For my 2025/2026 transitionary post, I’m going to attempt to grade a hotel properly for once. This review is effectively an update from 2023 when I stayed at the Kimpton Marlowe in Cambridge, MA. In the last few years of traveling, I’ve started to realize that what I look for in a hotel isn’t the same as everyone else, and the specific things I look for have evolved. Of course, my two big considerations are price and location, but I’ve realized that the primary amenity that matters the most to me is the hotel gym. There’s actually a website that is nominally dedicated to hotel gym reviews, but I’ve found their data lacking (and I did try to submit reviews there before). It doesn’t seem to have a whole lot of useful information a lot of the time, so I decided I could do better myself (but with a much smaller area of effect). So in this post, I’m going to talk about the Kimpton Marlowe and introduce a new hotel rating scheme that mirrors the flight rating scheme I already have implemented. These first few posts are likely to be a bit rough because I was making the rating system at the same time that I was staying at these first few hotels, so the pictures are a bit lacking (but hopefully I’ll update them longer term!)
The Kimpton Marlowe is part of the IHG Hotel Group and is additionally bookable through Amex’s Fine Hotels and Chase’s The Edit collections. I had originally stayed here back in 2023 because it was one of the cheapest options I’d found to use my Amex Platinum hotel credit.
Normally I present plane flights in chronological order because that’s how they’re experienced, but hotels are different, so I’m going to go with section headings. I will also note that I’m going to combine some pictures from 2023 with those from 2025 depending which pictures are better.
The value proposition
The Kimpton Marlowe is located in Cambridge, MA near the Lechmere station and the Museum of Science. This location gives it easy access to both sides of the Charles River and lots of great sites in both Boston and Cambridge. Kimptons are an intended to be boutique luxury hotels, so each hotel has a different specific name (the Marlowe part of its name). The hotel lobby consists of a few tables and a sitting area that feels more like a living room than a lobby, which is where they serve wine everyday at 5 pm. There is a single restaurant on site called Bambara, which is located off the lobby.
The service at the hotel has generally been very good. I haven’t ever been particularly wowed by anyone at the hotel, but most of the people I’ve interacted with have been quite friendly. I’ve visited the hotel enough that I actually do recognize some of the people who work there.
The amenities
The hotel has a fitness center on the 8th floor, one restaurant, and meeting rooms on the 2nd floor.
One of the daily offerings is that at 5 pm, they offer everyone a glass of wine and a daily cocktail making lesson at the bar. When traveling alone, no one ever questions me when I take a glass of wine, but for some reason, when traveling with others, they always ask me (and no one else in line) if I’m actually staying at the hotel.
The room
The suite is located at the corner of the floor and consists of two rooms (and the bathroom). The main room has a great sitting area with a comfortable couch and armchair, as well as a nice table and TV.
The bathroom is located immediately to the right and passes through to the bedroom. Compared to the normal room, the bathroom is double-sized (just like the entirety of the suite really haha).
The bathroom has a separate shower and bathtub. Both of which are, simply, luxurious.
The sink area is basically the same as in the standard room.
The tub is large enough that you could easily fit multiple people in it.
The bedroom offers a king sized bed and desk. The desk is actually a decent size for working. This desk is the same that you get in the standard room.
The sitting room is the same size as the bedroom in this set up. I’ll note that the bar in the right of the picture is the same as the bar you get in the standard room.
If you can score a suite for only $50-$100/night more than the standard room, I’d say it’s well worth it if you’re traveling with at least one other person.
Separately, I’ve stayed in their standard rooms a few times, and the room furnishings and everything are just as good, but being closer to the hallway door compared to in the suite means that the rooms feel less private because you can really hear people in the hallway.
The food
For the purposes of the review (and because I thought we needed to eat at the restaurant to use the $100 property credit), we checked out breakfast, lunch, and dinner at the restaurant. They only offer a sit-down restaurant experience, which means all the food is cooked to order, but also means that sometimes it takes a while to get a seat and to get your food.
Lunch trends more in the direction of sandwiches, which I appreciate because it makes it go a bit quicker. The lunch menu is here: https://www.bambara-cambridge.com/menus/lunch
Dinner has more substantial offerings, including a hummus platter that I really enjoyed! The main courses are much pricier than lunch, however, so I’d recommend lunch there (or the smaller plates at dinner).
Elite benefits and recognition
Booking this hotel through Amex or Chase’s programs (or another preferred travel agent program) comes with a handful of perks: (1) a room upgrade, (2) breakfast, and (3) a $100 property credit. I did receive a room upgrade to a suite in 2023, but the more recent times I’ve stayed, the upgrade only cleared into “a better room”. For this New Years stay, I paid the extra $50 to upgrade into a suite. I’ll note that pretty consistently the $100 property credit does go toward the amenity fee and the upgrade fee, which is pretty cool.
From the IHG program side, I have IHG platinum status through my Chase Sapphire Reserve, but the only real perks it offers are bonus points, so I don’t have much to report there. Kimpton also has a secret password you’re supposed to say at check-in, and when you do that at this hotel, you spin a little wheel. I was supposed to get 1 000 bonus points from that wheel spin, but they never posted.
Score and summary
I really like this hotel, especially after learning that one of the perks that come with the amenity fee now is passes to the Cambridge Athletic Club, which is a proper full gym. The location is excellent, and I’ve generally had good interactions with the employees, but I haven’t been blown away by anything at this hotel (4/5). The gym and happy hour are great, especially considering the CAC has a sauna (5/5). The suite is everything I could want in a room. The regular rooms, however, are not nearly as special (5/5 vs 3/5). The breakfast offerings are pretty good, but the lunch and dinner are a bit weaker for my taste (3/5). The elite benefits offered by IHG are a bit weak, but the travel agent perks are great and make up for it, and they recognized the benefits very well all things considered (5/5). Overall, the hotel gets a 20-22/25.
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