Coolidge Corner Guest House

The Coolidge Corner Guest House was a nice, budget-​friendly place to stay near the heart of Boston. The décor throughout the Inn was cute and simple. We chose to stay in a room with a bathroom attached, which came with Trader Joe’s branded Shampoo and Conditioner in the shower. The room itself had a flat screen tv and a mini fridge, which I find you usually do not get for the price. I had called the Inn and mentioned seeing an advertised special on TripAdvisor. The receptionist told me that she could not match the price, but the owner gave me a call soon thereafter stating that she could! It was very nice customer service. A primary reason I booked this Inn is that it offers parking at $ 1 a night if you mention in advance, however the parking situation does leave a lot to be desired. You share a thin concrete driveway with the other guests and leave your keys in a bowl in the kitchen in case the cars need to be shuffled around. I was under the impression that only the hotel staff would do so, however it is not staffed overnight. We had no problems occur during our stay, and were able to park on the street all day Sunday. In all, I would book at this location again for the price and the convenience.

My mom and I went here from Connecticut on our way to a concert, and this was the closest and cheapest place around. Quaint and cozy little Victorian home, nice and friendly staff, decent breakfast. Gets the job done. Parking situation is kinda odd however. You pay around the same for most hotels local to that area (about $ 120 a night depending on the room you get). I have never been to a bed breakfast hotel, so I didn’t know what to expect and I cannot compare. But overall I enjoyed the hospitality, quiet neighborhood, and old-​timey aesthetic.

Parking situation is ridiculous, they should of disclosed how it works. I was not OK with leaving my keys to a house full of strangers to move my car and legally couldn’t anyway since it was a rental. They overcharged a small amount and never refunded me that money, I just got sick of the back and forth. They also did not fully disclose the room set ups. This is much more of a boarding house than and B &B. The house is nice though and the innkeeper was very sweet.

We were very much looking forward to staying at this B and B because of the location and proximity to the house where our adult children live. The exterior of the inn was nice, and the interior was adequate. From the time we checked in at 2 pm until the time we departed the following morning at 8:15 am, we saw no staff person. In all fairness, we were gone from 3 pm until 9:30 pm. However, the following morning when breakfast was to begin at 8 am, there was no staff person, no coffee, could not even have a cup of tea. One couple staying at the inn went and got their own breakfast and brought it back to inn. We have been staying at B and B’s for decades, and it is the first time we have had the experience of never seeing a staff person. We discussed the concerns with the innkeeper much later that day and she said she would deduct $ 20 from our bill for the lack of breakfast. The parking situation was quite disturbing from a security and damage standpoint. When we arrived, there were instructions to leave our car keys in a bowl so that other guests could reposition our car if their car was blocked. The driveway was quite narrow and difficult to navigate with concrete retaining walls. The guests had access to our car and all the interior contents including our trunk. We were not aware of this parking situation until we arrived at the inn. We did not consider this inn a good value for the money we spent.

Homey feel, accommodating staff, decent «enhanced» continental breakfast, very reasonable rates-​all in a great location off the green line.
A lot of the so-​so and negative reviews I see hear sound as if they come from people who really should only stay at chains or resort B & Bs. It would be nice, though, if the management updated the electrical outlets with more «grabby» ones. The recharger for my phone kept threatening to slip out.

On the outside, the Coolidge Corner Guest House looks really cute. It is located on a quiet street, very close to theT green line. We arrived in the late afternoon and approached the door to check in. An envelope with my name was taped to the door. It contained the room keys and parking instructions. When I made my reservation, I booked room number 13 and reserved a parking space. On street parking is for Brookline residents only. My envelope contained the keys for room 17 and the instructions for parking, even though I reserved a spot, were to park on the street during the day and call a phone number for instructions for parking at night. I was confused about the parking situation and concerned about the room change so I went inside to try to find the owner. I stumbled upon a man who greeted me by saying, «Yeah, I’m Jorge. I’ll be with you in a minute.» We were in town for my daughter’s graduation and subsequent move from student housing so we had driven a large SUV. Jorge told us that on site parking was for «normal» cars only and that we needed to go to a public lot. He directed us to a parking lot and we decided to walk there and try to make a deal with the owner. No one was there but while we were gone, Jorge came up with a solution to the parking dilema. We could park the car on site as long as we didn’t need to move it. Deal. And as far as the room change, room 17 had a private bath so it was an unexpected upgrade for us so they could squeeze more people into room 13.
The owners apparently live on the first floor and the B&B portion of the house is on the second and thrid floors. We stayed 3 nights and never saw the owners. Jorge runs the day to day opertions. The common area rooms are small, the dining room seats only 6 people but one night there were 22 guests. We were not permitted to linger at breakfast and socialize with the other guests because Jorge had other guests waiting to eat so he asked us to leave right after eating every morning. The breakfast was ok if you don’t mind carb overloading. Bagels, cereal, fruit and fruit flavored yogurt. The coffee was so-​so and everything was served using paper and plastic products. Even with only 6 people eating it was cramped. Breakfast is served starting at 8 on weekend and 7:30 during the week. You can not get a cup of coffee before those stated times.
The house is noisy and everything creaks. I needed to use ear plugs to get a good nights sleep because people needing to use the bathroom during the night had to leave their rooms and walk down the hallway and we could hear every creaky step and door. Our room was small but clean, but the bathroom needed some TLC and the baseboards need a good scrubbing. The bath towels were ok but the bed linens and pillows have seen better days. They really need to be replaced.
Overall, the wallpaper and curtains throughout the house are pretty tacky. No care was taken to make sure anything matched.
Our last morning there Jorge called our room at 6:15AM and asked us to move our car. My husband obliged and then spoke with Jorge, asking him that since he woke us up, could we please have a cup of coffee. His answer, «Breakfast starts at 7:30.»

My mother came to visit and found this place online. It is close to the Beth-​Israel Hospital (and tasty Fugakyu) and has parking for the hefty price of $ 1 (that’s for the whole stay, not per night, haha). For $ 150/​night we got a room with a flat screen TV with a million channels, private bathroom (Trader Joe’s brand shampoo and conditioner! Puffs Plus tissues!), and two double beds with seriously ghetto pillows (luckily I brought my own) and a dorm fridge.
Without my mother, I would not have discovered how frightening the carpets were. Her white socks were turned black, I kid you not, BLACK, from just walking around the room. Also, the outlets in the wall were falling apart (I can haz safety hazard?)
The breakfast had tasty bagels, as advertised. There was also coffee cake imported from a bakery from down the street. Cereal was also offered. In addition, you could drink OJ, coffee, or tea. No fresh baked goods ;(The stove in the kitchen didn’t work either ;(There was a microwave which I used to cook eggs that I brought…
The biggest problem of this place, however, is the manager. He was very indifferent and just plain unfriendly at times. A few examples: my mother and two guests were eating & having friendly conversation at breakfast when he chased them out of the dining room to make room for other guests (there were three open seats, and one person was about to come in), clearly in an attempt to clean up so he could finish his job as quickly as possible. He also called our room 5 times very early in the morning to ask us to move our car in the driveway. I asked if he saw my keys in the common bowl in the kitchen; the on-​site handbook stated to put your keys in the common bowl so the manager could shuffle cars. He said he hadn’t even looked. *sigh*
In any case, the place is pretty inexpensive & has parking, though the beds & friendliness leave something to be desired.
(P.S. This place is also known as the Coolidge Corner Guest House)

OK, let me just say that one, this place is so bad it has taken me over a year before I could think about the place again.
And two, the place is so bad they seem to have renamed it or something to erase the negative reviews I read about the place after staying there.
Perhaps the place is run by a new owner now, but when we stayed there last summer, this guy named Jean worked there, and lived there. Crreeepy!
At breakfast the first morning, he seemed nice enough, though the conversation lasted too long and we would rather have eaten breakfast in peace rather than hear about how smart he was and how much he had done in his life. Plus the cheap plastic knives and paperware? Really?
The next morning we cut breakfast short, and he must have been miffed about it, because for the rest of the week he barely spoke to us. And we were staying in the room right off the kitchen, whereas his room was on the other side of the kitchen. He was always in his room, with the door open, watching TV. To get to the bathroom you had to pass his room, and he would just look at you and say nothing, despite saying hello.
I cannot express how uncomfortable it was to stay there. Unfortunately we already payed in advance. We even considered staying somewhere else, and would have if we had the extra money.
What a creep! Ahh, feels good to get that off my chest!
PS fyi, I will keep checking and re-​post if I find this review is gone!