A Cambridge House Inn

The nicest thing I can say is that someone stayed late for us to check-​in as our flight was delayed, putting us in Cambridge near midnight. That said, we were looking forward to a charming night at a B&B. We did NOT get a charming room. We stayed in the old Victorian house next to the main house, we still thought it would be nice. Instead we got a motel room with mismatched furniture, cheap mini-​blinds, lumpy bed. Ah… this doesn’t look like the pictures? This was not the New England old-​world charm we expected. I can say however the dining room where the continental breakfast was served was actually quite quaint and comfortable. But if you think you are booking a warm B&B room… check to see what room they are giving you exactly.

Both times I have stayed here have been quite pleasant. The price was actually much less than the hotels nearby, and the Victorian room was charming. The gentleman working this last time carried my bag upstairs and started the electric fireplace. It is a continental breakfast but good coffee, juice, fruit, pastries. The only drawback was the weak Internet signal.

The marketing photos for Cambridge House Inn are nothing like the real deal. There was no canopy bed, no fireplace, no cute curtains, no charm (except in the reception area). The room we stayed in looked like a college dormitory, very dated, mismatched décor, cheap mini blinds. The name maked me think this may be a quaint place to stay, but our room felt more like a hostel.
The location (proximity to cambridge life) wasn’t bad, and it was reasonably clean, but defintely not a nice place to stay, and not what you expect from the online presence.

Very mediocre in every way. the owners are friendly and helpful but that doesn’t make up for the rooms or breakfast. Not convient to public transportation. needed cabs at all times. Poor choice for us.

Once upon a time this was a nice, comfortable, family-​run establishment. The couple who ran it a few years ago have turned operation over to a rude, indifferent, non-​customer service oriented lot. The location is convenient to Harvard, Porter and Davis Squares. Rooms cramped for the price Staff extremely callous and abrasive.
Carly

My husband and I stayed in the contemporary room. It was ok, simple, probably not worth the 140 $ price tag. The tv was super tiny and the bed had this thick layer of plastic beneath the sheets. I didn’t mind it too much, but my husband likened it to sleeping on a diaper :\
What made our experience sour was a simple request we had as we checked out before 11am. It wasn’t during the busy season, so we asked if we could keep our car in their parking lot until 12:30pm. We wanted to have lunch before heading out on a 5 hour drive back home. We thought it wouldn’t be too hard of a request to accommodate since they had maybe 8 total parking spots and only 3 were taken up. I doubt they would have had 5 people check in within 1.5 hours who would all drive in. Our request was very rudely answered with a NO. The latest time we would have been able to keep the car in their lot was noon. A half hour extra is apparently too much to handle. When we tried to say that there seem to be a lot of empty spaces in the lot, we were cut off again with «NOON. Check-​out time 11am, you can keep the car till noon». Yes, I understood the first time what noon meant.
Being rude when it comes to accommodating the small requests that your guests have will make you memorable for all the wrong reasons.

My wife and I, along with two other friends who had joined us in Boston earlier in the week, selected this place to afford a convenient location to check out Cambridge/​Harvard related-​sites. We booked rooms in the Victorian carriage house, which is behind/​alongside of the main house. These were cute accomodations, but the overall experience seemed to be a let-​down compared to other B&B’s that we’ve visited in just about every part of the country.
The help seems to be in earnest and are overall pleasant and welcoming — but I don’t feel they are invested so much in customer satisfaction, as an owner-​operator might be, and want them to be. Perhaps the problem is that this facility also includes the «contemporary» house next door, which at the end of the day – combines with the original property to host well over 25 guests-​units. That’s not exactly the kind of intimate clientele that can be catered to with a high level of service. It’s apparent that the economies of scale are guiding the style and manner in which the guests are handled, which is, for the money spent ($ 204.00) – not very well.
The Victorian house and carriage house that we occupied, seemed very dark and dated, and none of the furnishings beg any further curiosity or interest — with heavy fabrics and window coverings obscuring the light of day and the chance to extend the hospitality that should be the hallmark of the house. Cool and rainy during our stay in the last week of September – our rooms on both ground and upper floors were stuffy and way too warm — even with the AC set for 68 and getting one of the few operable windows swung wide-​open. When we checked in, we requested wine glasses so we might enjoy a bottle of wine we purchased at the marvelous Pemberton Farms store directly across the street — and the day manager informed us that, «they were already in our rooms»…two small juice glasses in our room, and the obligatory hygenically-​wrapped plastic cups above the bathroom sink in our friends’ room. Soap and bath accessories are on a par with Motel 6, at best, and the towels are probably more luxuriant at the local high school’s boys’ gymanasium.
Breakfast was not breakfast that I would expect from a B&B. The food fare and low-​quality coffee, was barely on a par with a cheap chain-​motels’ offerings off the interstate — -consisting of breads to toast yourself, some bagels, some sort of granola, fruit, juice, and hard-​boiled eggs. Nobody expects a New Orleans French Quarter breakfast, but this do-​it-​yourself approach, was the crowning touch to a less-​than-​good experience.
They’ve obviously got the cash register ringing, since they also cater to foreigners who don’t know better, and the well-​heeled parents of the college students who attend Tufts, Harvard, and other upscale learning institutions nearby — who wouldn’t be caught dead in a Holiday Inn.

I would not recommend this place at all. My husband and I chose A Cambridge House Inn because we were visiting Boston for the first time, and there was a great deal on CoupMe. When I called to book the room, Andrea at the front desk was rude, and used the word «retarded» at one point, which is highly offensive, and not something that should be in a person’s vocabulary when they are in customer serivce. That basically set the tone for everything else that followed. We were in one of the 2 rooms on the 3^rd floor of the «Contemporary» building. It was the beginning of June, and although the weather was cold and rainy, our room was hot and humid. The furniture looked like everything was picked up off the side of the road from various trash piles throughout the city, and thrown in here to make a «room». The room was tiny – definitely not worth the normal rate of $ 169/​night like we paid for our 4^th night. The next morning, I went down to the desk to complain about the room temperature, and a woman who was trying to check out was in a panic because Andrea had blocked the woman’s car in while preparing «breakfast» (a crappy assortment of cereal, fruit, and Hersey’s miniatures). Andrea made it seem like it was the woman’s problem, and made her wait because «she was the only one working». When I finally got to speak to Andrea about how hot and humid our room was even though we had our window air conditioner unit turned down to 69 degrees overnight, I was told that that was a brand new air conditioner, and that there shouldn’t be a problem. This did not address the problem AT ALL, as THERE WAS ACTUALLY A PROBLEM which she was choosing to ignore. I asked if there were any other rooms we could be moved to, and she said, that they were booked for a week, and wasted my time telling me every single day of the week as if I was stupid and was unfamiliar with the Julian calendar. If she cared at all about quality customer service, she would have switched us out, and had her maintenance crew look at the AC unit before the next round fo check-​ins, which wasn’t for hours. However, after I repeated my problem, she told me that someone would come and take a look at the AC unit. Surprise! No one ever came. The place was tacky, the Wi-​Fi was tempremental, the customer serive was extremely poor, and the location isn’t the best if you really want to be IN the city. The only good thing about this place is the fact that there’s a really cool natural foods store directly across the street where you can pay to get a great breakfast.

I gather that folks who stay in the ‘master’ house have a good stay but we were stuck for a whopping $ 250/​night in an adjacent building that was to speak generously ‘cobbled together’ as was the furnishing and décor. The hallways were labyrinthine; not sure how we’d escape in a fire, so it’s a good thing that fire extinguishers were the central hallway décor. The breakfast came from the ‘center aisles’ of the grocery store, if you know what I mean.
The bed was comfortable and the place was fairly clean. But the cost and location were not good. I’d never stay again.

Weird does not even begin to describe the smell, décor, and arrangement if this place. For the price (which was pricey for a bed and breakfast), the strange room I was given was located in a renovated ante-​house with high basement windows, silk brocade covers, and a damp lemon smell. Did I mention the laundry hamper in the bathroom? The four different shades of carpet in the hallway and grotesque choice of art wasn’t charming — just tacky.
Breakfast is a cold bar. Cereal. Fruit. Help yourself. Not what I expect at a bed and breakfast!
Not a good find for the money — location is easily accessible to Davis, but location definitely did not outweigh cheap quality.

We arrived late — our evening flight delayed over an hour. Our taxi pulled in just past minuted. The manager had clearly stayed awake just to check us in, and seemed eager to go sleep.
The «Victorian» room was small and basic. Barely enough room to move around, but cozy and functional nonetheless.
Cleanliness was sorely disappointing. Our first night, the sheets seemed unwashed, and mascara smudges, lipstick marks, and long black hairs could be found abound. We were too tired to complain our first night, but the next morning mentioned it to the manager. We arrived back that evening to find the sheets cleaned and nicely made, but when we pulled them back to go to bed we found those same long black hairs again. The tray at the side of the table was still covered in napkins and coffee stains from the previous occupants.
The bathroom, as large as the bedroom, was adequate, but disappointing. More like a hostel, there was no proper ledge in the shower, and only careful showering kept the spray from covering the entire floor with water. The shower curtains had black mold growing across the bottom couple of inches. And the bathroom as a whole was always freezing, or sweltering.
The breakfast was better than your average bed and breakfast. And the staff are a delight — the highlight of our stay.
Overall, this place was not worth the money, and the poor cleanliness means that we will not stay here again or recommend it to someone else.

Lame that the FTR for this didn’t even stay there, but anyhoo…
My dad, his girlfriend, and my 10 year old niece stayed her for 3 days and 3 nights this past weekend, and I must say it was lovely. I chose it because of its charming look and its proximity to my house– located right on Mass Ave outside of Davis Square, it’s a short and easy 10 minute walk to my pad in Porter Square, and is convenient to the T and all of the entertainment the Davis/​Porter ‘hood has to offer.
Normally when my dad visits he stays at the Irving House in Harvard Square, which he likes, but finds a bit pricey. A Cambridge House was cheaper and gave him his own bathroom, something he never had at the other place. Their room included a queen size bed, and for an additional $ 12 a night they included a cot for my niece to sleep on (even though I ended up stealing her and having her come sleep at my place…). The room was air conditioned, very cozy, with floor to ceiling mirrors, a canopy bed, and a very high tech looking TV that I mistook for a computer.
The place is run by an Asian family who are all very nice and accommodating, despite their imperfect English. I stopped by a few weeks ago to check the place out, and the guy at the front desk was happy to invite me in, show me around, and let me poke around a sample room before I made my decision.
Breakfast is fine, nothing fancy, but good. You’ll get a simple continental style breakfast of fruit, bagels, hard boiled eggs, and cereal, plus tea, coffee, and juice. There’s also a computer in the cozy lounge that guests can use for free.
Overall, I’d say this is a great place to recommend to your ‘rents next time they are coming to town!

I am going to break my Unilocal rule #2 «Only write about a recent experience since it’s fresh in the mind» — the stay I will write about is from months back, but after an experience at another B&B in town, the subject of a Cambridge house came up a lot in comparison — and after seeing Erica’s post, I felt I needed to add to the list of admirers of this place.
The owners feel like owners, and you feel like you are in someone’s house — the breakfast was great, the rooms comfortable (with fireplaces), the place clean and comfy. The rates were reasonable, even around holiday weekends.
Highly recommended.