Gov. Maura Healey’s office stayed at four and five-star hotels across the world multiple times last fiscal year, racking up thousands on taxpayer-funded credit cards for swanky digs, according to data provided to the Herald through a public records request.
The first-term Democrat has consistently jetted across the country, and several times the Atlantic, using public funds during her first two years in office. Procurement card data maintained by the Office of the Comptroller shows Healey’s office tends to stay at high-end hotels during those trips.
Multiple expenditures in fiscal year 2024 confirm the governor or her staff stayed in four-star accommodations and in one instance, booked rooms at a historic five-star hotel in Quebec City with a commanding view of the Saint Lawrence River.
Jillian Fennimore, Healey’s director of communications, said many of the trips the governor or her staff took have offered opportunities to build political or economic ties with other elected officials or business communities.
In the case of the trip to Canada, Healey’s office charged just under $2,500 in September 2023 to a procurement card for lodging at the Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac, a luxury hotel that bills itself as a “heritage urban resort” that tops the list of Quebec City hotels.
“From the European-style charm of our guest rooms to restorative treatments in the spa, our landmark luxury hotel promises an unforgettable stay,” the hotel’s website said.
Fennimore said Healey traveled to Quebec City for a press conference as part of the 44th annual New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers Conference. Healey was the 2023 co-chair of the conference.
It was the first time in five years that the conference met in-person and Healey stayed at the Le Chateau Frontenac with Chief of Staff Kate Cook and an executive assistant because that was where “the conference was held,” Fennimore said.
“Next month, Gov. Healey will host the 45th annual NEG-ECP Conference in Massachusetts. The conference will focus on energy and the clean energy transition and will present an opportunity to discuss goals and seek alignment on the offshore wind supply chain and hard-to-decarbonize sectors,” Fennimore said.
Many of the hotels Healey’s office used were also booked by the Massachusetts State Police using separate procurement cards, according to state data. The law enforcement agency provides a personal security detail for the governor, who typically travels with her.
The State Police put $1,181 on a procurement card in two separate payments for stays at the Le Chateau Frontenac, according to the data. The charges were made on the same dates as the payments in Healey’s office, records show.
A spokesperson for the State Police said members of the governor’s security detail “devote themselves to their mission, which requires long hours, time away from their loved ones, and a very fluid work environment with complex demands.”
“Although we do not disclose information about any specific details for the protection of the individual, we can say that the unit takes great care to economize its missions whenever possible,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
That includes “selecting the least expensive lodging option available that is conducive to the protection mission,” traveling at off-peak times, and reducing overtime costs, the spokesperson said.
Not everyone approves of Healey’s hotel choices.
Massachusetts Republican Party spokesperson Logan Trupiano slammed the money spent on hotel stays and said local taxpayers were being “exploited to serve” Healey by “funding her opulent lifestyle with their hard-earned money.”
“Imagine entrusting someone with your finances, expecting them to improve your life, only to discover they’re indulging themselves in lavish accommodations around the world. That’s exactly what Gov. Healey is doing with your tax dollars. Her arrogance and blatant disregard for the people she’s supposed to serve is shocking,” Trupiano said in a statement to the Herald.
Executive agencies or departments are advised to use procurement cards only as a “payment of last resort,” though rules do allow state officials to pay for overnight accommodations at hotels, according to guidelines issued by the state’s budget-writing office.
The procurement card data also offers more insight into Healey’s trip to Italy earlier this year.
Healey and her staff stayed at the Marriott Le Meridien Visconti, a four-star hotel that its ownership describes as a “luxury escape” in Rome. Four different payments were charged to procurement cards in May that rank among some of the most expensive for the office in fiscal year 2024, according to state data.
The records show that the governor’s office spent just over $14,000 at the hotel during a trip that officials said totaled just over $30,000.
The trip was paid for through the Massachusetts Tourism Trust Fund, a multi-million dollar account used to promote tourism in the state and help regional tourism councils, Healey’s office said. It is partly funded by the tax on gross gaming revenues generated by local casinos.
A spokesperson for Healey previously defended the trip to Italy, in which Healey and Mayor Michelle Wu had an audience with Pope Francis, as a “valuable opportunity” to showcase the “state’s climate leadership on the world stage.”
In three separate procurement card charges, the State Police spent another $9,750 on stays at the Marriott Le Meridien Visconti. The expenditures were among the agency’s most expensive for fiscal year 2024, according to state data.
Beyond trips to Italy and Quebec City, Healey’s office also spent thousands in the last fiscal year on four-star hotels in the United States, including $1,554 on a Westin in downtown Washington, D.C., and over $1,120 on a Marriott in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, the procurement card data shows.
State Police procurement card records show the agency spent $1,079 on a Marriott in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The single purchase was made the day after Healey’s office booked stays at the same hotel, according to the data.
Procurement card purchases in the governor’s office stretch beyond travel-related costs.
The most expensive procurement card purchase made by the governor’s office in fiscal year 2024 was a single $3,952 payment to The Boston Herald, according to state data.
“This payment is for a 52-week Boston Herald subscription so our administration can be informed of your newspaper’s daily coverage,” Fennimore said in a statement.
The governor or staff in her office also spent $1,176 between May and June at Shreve, Crump & Low, a family-owned Newbury Street jeweler that describes itself as one of the oldest in the United States.
Fennimore said Healey purchases “pitchers” from the jeweler as gifts for visiting ambassadors and other foreign dignitaries such as the Lativian president or Taiwanese ambassador, among others.
The purchases at the jeweler were covered with other public dollars from the Massachusetts Tourism Trust Fund, Fennimore said.
Nancy Lane/Boston Herald
Gov. Maura Healey (Herald file)
