The hotel staff and the accommadations were excellent. Amazing views of the Charles River!!Only big downfall was that you have to leave the hotel itself and go virtually to the parking garage to get to the pool and the health club.

Every staff member at this Hyatt treated us with great kindness and support. Waitors were so attentive and patient. Doormen were helpful when the garage barricades did not respond. Our registration agent, Shorrone, could not have been nicer. I'll be back.

Perhaps not as classy as THE CHARLES or as original as THE MARLOWE, but for hotels with river view rooms in Cambridge, this tops the list. My room had been completely redone so no oddities such "DropAnchor:: experienced. Check in was a marvel. We were greeted at the car entrance cheerfully, and our bags whisked away, keys kept until our parking decsion(self or valet)/ Greeted cheerfully at desk, I asked the clerk to put in my Hyatt Gold PASSPORT number in and she did. As I made my booking thru my credit card rewards system, I knew I would not earn points or get a better rate. So I was surprised when I was offered free parking for our two night stay. The bellman was there with the luggage and asked about self or valet, and the clerk did not hesitate to add free valet, saving me $90 and affording me courteous and fast valet service thruout our stay. My wife is handicapped, walks with a cane with some difficulty, and the clerk, besides giving us a relatively high floor room to optimize our view of the river, assigned us an accesible room tactfully without comment. The building is the atrium glass elevators style that Hyatt introduced in the 60's as designed by the architect PORTER, that unfortunately has become a cliche in the hotel industry. The Cambridge version is a bit more intimate than other Hyatt Regencys and the use of red brick warms it up further. In the re-do, they added a modern wine and red carpet to the first floor, as well as bamboo stalks rising into the atrium and this undercuts the vastness of the atrium and gives floor 1 and 2 a pleasant feel. The porter/bellman delivered our bags to the room and then came back with our valet ticket explaining how to call for our car. I must say that he, our check in clerk and every hotel staff we encountered during our stay was welcomming and helpful, surprising in a business class hotel. The room had a long entryway(and automatic push buttons for the front door once unlocked)opening onto a good sized room with a king bed, an etagerie/desk, two nightables. a small cocktail table, and an armless upholstered chair and an ergonomic desk chair. The tones were gold and brown with a large padded headboard in greenish gold.
Though generic, the room had a sense of luxury and calm about it. A flawless sliding door across from the bed opened onto a large bathroom with a faux marble vanity and basin backed by a wall separating it from the combo shower bath opposite which was a high toilet(accessible?). Opposite the vanity were closet hooks and a guest safe, The well lit bathroom was nicely papered and there were white grab bars by the toilet and in the bathtub, The bath had a rain showerhead and a separate hand held device, as well. Water pressure in this 8th floor room was strong and hot water plentiful, A fellow reviewer commented negatively on the Portico bath soaps, lotions and shampoo. He hated their fragrance. All I can say is that this fragrance, titled White Ginger, is less sweet than commercial brands. For me it is haunting and a bit sexy. MY wife, who usually brings her own soap, loved the Portico soap which was creamy but non-irritating.
The bedroom has a distinct modern, rather than traditional feel. Although the cielings are a bit low, once the wall to wall drapes are opened, the view of the river and the Boston or University of Boston skyline opens up the spatial sense of the room considerably. If you stay here, a must is a river facing room. Some years ago, when Hyatt intoduced their "grand" bed, it was quite firm. I loved this as it supported my 200 plus frame beautifully. Others did not. So the grand bed now has a 2 inch foam pillow top on it. The underlining mattress is still quality, but the bed has a squishy sink in feel to it, which I suspect many of you will like, Se la ve! We had a more dramatic problem our first night. Although we set the thermostat to 65(we like our room cool) it got considerably warmer as the night went on. To make matters worse, a previous guest had set the IPOD speaker equipped clock radio to a 6 AM alarm, which I could in the dark only pause, not turn off. When I approached the front desk with these problems, there was a genuine apology, an offer to send the engineer to fix the air, and an offer of a free breakfast the next morning. Problems will occur, and the HYATT showed its class in the way it reacted to my complaint. We arrived on Friday night and glanced at their Friday night raw bar in ZEPHER ON THE CHARLES. the hotels only restaurant. The oysters and clams looked superb, as did steamed mussels in a Thai Coconut sauce. A jazz trio was playing. We did not partake, but the next night when we could not get a reservation at a reasonalbe hour for our favorite Cambridge eatery(HELMANS Afganistani), that visage convinced us to try dinner at the Zepher. Our seafood dinner. comprising of pan grilled scallops over cucumber glazed with eggplant, and a lively dipping sauce(an appetizer), and a large serving of pan seared hake(whitefish) served over a wild rice saute was excellent. The service was friendly, casual and attentive. Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, we had eaten a even more superb seafood lunch at the Museum of Fine Arts BRAVO restaurant that afternoon, but we still were very pleased with our dinner, which ended with a wonderful flourless fudge cake. And I must say that the breakfast choices were equally good the next morning and even though there was a large crowd in the AM, excellent staff kept diners happy. We did not get to the pool or workout room, accessed by a narrow indoor bridge leading to the parking structure(too many steps). Walking along the Charles. however, was quite pleasant.




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Yes, the river view was great - that was why we booked there - and we wanted to be able to walk to MIT, so that was great. We did not care about convenience to downtown. First, ALL the staff was GREAT - very pleasant, helpful and nice - including restaurant. Booking and reception was fine. Restaurant food not cheap, but was very good. Nice to have a gym. Since it was my first stay there, they comped parking, but say it is usually 35.00 a night. And the parking garage is awful. I mean awful. So that would have been an insult to be charged for. I simply would not stay again if charged for parking. The room was expensive enough. Room was clean, amenities fine, but the condition was surprisingly run-down - like only half had been upgraded, but the rest nasty. The wallpaper had lots of damp-staining and some was peeling, the sheer curtains had what looked like bloodstains (I hope it was rust) and the sliding-door frame was filthy and drafty. The mattresses were OLD and that is something you should upgrade for a 200.00 price FOR SURE!! This was room#1012 by the way. The new furniture and carpeting was very nice, as was the bathroom and there was plenty of space. The interior design was the oddest mix of styles - a total identity crisis, but who cares. So, again, a mixed bag... If the whole room had been renovated, which I think SHOULD have been the case, I would have given full rating!