Positives:
The building has real character and is in a lovely part of the city. It is really well-located, within easy walking distance of the sights of Boston (for example, Boston Common is about 5 minutes away on foot), and public transportation. That's really practical, because it's possible to go out to visit things or have a meal, come back, and go out again, without losing time. And that means being able to enjoy the city properly -- it was also extra handy, because the weather was bad during my stay, so I could go back and get dry clothes!
Having a basic kitchen space is also useful. The room was up on the top floor and therefore calm. And I could even see the Harborfest fireworks from my window, which was an unexpected bonus. Finally, responses to Airbnb messages were swift enough.
Negatives:
Being on the top floor in an old building with a really narrow, winding staircase meant it was a slog to carry my luggage up and downstairs when I arrived and left. I hadn't been aware that the building layout was like this and, because I still have lingering impacts of surgery, I really felt them for a day afterwards. There are no staff in the place to assist -- I wouldn't have expected a porter, but a little helping hand would have been great.
I wasn't really a fan of the layout of my room (13), because it was under the eaves and that always has an impact. For example, the bed is tucked under the roof-edges, meaning that I cracked my head a couple of times on the first night, not being used to the place in the dark, and needed to slide myself out of bed in a very particular way in the morning. I also had to bend to get into and use the walk-in closet (and I'm not tall). The closet hanging-space wasn't great, because the hanging bar wasn't high enough to prevent clothes partly sitting on the shelf below (it looked like a child-size hanging set-up). Also, I had to call for hangers for pants, as there were only shirt-hangers in the room -- and, because the place is unstaffed, I was guided by phone down to the first floor to go into an vacant room and collect some myself (a quick solution, but I wouldn't have expected to have to seek one).
Above all, what I found problematic was that there was no face-to-face interaction. I get that contactless check-in and so on has big advantages, but if you have an issue that you need to get resolved, and can't reach anyone on the phone, you basically end up having to send a message via Airbnb. OK, the answers come pretty quick, but it does feel like the the human element is lacking as a result.
Notably, the WiFi cut out for several hours on the first day of my stay, right in the middle of an important meeting. To report it and try to get a solution, I ended up having to go back and forth by Airbnb message (using my phone). First suggestion: perhaps I hadn't been able to connect properly. Next suggestion: please disconnect and try again. Etc. Finally, we'll send someone to check the router. I even ended up going to see if I could find a router myself to unplug and re-plug (I didn't locate one). I spoke with another guest who had had to go out of the place and work from a cafe nearby. Of course I understand that WiFi networks can break down, but these these are the kind of remote reporting and diagnostics that I would expect to have to do if the issue with was with a home or office network, not in a hotel, guesthouse or similar.
Then, the day before I was due to leave, I noted that I would like to check out on departure day at 11:45 am not the standard 11:00 am (my train being at 12:50 pm). I was told that I could only do that if I paid the $25 late check-out fee -- and asked if I would authorize them to collect it from me right away. I suggested that it might be a nice gesture to waive the fee, given that I only wanted to stay on site for an extra 45 minutes and that I had faced a WiFi outage (and WiFi is a listed service included in the room cost). But there was zero flexibility. The grounds for this zero flexibility were that Maverick Suites are not the WiFi provider so it wasn't their fault if the WiFi failed and, anyway, that the service was fixed after several hours; that if they waived the $25 fee for me, they would have to do it for others; and that waiving the fee even for 45 minutes would disrupt the cleaning schedule (which is illogical, because if I had paid it, the schedule would also have been disrupted).
I get that business is business. But I've rarely stayed in a place were precision application of the rules seemed to be so paramount, at the expense of a little bit of human give and take and a gesture or two towards the customer. That seemed to sum up the "contactless" approach in more ways than one.
So, overall, a really great place given its location. Decent enough value for money. But really could do better on the human side. I would still happily return there.