I rarely leave reviews like this, but my experience at Encore Boston Harbor was bad enough that I feel obligated to warn other business travelers.
The problems started before I even arrived. I was traveling from Logan Airport and followed Encore's own website instructions for the shuttle. Those instructions were wrong. Because the hotel had not updated its posted pickup location, I spent roughly an hour walking around downtown Boston in the rain trying to find the shuttle. I called twice for help and spoke with two different representatives, both of whom were deeply uninterested and unable or unwilling to provide useful assistance.
When I finally found the correct shuttle area, I waited even longer in the rain, only for the driver to tell me and two other passengers that we needed to get on a different shuttle that was already pulling away from the curb. We literally had to chase it down to catch it.
Because of this, I missed a work meeting.
Unfortunately, arriving at the hotel did not improve the experience. After standing in an excessively long check-in line, I finally got to the front desk, where the staff confidently insisted that I needed to pay the full room amount, even though my company had already paid for the reservation. At that point I was exhausted, wet, and late, so I paid it just to get into the room.
Now my office manager is having to argue with the hotel because staff are apparently claiming I never had a reservation at all -- which is especially strange given that I am currently sitting in the room, and we have an emailed receipt showing that the room was already paid for.
Even worse, the staff member speaking with my office manager has reportedly been snarky, condescending, and dismissive while she tries to resolve a problem created by the hotel's own systems. Rather than helping investigate the discrepancy, he appears to be treating her as though she is confused or incompetent. That is unacceptable customer service under any circumstances, but it is especially galling when she is the one trying to clean up Encore's billing and reservation mistake.
This was not one minor inconvenience. It was a cascade of failures: incorrect transportation instructions, unhelpful phone support, chaotic shuttle coordination, a missed business meeting, a miserable check-in process, an apparent duplicate charge, and now a billing/reservation dispute being handled with condescension instead of professionalism.
For a hotel that markets itself as a luxury resort, this was genuinely embarrassing. Nothing about this experience felt organized, hospitable, or guest-focused. It felt like a high-end property with low-end operations and staff who could not be bothered to solve problems they helped create.
Encore Boston Harbor may be a great place to stay if you enjoy being wet, late, overcharged, dismissed, and treated like an inconvenience. I will not stay here again, and I would strongly caution business travelers against relying on this hotel for anything that requires competent logistics, accurate billing, or basic customer service.
Beautiful building. Broken operation. Absolutely not worth the aggravation.
