Boston Hotel Scene: Interview with Hotel Marlowe GM

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[Original Story] [Hotel Marlowe was one of the first hotels we chronicled way back when. So we figured what better place to start our new once in a while feature "GM Interviews". We hope to get these GM's to loosen up a little, tell us tall tales of great deception and debauchery, but we know this will take some time. If we don't get anywhere with the GM's we will just change the feature to "Desk Clerk Interviews"...that way we should be assured dirt on the hotel, and the GM. Read on for the interview]

[Update II 8.11.04] Rick took the CitySearch review down. Bravo, and like we said before, this hotel stands out on its own anyway...

[Update 7.30.04: We just found out that Rick himself left a "glowing" review about Hotel Marlowe on CitySearch (that is if Rick is rickcolang, which seems to be the case, if not we stand corrected), but didn't identify himself as a hotel employee. We want to give Rick the benefit of the doubt, we like him, and his hotel, and actually believe everything he says in the CitySearch review, and maybe this was an honest mistake. However we do want to let Rick know that what he did is a no-no, and we need to call it out. We call planting a review "carpet bombing", and that is the kind of deception we are trying to avoid on the Internet. Now if a staff member wanted to say someting like "Hey I am the GM and I think my hotel rocks, come try it", that seems totally appropriate. But how is this faux CitySearch comment helpful to us, the possible consumer? Can you see how we might feel duped? Furthermore, what would you say if one of your competitors left false negative comments about your hotel on the site? Is that fair? This exercise in commenting proves that CitySearch and services like them are kinda broken, at least to an some extent. It is hard to keep bogus comments off your site, but you have to try. That is why we are here, to try and help cut through the crap when we can, and have you, the readers correct us when we don't. Or when we can't do that, to at least let you in on Britney's latest hotel antics. In our opinion Hotel Marlowe is, by all accounts, a great hotel, but these sort of hijinx make the property look kinda sneaky. Hopefully, when we talk to Rick he will realize his mistake and revise or delete the comment. We will be following up with Rick on this one. Rick is a really nice guy, and his hotel rocks, but sorry Rick, we just don't think your opinion on Citysearch is "unbiased". ]

Stats:
Name: Rick Colangelo

Title: GM Hotel Marlowe Cambridge, MA

Hotel Fun Facts:

Housed Secret Service and Democratic Party mucky-mucks (guys with more money than God) during the past week.

One of the coolest Kimpton property lobby's around.

Hotel is connected to the Cambridgeside Galleria which is home of the Apple Store.

When did you guys open Hotel Marlowe?

March 2003

How many rooms?

236

Does Hotel Marlowe offer any web deals?

We will match any price found on the Internet if you call us, or book directly on our site. We also have been known to offer $15.00 coupons (for dinner, drinks, etc) if you book on our site.

[(hmm...this seems to be a common deal lately...go nuts bargain hunters)]

Any rooms left for the DNC?

No, but call, you never know.

[ummm the DNC is over. Yeah. Busy week. Plus the Secret Service was staying here and we had this freak emailing us about where Michael Moore was staying (Boston Harbor Hotel...thank you very much) and we kept playing out scenarios in our minds. What if we printed this then the Secret Service got ambushed? But wait...didn't we already tell you where John Edwards was staying and we even outed the Black Eyed Peas! Don't you think the Veep hopeful, and a group of VMA hopefuls are much more plausible terror targets than the SS crew? Probably. Maybe we are nothing but a bunch of hypocratic flip floppers here at HotelChatter.]

Who is staying here for the DNC?

The Democratic Congressional Committee and one other group I would rather not mention. [See above HotelChatter rant]

How do you get those Kimpton beds so comfy?

Sealy makes a special mattress for Kimpton. The Sealy Kimpton. You can't buy it as a consumer, it is specially made for the hotles [What! we want one of these at home! Anyone work for Sealy?]

Best celebrity guest story?

Umm, Not sure.

Didn't Anna Kournikova Stay here? Oh Yeah. Watching her play tennis is the best celebrity guest story I have.

[Geez. Anna Kournikova is in your bed and that is the best you can do? Obviously our interviewer needs to work on questioning tact.]

Tell us about the best guest complaint?

1. Drawer Space. There is one comment on CitySearch knocking us for no drawer space, and we are equipping some rooms with more shelf space this year.[Update 7.30.04: We just found out that Rick himself left a "glowing" review about Hotel Marlowe on CitySearch, but didn't identify himself. That's a no-no Rick. We call that "carpet bombing", and that is the kind of deception we are trying to avoid. Your hotel is a cool hotel so why not just say, hey I am the GM and I think my hotel rocks, come try it. We will be following up with Rick on this one.]

2. We accept pets on the 7th floor and one guest, who was staying on that floor, called us up to ask us to muzzle a barking golden retriever. [Ha! Note to self. Always find out what floor the canines are on and request a different one.]

Recently, the issue of hotel wifi censorship came up, and a Kimpton property was cited as blocking guest access to certain sites (that property has since corrected the problem).

Does Hotel Marlowe block guest access to certain sites?

Oh no. Our guest network and employee network are two completely different things. Currently, we don't even block employee access to sites, though that doesn't sound like a bad idea.

With what I see on the computers after people leave the business center sometimes (inappropriate "business" sites) I can assure you we don't do any wifi censoring, and have no plans to, whatsoever.

As a matter of fact, by the end of the year we should be wireless in all the guestrooms as well as in the lobby and common areas.

[Now maybe all the conspiracy theories can be dropped once and for all?]

Thanks Rick, for being a sport, sport.

[Every August I go through this Great Gatsby phase...wait...this interview is over...we can cut out the silly brackets.]

Maybe we should have Ali G do the next interview.

Happy Travels!

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