Mary Prentiss Inn in Cambridge

Do not book this hotel! During an emergency, staff is off-shore and not helpful!! After a blaring 10-minute alarm at almost midnight, the fire department arrived and told us this was the third time they’d been there. I could not get in touch with anyone through their provided numbers until I found an “emergency” number. Upon calling this, I was connected with an off-shore representative who not only hung up on me once but also pretended I had not spoken to him when I called back! The fire department spoke to this representative as well and he could not give them answers about local property management. As of now there has been no local team sent to evaluate the alarm or the safety of the guests. Comfortable room but 0/10 do not recommend.

Prentiss Hotel is a rather new re-boot with a limited staffing model (kind of like an airBnB). Unfortunately we had a bad experience. The hotel has 16 rooms and we were assigned #5 and given door codes by email and text in advance of our arrival. However, upon arrival on a Saturday evening, our space was occupied by someone else. We tried texting and emailing the contacts for the hotel, but all we got was a message saying they only replied to text and emails on Monday to Friday from 9AM-5PM. We then called the "emergency number" noted at the bottom of the text. All we got was a recording asking us to leave a message (which we did). But no one ever called us back and responded to our calls. Thus, we were forced to make other arrangements late on a Saturday evening when all we really wanted to be doing was relaxing in our hotel room. On Monday (two days after our scheduled check-in), we were contacted by text. The staff member apologized and said they would issue us a full refund (which they did). I asked about the failure of the "emergency number" and they replied ""we do not have the answer for you but can guarantee this will not happen again." If they cannot even explain what went wrong, how can they promise it won't happen again?? Very disappointing all around.

Prentiss House is a cute property in a nice location, but that’s where the positives ended for us. Our room was unbearably hot, and we discovered typed instructions on the AC unit warning not to use cold mode. This tells me their systems are outdated and poorly maintained if they can’t handle cooling for just 20 rooms. It’s unacceptable. I can’t imagine how awful it would be during the summer. At one point, the thermostat in our room hit 87°, which is far from their website’s claim of “controllable heat/ac” in every room—a blatant falsehood. We texted management, and they promised to drop off a fan, while suggesting we “turn down the temperature” and “open a window.” The fan never arrived. We endured two miserable days and nights in a sweltering room and dreaded returning to the property after a long day of sightseeing. Honestly, I’m just thankful we weren’t staying longer. Based on this experience, I cannot recommend Prentiss House.

This was the Mary Prentiss Inn now called the Prentiss. We have stayed at the Mary Prentiss many times in the past and were always pleased with the service, rooms and the morning home made breakfast. Now it has changed and to me not for the better. I was trying to make reservation, and called only to be told that I now have to make reservations on line. Never before did I have to do this. I asked about parking there, which they have under the Inn in the past for free, now it is $ 35 a night. Not free. I asked about the breakfast which now is not available. What a shame. Times have changed for this Inn with the helpful in home reservations, free parking and a great fresh breakfast. Changing times have certainly happened to the Inn and to me not for the better. The person answering the phone refused to answer any questions concerning pricing and room availability. Well guess what with all the other establishments in the area, this establishment will no longer be a choice for me nor will I recommend this place any longer. It's a shame that the new owners do not care about the friendly feeling that should be given to any guest or any persons asking information. Oh just to make myself clear I did not stay nor did I make any reservations as planned, so where you see when did I travel I had to answer it other wise I could not continue.

We just had a stay at the Prentiss House by Thatch – I made the mistake of thinking things promised on their website would be in effect. We were pleased with the home upon arrival; however things went off as we returned from dinner we discovered there was no A/C! Another person in the lobby confirmed that they had a fan and no A/C (it was about 80 degrees outside and 78 in our room). We left a window open and tried to go to bed about 10PM – Note: Their stated quiet hours are 9:30PM-8AM – at 11:30PM we were shocked to hear a door slam and someone slamming what sounded like luggage against a wall then each of the drawers were slammed, slam, slam….they finally settled. Then at 1:15AM a drunk couple arrived to have a long chat and make-out session on the porch with our window open we sadly were hearing all their considerations about should he come in with her (they also were talking loudly as if they were still in the club talking over music) finally she let him in, but then they were so loud (nobody explained to her about “inside voice” as a child). I went out to the foyer and requested “Quite hours” they clearly didn’t know what I was talking about and KEPT talking loudly – I said it again “Quiet hours please” she decided to take him to her room… he soon left – closing the door loudly and stomping off down the sidewalk. We got settled in the heat just in time for 1:45 another arrival of a couple with a ton of luggage trying to haul it all up to the 3rd floor while chatting in the hallway… I again asked them about “quite hours” – they also didn’t know what I was talking about and why was this man up in the night. I messaged and emailed the company and didn’t hear back from them until about lunchtime…when they explained to me that others were on VACATION and that I need to be considerate of their holiday. WOW – my partner was on holiday tagging along with me. Meanwhile we were out to buy sleeping pills, a fan to put next to the window and visit the Prentiss house gym. The BSC gym is far away and didn’t know anything about the Prentiss House finally the 2nd person we talked to said “yeah, we don’t know what to do about that number on the paperwork” and let us workout anyway. I would also note that the bed was hard – I usually like a firm bed but this was like sleeping on the floor. When we showered the shampoo and conditioner bottles were empty and I had to go downstairs and find a young man cleaning. He didn’t speak English but did understand money when I gave him a tip that I needed shampoo – he got me a bottle. We had to buy the shampoo. The next night when we arrived back at the House there was a BIG mouse at the front porch…. I wrote that off as maybe from the alley was next door behind businesses – BTW that business has their BIG trash can dumped on Thu. Morning at 8AM you wake up to a BIG crash bang bang/boom. So after a rough night in the heat we were treated to this alarm clock with a lot of bottles crashing into a dump truck.

I upgraded from a basic room to a deluxe suite with jacuzzi tub for a romantic getaway with my partner. Upon our very late night arrival, we were told that our room was unavailable due to broken A/C and they would place us in another room--with no tub--"for no additional charge." They never reached out to tell me about the issue before my check-in, and at this time of night, there was no way to find accommodations elsewhere. They essentially forced me to accept what I didn't pay for. I paid more money with the promise of deluxe suite for my partner and I and we were screwed out of that promise and screwed out of the money it cost to upgrade. They ignored my attempts to contact them afterwards about this issue. Horrible service, infuriating experience.