A recent work trip to New England had me staying at the Boston Moxy Downtown for four nights. It is an extremely hip and well-positioned downtown which was in a very convenient location for work, but also would have been a very good spot had I been in Boston as a tourist.
I happened to have the good fortune of being in Boston on St. Patrick’s Day, which I think may have resulted in the hotel and surrounding neighborhood being a bit chaotic and full of revelers. I found the environment to be uplifting and enjoyable but I can see how some might have felt a bit miffed by all the noise. Still, even if you were a bit put off by the party atmosphere, there wasn’t much else at the Moxy that would’ve disappointed even the choosiest traveler.
The room at the Moxy Boston Downtown
The rooms at the Moxy Boston are miniscule, but that should not surprise you if you have been to a Moxy before. To create floor space for luggage and to move around, pieces of foldable furniture are hung on the wall. While this might bother some, I find the utilitarian approach quite innovative and fun.
The air conditioning worked well, but given the setting it was on, once the room’s temperature reached below a certain point, the heat started blasting instead. I slept for a few nights with the air conditioning off, and ultimately asked the front desk to send someone to fix it. They changed the setting and that was that. No more heat.
The bed was comfortable but the pillows were a bit too soft for my taste. When I asked the front desk if they could send up some harder pillows, they said that every room had the same pillows and they had nothing else. I guess that’s what you have to expect from a low-end hotel chain like the Moxy.
The Moxy Boston is on the intersection of a very busy street and my room was twelve floors right above that busy intersection. With floor to ceiling windows, there was a lot of exposure to the outdoors and I certainly felt it. The sounds of honking, music and partying into the early hours of the morning (see me being there on St. Patrick’s day above) made it into my room with ease. Luckily, I brought a pair of my own earplugs with me, but the Moxy has apparently also identified this problem and provided disposable earplugs next to the bed. Still, I’m not sure how the hotel did not consider double-glazing their windows when building the hotel in such a busy spot.
The shower water temperature and pressure were fine, and there were no issues to speak of in the restroom. The sink was nice and wide and I liked the towel heater as well.
The service at the Moxy Boston Downtown
The service at the Moxy Boston was perfectly fine. While the front desk staff wore baseball caps and jeans, they were pleasant and efficient. I just wish they could have explained the $35 voucher system a bit better (more on that below) because I had to do some googling myself to figure out what was going on.
The last morning, when I needed to print out a couple of shipping labels, they were helpful getting the business center printer set up and even let me borrow their scissors and tape.
The food and beverage at the Moxy Boston Downtown
Like at all hotels in Boston, guests staying at the Moxy are subject to a $35 per night destination fee. It seems that the Moxy has decided to try and return that charge to the guest in the form of one $35 food and drink voucher for each night of the guest’s stay. The trick is that it has to be used all at once so, what, are you going to order four beers at once? The breakfast line was made a bit longer than it should have been every morning by guests trying to figure out how to order as much food as possible while keeping the total under $35.
Speaking of breakfast, you place your order at the bar, and then wait for a member of kitchen staff to bring your order to the pickup counter. Breakfasts were served in cardboard takeaway boxes which was a bit odd, but all in all, the breakfasts were not bad in terms of taste and certainly in terms of quantity. I started the morning with the heaviest meatiest option they had, and with the exception of the sausages, which were a bit too underseasoned and gamey for my liking, the food was quite fine.
On top of this, due to my Platinum Marriott Bonvoy status, I was granted a free drink card. I wanted to exchange it for a Narragansett Lager like it said I could but unfortunately, they were sold out and I had to settle for Budweiser.
The common areas at the Moxy Boston
If you are looking to break a sweat, there is a small gym in the basement. It’s not particularly glamorous and doesn’t have any windows, but it will do in a pinch.
Perhaps the oddest aspect of the Moxy Boston is the elevator lobby area. When you exit the elevator on the lobby and bar/restaurant floor, it is unbelievably dark. So much so that you get off the elevator and poke your head out and think that you might be on the wrong floor, a deserted floor under construction or something. The picture does not do justice to how dark it was. There are a couple of pink mood lights screwed into the ceiling and while perhaps it could be a fun thing to do at night, it is deeply strange during the day, especially first thing in the morning at breakfast time.
The bottom line
For a single traveler, the Moxy Boston is a perfectly adequate hotel for a couple of nights. The moment you add on another traveler or more than a week’s worth of nights, it’s time to find another option. Whether you are there as a tourist or for business (as it appeared most of the hotel was), the Moxy is a compact, clean, and comfortable centrally located hotel in Boston that I would be happy to return to.