Joan is lovely, and we had juice, milk, yoghurt and cereals waiting for us.
The Porter Sq neighborhood is a New England suburban dream. Porter Sq T is a 10 minute walk, and Harvard Sq is also still walkable (20 mins).
The room itself is fine, but a little dated with plenty of random leftover furniture. Don’t expect a table to eat at or do more than poor milk on cereal (from the tiny hotel minibar-type fridge). But you have enough couches for at least 8–10 people. The A/C looked older than me, but worked fine. Plan an extra 10 minutes in the morning and evening to finesse the mostly broken blinds into the position of your choice. The bathroom was clean and functional, and we had plenty of towels.
So it was fine for a week, but don’t expect a thoughtfully furnished or overly functional room. Joan is a lovely host, so all in all we did not regret staying here.