MIT Endicott House

I stay at this hotel often for business. The staff is friendly, courteous and professional. The hotel is well kept. The rooms and beds are comfortable. This hotel is well managed and efficiently run. I love staying at this hotel!

The facilities here are fine. My problem is the staff. Everyone I spoke with was rude. Very short, no desire to help, too busy to care. I’m from the middle of the country, and people always say «Everyone is so friendly!». Well, I guess it’s true. I’ve never felt so dismissed as a customer in my whole life. The Boston Standard, alive and well y’all.

If I could, I’d give «Three and ¾ Stars.» But sadly I am bound by Unilocal’s statistical and logarithmic parameters, so here I sit at «Four.» Alas, this place is pretty rad. It’s unique architecture and grounds suggest a VC Andrews novel, or a fantastic spot for goth teens to try their hand at amateur vampirism. Either way, it looks cool.
The good: the staff was extremely pleasant, helpful and accommodating — we had rented (or so we thought — more on this later,) the entire place for a family event. They served pretty good food (not mind-​boggling but way better than I expected,) and the rooms are clean, spacious and fresh. There is a very peaceful vibe happening here of you can find yourself alone long enough…
The bad: apparently renting the entire house for the weekend does not preclude the weekly «Mystery Dinner Theater» from occurring on the lower floors and about the grounds… Sigh. Ok — I know a lot of actors and I’m gonna try to be gentle here — let’s just leave it at this: I was on my way back upstairs to get my pre-​party on, and there, half way up the stairs to our (supposedly) private floor, we encountered a heavily-​make-​upped, flapper-​ish looking, wide-​eyed woman sporting a red feather boa and a recently-​drugged expression. «Do you know where Martha is?! She tried to kill me!»
Pause.
«Uhhhh excuse me.» As I try to New York around her without sustaining eye contact. «Where are you gooooooing!?» she shrieked, proceeding to crawl up the stairs after me in a crouch. «I’m going to my room — I’m not part of this, please stop.» She looked hurt and confused, but private the house was not. Not even close — during our dinner, as heartfelt speeches were delivered to our beloved grandmother, screams, applause and a bad cover of «Dancing Queen» were more than audible through the glass doors and windows.
Later, while catching up with my sister in our private room on our private floor, 2 non-​English-​speaking ladies just threw open the door and jumped with surprise at seeing us. «Sorry!» they yelled, as they proceeded to then try all of the other doors on the hallway — behind which were my aunts, uncles and cousins… I had to shoo them back downstairs and explain that their murder cocktail party did NOT entitle them to peep the private rooms upstairs or to bother my family — we have enough stress when we all get together, we’re all set with that, so please go away.
So, I would say this — if you want a unique and cool place to stay (though the pool sat empty in July, which I found to be a huge bummer,) this is a pleasant, albeit out-​of-​the-​way spot — just call ahead and get a DETAILED itinerary of what else might be happening during your stay (read: annoying you during your stay.) If you don’t feel like having random strangers see you in bed unannounced, you might be slightly off-​put…

I stayed one night in June prior to a day-​long midweek meeting. I’m split on my ratings here: I would prefer not to ever stay overnight in the main house again (rating =2), but the conference facility and the food were both very good (rating = 4).
I had a room on the third floor – a double with a huge bath and walk-​in closet. I’m not sure, but I think both beds in my room were double/​full rather than queen; that’s okay with me, but taller guests could have a problem. The bed was also quite firm. The real problem I had was temperature control: a small and somewhat noisy window air conditioner kept tripping the outlet breaker which turned it off, so I sweated through a rather uncomfortably humid Massachusetts night. Unfortunately, I wasn’t alone in having passed a sleepless night, so if you do need overnight accommodations, the newer section may be a better choice.
That said, the actual conference room was very comfortable and we didn’t lack for anything in the way of beverages or snacks (not one but two kinds of Italian water were on offer, for example). The A/​V equipment functioned flawlessly, temperature control was good, and the seating remained fairly comfortable, even after several hours.
Meals were surprisingly good, in particular our dinner. I had filet mignon that was fork tender, and care had been taken in selecting the sides and plating the meal. Colleagues who opted for the vegetarian option were also very happy. (Note to the chef: topping fish dishes with bacon means that observant Jews and Muslims can’t partake, and it sounded delicious otherwise. Just a thought.) Desserts were also a highlight – everything I sampled actually tasted as rich and decadent as they looked, which is a rarity in conference fare.
The staff were without exception friendly and accommodating, and the estate itself is quite something.

My husband and I recently attended a Scotch tasting/​pairing dinner at Endicott House (his Christmas present from me). The GM was a gracious host, and he brought in a very knowledgeable gentleman to help us discover the depths of the various brands of Scotch we tasted during the evening. The food was excellent, especially the appetizer course (a red pepper stuffed with sausage risotto). The portions were large (too large, as a matter of fact, for us), and the Irish Coffee at the end of the meal was a perfect dessert for me. I must eat gluten free, so sadly did not get to taste the chocolate bread pudding, and my husband was too full to eat his. The scotch went well with the menu, and the presentations during the reception and in between dinner courses were very informative.
We stayed the night in one of the guest rooms in the mansion… quite lovely and clean, though the bathroom vanity is showing its age. All in all, it was a great night out and my husband thought it was a terrific gift.

It’s a fancy-​ish hotel. Someone’s dead relatives stare at you from many walls. They supposedly grow their own greens, which then are drowned in heaps and mounds of oil and vinegar. That said, the conference room was pretty nice. The v6 option would have been great had it been routed outside the conference room.
Also… No alarm clock. Really? Yes, my laptop works quite well as an alarm clock, but not leaving options is an interesting choice. The exercise room in the main building is kinda excruciating. Might work in the dead of Massatwoshits winter, but during the summer it’s not quite good pain.
The killer part: The state of the tapestries and paintings is shameful. Tattered and dirty. The quality of the sleeping and conference rooms pulled it back to three stars. Otherwise this has all the trappings of stinky, decrepit old money.
Caveat: I’m Berkeley. This is MIT. So of course I’m going to laugh at the «exersize» room. Which, btw, has been re-​purposed as another conference room.

Was here for a two-​day retreat and in echoing the other reviewers, was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the estate and the level of service provided. It is in the middle of nowhere though, so iof you are coming in from downtown boston, you’ll have to have directions on you since cabbies might not know where dedham is.
The grounds are beautiful-don’t miss the Alice in Wonderland scene recreated in teh gardens. At the time we went, the pool wasn’t ready yet for swimming, but it looked large and must have been fun to be in. The food is amazing… i seriously wish i could live somewhere where food magically appeared all the time like it does at the House.
For the most part, the staff was engaging and responsive. The night guy however was not as responsive as I wanted him to be. Creepily, I had a ghost story-​esque event happen to me (the phone rang three separate times around midnight and the vm box lit up but there were no messages!) and the guy didn’t seem to care at all. He didn’t try to reassure me and ended up just saying that he didn’t want to take care of it until morning. So i asked him what I should do and he said to just wait and see if it would ring again and if it did, to disconnect it. Very reassuring for a solo woman! Needless to say, I was wound tightly pretty much all night!
Other than this incident, awesome stay!

This venue is OUTSTANDING. My company was here for our Board of Trustees Retreat in late April. I cannot sing their praises high enough but I’m going to try. Let’s break this down:
Facilities: We were actually in the adjoining Brooks Center, right next to the Endicott House proper, and it was lovely. Parking is in a couple different places over the campus but is abundant. The building is very nice, modern, feels very cozy. The restrooms were very clean and well kept. The conference room itself was set up perfectly and our set up was pretty intricate with round tables, laptops, an LCD projector, and flip charts. The room was ready to go when we arrived. Very nice.
Food: We had a light breakfast spread and refreshments provided outside the conference room. They were fresh and well stocked throughout the entire day. We were served lunch in the dining room of the Endicott House and it was lovely. It was a double sided buffet full of delicious and fresh food. Salad, fruit, vegetables, rice, fish, a carving station, soup. Everything was upscale, cooked perfectly, and definitely not your standard boxed lunch sandwiches. The dessert was abundant and rich as well, with chocolate cakes, mousse, and cheesecake.
Staff: I dealt with several staffers throughout the entire process but mostly with Diane. She was communicative, prompt, friendly, accommodating. Just a pleasure to work with. Everyone else I worked with were friendly and attentive too.
Price: With everything included the cost was $ 85 per person. To me, this was a steal. The amount of care, attention, and quality we received from the Endicott House was unparalleled. I would recommend this place HIGHLY and would return any time for a work function.

We had our brandeis Volen Bauer funded retreat here two years ago. First it is pretty easy to get to off the freeway. Second the grounds are lovely. Third the temperature was perfect in the meeting rooms (<– This rarely happens, I am ALWAYS too cold) and last but not least — the food rocks. Mmmm warm rolls, soup, carving stations! And breakfast was excellent too! Fresh fruit a variety of teas (alas I am not a coffee drinker so this was a highlight of mine) and danishes! I love sugar in the morning, but there were also a lot of bagels. Love it! Considering going back again this year =)