The Good: ? Could be serving a valuable social position for abused women?
The Bad: DIRTY, Noisy, Unsafe feeling, Unresponsive night staff, Smelly
The Basics: Lacking in decent amenities, the Quality Inn in Brockton is a terrible disappointment for anyone traveling near Boston who wants a reasonably-priced hotel!
Every now and then, I find myself in a place and time where I am pretty much terrified for my life and wonder "how did I get here?!" Recently, I had an amazing opportunity to meet the director to the new film Alien Trespass and I made the sojourn to Boston, Massachusetts to make the screening and meet the director. It was very cool for me and I was quite excited about the whole spontaneous trip. The thing was, it came on the heels of my big birthday gift trip to my then-fiancé and I was a bit strapped for cash. As a result, I was a bit more conservative with my lodging for the two overnights than I otherwise might have been. I booked my room on-line for the Quality Inn in Brockton, MA, a suburb of Boston. As many might have guessed, Boston is a pretty expensive place to stay, so staying twenty miles south of the main city seemed like as good idea at the time.
The fact that a police car was pulled up outside the front door to this Quality Inn should have been my first clue that I was not staying in a good neighborhood. There is a wonderful episode called "Dead And Gone" in the second season of NYPD Blue where Medavoy and Andy have to move a dead cop's body out of a sleazy motel. Andy makes the comment that this is precisely the type place he once figured he would die. This is the look and feel I got when I entered the Quality Inn in Brockton, MA. It is set in a pretty bad neighborhood and appears to have a pretty regular client base of single mothers who are living there. In my night's stay, many things did not work and I never felt safe there. It became very easy to recommend to readers that they avoid this one!
Location
The Quality Inn Brockton, MA012 in the Choice Hotels numbering system (a number quite useful when making phone or online reservations), is located at 1005 Belmont St. in Brockton, Massachusetts. Brockton is a suburb south of Boston that seems to be a collection of convenience stores, fast food restaurants and urban plight. The hotel is set pretty much right off Interstate 93, which is a pretty major route through New England.
The Quality Inn Brockton has only one entrance, which is right on Belmont St. Mapquest directions are more than adequate for finding this hotel. The sign to the hotel is one of the most visible landmarks from the exit from I-93 (exit 4).
The Quality Inn Brockton has a motor lodge feel, though the rooms were only accessed from the main entrance, not outer doors. This was the first problem I ran into. There were a few outer doors to the hotel, none of which could be opened with or without a key card. As a result, the hotel has a very uncomfortable feeling from the outset, like security is much more important than access and as a result, leaving from a door near my car in the back and having to walk all the way around to the front again was a pretty unsettling experience. It actually bothered me more, then, when the police car left!
Room Size
Upon entering the hotel, I was surprised by how sloppy the lobby was oriented. When one enters the hotel, there is a restaurant immediately in front of them, with a staircase winding back toward them in front as well. One must turn to the left and walk through a tight sitting area to get to the dark front desk. To be fair to the attendant at the front desk, the dark work area was probably disconcerting to them as well and the worker there was generally friendly (in that she let me interrupt the conversation she was having with friends and residents several times when I experienced problems with my room). The hotel's desk clerk greeted me fairly apathetically and seemed utterly disinterested with checking me in, much less the possibility of upgrading my room (no upgrade was available).
As for the room itself, this was a fairly small and mediocre room, plagued by a lack of good lighting. Measuring twenty-six and a quarter feet deep by thirteen feet wide, the room included two queen beds, a bathroom with shower and bathtub, desk, and only one nightstand. This room has the standard closet as well and dresser with the television. The room felt cramped and the fact that there were only two lamps probably enhanced the claustrophobic feel to the setting.
Cleanliness
From the first moment I opened the door to the room at the Quality Inn in Brockton, I had a cool feeling about it. The wallpaper was peeling, it smelled like smoke and the people there looked tired and miserable. It was dark - I arrived at three in the afternoon! - and the rugs and walls were not as clean as they ought to have been. Despite having a nonsmoking room, the cigarette smell in the hallway was overpowering and I saw several people smoking throughout the hotel.
Every time I enter a new hotel room, I flush the toilet and this Quality Inn easily passed the first flush test with no difficulties, which surprised me quite a bit given the rest of the hotel. The shower and toilet were covered in a thin grime and I cannot imagine the last time the head in the shower had been cleaned. Again, it surprised me when the water here was not rust-colored given how smelly and dirty the rest of the room was. The rug had spots and bleach marks on it and I shuddered to think when it had been vacuumed last (I did not remove my socks my entire stay, save when I was showering because my socks got so dirty walking around the room). As well, all of the towels had spots and stains on them.
The wallpaper in the room was tasteful, simple and frequently stained and peeling. I found several spots on the wallpaper, even at eye level, both in the room and in the hallways. Moreover, the lack of decent lighting throughout the hotel gave it a dank feeling that made the stay a little less pleasant. As well, it is worth noting that the lobby was loud from the bar and restaurant adjacent to it (I arrived on karaoke night) and the walls in the hotel are ridiculously thin. As I passed rooms to mine, I easily heard televisions, couples fighting, kids getting in trouble and couples not fighting.
Amenities
The Quality Inn Brockton has less than the standard amenities, at least in my room. There were the standard coffee packets, shampoo, soap, and lotion, along with an air conditioning unit. There was no microwave or refrigerator available. As well, it is worth repeating that the hotel's walls were ridiculously thin. The television's remote did not work, despite the fact that I tried about five different remotes for it.
This hotel had a free breakfast, all of which were prepackaged - which given the overall lack of cleanliness to the hotel, I have to say I was pretty grateful for. The breakfast consisted of packaged cereals, individually-wrapped danishes and muffins and coffee and juice from machines.
As well, the hotel did not have a business center or any form of internet terminal. Those traveling with a laptop of their own could connect, but as I left mine at home, this option was not available to us.
In the room, the television has approximately twenty cable television stations and the television was one of the smallest I've had in a Choice Hotel.
Overall
The Quality Inn in Brockton was just terrible on every front and while it might be a de facto women's shelter, it is hardly a great place to stay for travelers for business and certainly not for pleasure!
For other hotels in the Choice Hotels chain, please be sure to check out my reviews of:
Comfort Inn North - Las Vegas, NV
Comfort Inn Fairgrounds - Syracuse, NY
Comfort Inn Elryia - Elyria, OH
1/10
For other travel reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!
© 2012, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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