My Colleague and I had an amazing experience at the Bain Birthing Center at Mt Auburn Hospital. The nurses, midwives, lactation specialists—the entire team— were helpful, caring pros. I’d recommend it to anyone.

My Colleague was induced after 41 weeks and change, so the stay was especially long, because she wasn’t  in labor when we came in. Given the long stay, it felt a bit like a stay at a hotel. Little details like the fact that we ordered meals off what looked like a room service menu only reinforced that impression. 

We soon started, despite the great experience we had at the hospital, to make “Worst. Hotel. Ever.” jokes. 

Bain Birthing Center at Mt Auburn Hospital

Downright Painful. Would Not Recommend.

This hotel was just weird, and frankly uncomfortable. I’m a frequent business traveler, and I can honestly say that I’ve never had a hotel experience like this before.

I’ll start with the good. Check-in and check-out were a breeze. They didn’t seem to even have a set time for checkout! The bellhops and the folks delivering room service not only didn’t stand around “hinting” at wanting a tip, they outright refused tips!

But that’s about it for the positives. As for the negatives:

• Even though we requested a single King suite, we were only given one double bed. The first night one of the staff helped me find a cot, but after that, I was left to sleep on a chair.
• The staff was constantly touching and prodding my wife. It made both of us extremely uncomfortable, and I’ve never seen such a thing at any other hotel.
• There was no transparency with regard to price. When I asked about the price of the room, I was told that it would depend on my “in-shur-ence,” whatever that means. Even the room service menu was devoid of prices! I never saw a bill or a price the whole time I was there. When I asked about this upon checkout, they again told me that it would depend on my “in-shur-ence” and that they’d bill me. Maybe this is okay for high rollers, but I can’t see how most Americans could stay at a hotel without knowing the price until after. I have a tight budget!
• The doors literally didn’t have locks. I couldn’t believe it myself. But to make things even worse, staff kept coming in every hour or two to “check in” on us. I had zero sense of privacy.
• Finally, to add insult to injury, after the second night, we were required to share our room with a small bald person who would periodically scream for no reason.

I’ll be honest, when the bill comes, I may refuse to pay. This was, without a doubt, the worst hotel stay of my life.