal with customers' requests with finesse leaving the customer satisfied distinguishes a high-class property from a run-of-the-mill tourist hotel. I felt that Intercontinental lacked the finesse whatsoever.

Judge yourself - the front desk wasn't able to fulfill our (advance) request for a queen or king bed room; the front desk manager told us that if we booked the room directly (I booked the room through Expedia) then they would honour the requested room preference. Regardless the relationship between the hotel and Expedia (I'll follow up with Expedia if I have time), we arrived at 9am, get into the room at 3pm, and the front desk made no effort to accommodate our preferences.

I called the room service and asked if they could lend me scissors - they said that they didn't have any scissors. I was speechless.

The morning newspaper advertised on the hotel website never arrived.

My conclusion - if you're lucky and don't need any assistance, Intercontinental is an OK place to stay (provided that you can get a good deal). Don't expect 4-5 star service and if you pay, for one reason or another, full price for the room then you'll be better off elsewhere.

MY huband and myself and 2 children stayed her for 4 nights, unfortunately our roomj was diredtly facing intgo an office at the side of the building,; there was very little daylight getting through even if the curtains were pulled. We had to be careful gettiing dressed etc as the office staff were directly liiking into our room and us at them vica versa. it was a most uncomfortable situation, make sure to book a harbour view room in this hotel.I thought our 4 night stay would never end, we asked on a few occassions for another room, but were told there was nothing available as the hotel was heavily booked with conferences. We would have gladly paid extra money for another room. The side of the building we were staying in was directly facing office staff who I must assume are very uncomfortable with the situation also.if the curtains are partially opened watching people getting dressed, lying in bed, what a ridiculous situation and pay hundreds of dollars per night, certainly not in my opinion 4/5 star accommodation standard. My children would forget and keep opening the curtains, an awkard situation really.