Do not stay at the Charlesmark Hotel if you are NOT a fan of impeccable service, an unbeatable atmosphere, great interior design, surround sound XM radio throughout your room, incredibly convenient location, and an ultra-chic lounge that also manages to be lots of fun at the same time.

This hotel has thought of everything, from satellite radio in your bathroom, to two free bottles of water in your room everyday, free wireless internet access, and of course the complimentary continental breakfast. While you're there, make sure to say hello to Jefferson and Justine in the lounge, and tell them Travis sent you. The Charlesmark truly is a hidden gem in Boston.

Upon arrival at the check-in desk I was told to move my luggage to the bar area and wait.

Five minutes later, the receptionist, a young latino, told me he was ready.
He checked me in, and told me my room was on the 1st floor (a euphemism for the basement).

I took the elevator to the basement and found my room in a warren at the end of the hall.
After an inspection of the room, the closet was one-foot wide and there was no storage for clothing,
I decided to return to the receptionist and ask to visually inspect another room.

I was taken to one of the upper floors, to a room overlooking Boylston Street and the Boston Public Library. It too, was postage stamp sized, but the view was better than the basement.

I was informed (even though the room was made-up) that I would have to wait for them to ready the room. I waited in the lounge for about forty-five minutes, when I was told the room was ready.

Up to this point, the receptionist was indifferent at best and at worst seemed as though he was being extremely taxed by my room change request. This seemed odd since I had seen no one else enter or leave the hotel since I arrived.

The room was visually well-appointed, but to say it was small, is an understatement. There was a queen bed, a one-person sleeper sofa, a wall unit and two night stands. The clothes closet (3 feet high by 1 1/2 feet wide) was part of the wall unit. There was a storage cabinet in the base of the wall unit for suitcases, but there were no drawers at all. Shelving was part of the unit, so we put our toiletries and other non-clothing items on the shelves. If you want to take your clothes out of your luggage, you will be hard put to do so. The only other possible places are the night stands or two-coat hooks behind the entrance door.

To give you an idea of how small the room was, when the sleeper was extended there was less than a foot between the end of the sleeper bed and the wall mirror. This made moving from the queen bed to the bathroom extremely difficult and one can only be amazed no one has fallen or been seriously injured with this set-up.

The view from the room was excellent, but the only caveat is the noise factor. With the window facing the street one hears everything going on below. The hotel has patio in the front where chair and tables from the lounge spill out. When the lounge is in full swing at night, you can hear the music and the din of the revelers. In addition, we had a noise problem with the cleaning staff who always seemed to be chatting every morning outside our door.

At check-out, I needed to leave my luggage while I went to lunch. Their luggage storage area is in the lounge under a counter, in full view of anyone passing by. They do put a cable through the straps, but since a divider separates the reception desk from the lounge, the security of the luggage is limited.

In summary,

The receptionist at check-in was apathetic and not very pleased to be of assistance. We felt his behavior was unprofessional and set a poor tone at our arrival.

The rooms are postage stamp sized and not recommended for families or people with any physical limiations.

The proximity of the lounge is problematic at night since noise is a major problem.

The luggage storage is in an open area so security is limited.

The location is good and very close to the Copley station on the Green Line.

The two best things about this hotel are 1- price, and 2- location. The hotel, right across the street from the Boston Public Library and Copley Square, leaves the traveler right in the heart of Boston. Public transportation (the T) is located only steps from the front door, and the Charlesmark benefits from many nearby restaurants.

While other travelers claim the Charlesmark is designed in "modern style," I felt I could do similar work in my dorm room with a trip to Ikea. The hotel is clean, but I actually felt that $139 was more than I should have paid for my queen bed room overlooking Boylston street/ the library. There is surround sound music (even in the bathrooms), and the bed was quite comfortable. The shower didn't always offer hot water.

For location and price, it works...but one should not expect anything extraordinary. Furthermore, because we paid $32 for parking, we didn't really feel like we saved much from having chosen the Charlesmark.

In the end, we thought it was a funny experience and something unlike what we would normally choose. I would probably pay around $200 next time to get parking and a much-upgraded room nearby.

The Charlesmark Hotel is an excellent, small hotel. It only has 33 rooms and it's in a great location in Boston. I do live in the greater Boston area but some friends come up annually for a convention. We found this hotel 3 years ago and it was a great find. Rates are less than the larger hotels in Boston. If you are looking for a pool, health club, though, this is not the place for you. The Charlesmark doesn't have either of these amenities but they do have agreements with a health club in the area for use if you are so inclined. There is free internet in the common area as well as continental breakfast each morning. The breakfast has tea, coffee, hot chocolate, fruit, muffins, bagels, juice. The lower level (basement) has a microwave and ice machine. During the day, the bar isn't open and it becomes a place to sit and read the paper or watch TV. The large common area also has comfortable seating and at night this area doubles as a club. It is up a few stairs and one night there was a private party up there. The steps made it easy for the management to close it off for the private event. Each room has toiletries, iron/ironing board, hair dryer, CD/
DVD player. Our room for 3 had a double bed and a twin sleep sofa with wall shelves and an armoire with plenty of storage.The only thing the rooms lack is a refrigerator. Bottles of water are placed in the room but it would be nice if they were cold. A small cube fridge in each room would make it perfect. We will definitely stay here again.