Extended Stay America – Boston – Peabody

We stayed 4 nights in this hotel for the price and close proximity to Salem and Boston. Mark checked us in and was nice and very helpful. You have to request a coffee maker, utensils, plates, cups… They don’t have an ice machine, so while we were driving around the corner to get ice and dinner Mark delivered the coffee maker and other items to our room. No maid service BUT you can pick up clean towels and additional soap and shampoo from the front desk as well. The room was not bad and it was clean! Did not come across any of the problems mentioned in the other posts. The kitchen has a 2 burner stove, microwave and a full size fridge/​freezer with an ice maker. Breakfast was Coffee (pretty good), granola bars, sometimes muffins, fruit, and oatmeal packs (which you make in a coffee cup but no milk). The regular free WiFi was good enough to stream TV shows I had missed. My biggest complaint is the sheets are scratchy/itchy…they are a polyester blend and I prefer egyptian cotton! I would stay here again.

While traveling on a long weekend with friends, we chose to stay at the Extended Stay America in Peabody MA for three nights.
It’s hard to say where to begin with this train wreck of a stay. First, the property abuts the highway… like, if you have a good arm, you could take out a car. Let me assure you that this is solely due to poor plant maintenance; The staff were relatively amicable, though not wholly helpful. In my mind, someone who has reserved a ‘suite’ at a place that notes its ability to accommodate longer stays in its own name; I was taken aback by the poor use of space. There was a double bed (not a queen) and a love seat that converted to a ‘bed’ (more on that later). There was a small fridge, an entirely unusable two burner stove, and a very small, standard bathroom. Clearly, the newest amenity was the 32 inch flat screen tv. The main bed was relatively comfortable, though in today’s commercial culture one would expect a queen. The pullout… a whole other story entirely. The first issue being that there was NO bedding. None. Nowhere in the room, or in the entire hotel as upon requesting such, we were told they did not have any. Not a pillow, not a sheet… the diagonal running support bars were impressively pronounced. To the extent that my hip bone got caught on one. Upon taking the poorly preserved spring coil mattress on to the floor, it was quickly noted the dust in the carpet. Sneezing ensured. Much sneezing. The door posed an aesthetic, safety and logistic issue. There was enough space under the door, that you could put a toddlers arm under it. A good 2 inches of light streaming, noise flowing dead space. It was not safe. It was not pretty and it certainly did no more than a curtain on a tension rod would have. The walls were thin and far from impervious to noise. Perhaps only bettered by the even thinner ceiling. Surely the hotel has no ability to halt other guests disinterest in sleeping after 1 or 2 am; but it is entirely their responsibility to not perpetuate sleeplessness. Luckily, the toilet that ran incessantly any time it was flushed, the compressor on the fridge that cycled throughout the night, and the locomotive that ran through our room every time the HVAC unit switched on added a (less than soothing) background noise. A foul smell emanated from the kitchen sink upon water being started (hard to say if it was the water or a filthy drain trap) and the exhaust hood over the two burner stove would preclude a pot/​pan/​kettle move than 3.5 inches in height. The list could continue, but in interest of not writing the next great American novel I will leave it at this: I am happily, blissfully laying on a bed with linen in a quiet hotel room… down the road.