Boston Hotels

Updated March 2, 2008

 

Boston Hotels

Newest Hotel Opening:

The Boston Renaissance Waterfront Hotel
Located one block from the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center at 606 Congress Street and across the harbor from Logan International Airport, the Boston Renaissance Waterfront Hotel offers many rooms with spectacular water views, and a new seafood restaurant called Georges Bank.

Liberty Hotel
Adjacent to the Massachusetts General Hospital opposite Beacon Hill and Charles Street, the granite Liberty Hotel, formerly the 156 year old Charles Street Jail, is the newest hotel in the Boston Area. With an adjacent 16-story glass & steel contemporary structure,the $150 million 300-room hotel has all the amenities of a luxury hotel with meeting rooms, restaurants and a health club. Appropriately, tone restaurant bar is called CLINK, the Italian restaurant in the hotel is SCAMPI (Italian for "escape") and there is another bar titled "ALIBI."

The Intercontinental
This sleek, modern edifice at 510 Atlantic Avenue is Boston's newest luxury hotel, offering over 500 rooms. With its reflective blue glass architecture and sleek polished granite, it overlooks Boston's historic waterfront on one side and the new Rose Kennedy Greenway on the other. Close to Faneuil Hall Market the North End and Chinatown, it is a convenient location and a mere ten minutes from Logan Airport.

Westin Boston Waterfront
Boston latest hotel is directly attached to the new Boston Convention Center on Summer Street and D Street. Almost 800 rooms, 32,000 square feet of meeting space. Two presidential suites. The hotel also features a signature restaurant, lobby lounge, pool and health club.

Courtyard by Marriott at South Bay
At Boston St. in South Boston, this 164-room hotel is close to Both I- 93 and the Andrew "T" station and minutes from the New Convention Center. Amenities include Indoor pool, complimentary parking and shuttle service

Hotel 140
Located at 140 Clarendon Street, this new, affordable hotel offers 40 contemporary rooms on the corner of Clarendon and Stuart Streets in the Back Bay. Occupying the space of the first YWCA in America, the new boutique hotel features a fitness center, Terra Cotta Cafe, the off -Broadway Lyric Stage Theatre and YWCA facilities.

The Hampton Inn & Suites Boston Crosstown Center
Boston's newest Hampton Inn & Suites is ideally located at Boston Crosstown Center, across from Boston Medical Center. The 175-room hotel includes a lobby café featuring the complimentary breakfast buffet. Fifty-six studio suites have microwave ovens, in-room refrigerators, wet bars, wireless high-speed Internet, in-room movies-on-command, and free local calling. Amenities include a rooftop pool and fitness center.

The Onyx Hotel
The 112-room Onyx Hotel, owned and managed by the California-based Kimpton Hotel Group (which opened the Hotel Marlowe in 2003), is located at 155 Portland Street. It opened May 17, 2004 in the historic Bulfinch Triangle district (this triangular series of streets named for towns the North Station trains traveled to was designed by Charles Bulfinch following the filling of the Mill Pond 200 years ago) in downtown Boston. The Onyx Hotel is a gem of a boutique hotel, one block from the TD Banknorth Garden, and two blocks from Faneuil Hall Marketplace and the famous Italian North End district. From the red suede chairs to custom desks to a rich black, taupe and jewel red palette, the hotel's top floor is four adjoining guestrooms, making it possible for you to reserve this entire floor all to yourself.

The hotel offers an evening wine reception in the lobby living room, complimentary wireless high-speed Internet access throughout the hotel and the adjacent Ruby Room, and round-the-clock complimentary use of the on-site exercise room, which includes treadmills, elliptical trainers, recumbent bikes, TV, water cooler, and towels. The Onyx is a kid-friendly and pet-friendly hotel. General manager is Mark Fischer.

The Jurys Boston Hotel
The hotel is located in a 1920's architectural landmark, the former Boston Police Headquarters. The $60 million historic preservation project reflects the original building, yet has been detailed with a new look to correspond with its new life as a luxury hotel. The hotel will feature three restaurants: Cuffs, Stanhope & Il Barista: Cuffs is an Irish Bar, Stanhope restaurant will serve a variety of freshly prepared food selections from hearty authentic Irish breakfasts, to a full a la carte selection. Serving coffees and teas, Il Barista will feature freshly baked pastries and muffins.

Hilton Boston Logan Airport
Amidst the burgeoning growth of Boston's Logan Airport, and despite the added construction detours for the "Big Dig," a spate of new hotels has risen to accommodate the growing number of visitors who like the convenience of being right on the airport grounds. One of the newest is this Hilton that has some 600 ergonomically designed rooms and a concierge floor for those who desire extra amenities. This state-of-the-art hotel fills the needs of business travelers, and at the same time those who may have early departures and want to be "on the spot." Two restaurants are featured in the hotel, "Berkshire's," which serves traditional New England cuisine, and "Kitty O'Shea's" with its "Irish pub" atmosphere.
Hilton Boston Logan Airport
85 Terminal Rd.
(617) 568-6700

Beacon Hill Hotel
A new elegant boutique hotel has opened at 25 Charles St. on the lower end of Beacon Hill. It's on the southwest corner of Chestnut and Charles Streets. A beautifully historic converted town house dating from the year 1830, this restored brick building is one block from the picturesque Public Garden and will feature a bistro, 24-hour room service, and high-speed Internet service. For more information: www.beaconhillhotel.com.

XV Beacon
The newest boutique hotel in town right atop Beacon Hill is the pampered traveler's Valhalla and was recently given a spot on Conde Nast Traveler's 2000 Hot List. Stylish and swanky, this 63 room hotel combines old world Boston charm with millennium amenities . . . for those willing to pay extra for luxury. With its Beaux Arts facade, it is located across from the gilded dome of the State House and offers exciting views of Boston Common and the adjoining historic buildings. Each of the rooms is slightly different in design and decor, including shades of "taupe, creme and espresso" with solid mahogany accents. The unique cage elevator is lined in red leather. Fireplaces in the rooms are framed with stainless steel. The bathrooms have luxurious fittings, including heated towels.
Guests receive business cards printed with phone and fax numbers. "The Federalist," with chef Robert Fathman in charge, serves New England cuisine (the lobster bisque is outstanding) and features an excellent wine list, including many extremely rare cognacs and liqueurs. And the Wine Cellar can be reserved for private entertaining. High tech and historic charm combine to make 15 Beacon a unique stopover for visitors with hefty pockets. Rates start at $395.
XV Beacon
15 Beacon Hill, Boston
(617) 670-1500

The Wyndham Boston
The first new hotel to be built in the heart of Boston's financial district combines modern touches with art deco styling. Not only is it situated at a convenient location, but this recently-renovated historic Batterymarch building on Broad Street offers full service to businesspeople and tourists alike. The location is ideal (within walking distance to Quincy market and the Waterfront). There are suites and full hotel amenities plus sweeping views of Boston harbor. A first class restaurant, "Caliterra," features a menu that blends contemporary Northern California with hearty Tuscan cuisine. Fifteen minutes from Logan airport, this 362-room hotel should do well.
The Wyndham Boston
89 Broad Street
(617) 556-0006

Long-Time Favorite Boston Hotels

Four Seasons
Hands down this is Boston's premier hotel, for accommodations, service and facilities. It ranks at the top of my list, as well as having received some of the country's most prestigious awards for "Best in Boston." It's ideally situated in the Back Bay of Boston opposite the lovely Public Garden; ask for a room with a view. If you're a celebrity watcher, you're bound to bump into a rock, movie or stage star, from Pavarotti to Plummer to Previn. They all stay there when in town. The hotel's penchant for "extras" is evident: kids get bedtime milk and cookies and even duck food for the ducks who inhabit the Public Garden's lagoon. There's a health spa and pool, and joggers can borrow running shoes and maps for the best routes leading from the hotel. General manager Robin Brown, despite some hefty competition, has maintained the high quality, and shows no sign of slacking off. From the moment you arrive at the front door and are greeted by the friendly doormen, you know your stay is going to be a special experience. This standard of luxury does not come cheap, so unless you're prepared to pay big bucks, I'd pass. But my advice is to live it up, if you can. It will make your stay in the Boston area that much more memorable.
Four Seasons
200 Boylston Street
(617) 338-4400

Taj Boston
Diagonally across the Public Garden at the corner of Arlington St. and Commonwealth Ave. is the former Ritz, newly re-named. Luxury, elegance and service are still the watchwords for the new owners as they are determined to carry on the "Ritz" tradition. With a new management team in place the hotel has the  European-style panache -- its 275 rooms are decorated traditionally, with French Provincial furniture, and class is evident everywhere, from its famous meeting place, The Ritz Bar (best martinis) to its elegant dining room on the second floor. The white-gloved staff is there to serve, and service is top notch. The location is ideal for shopping sprees on posh Newbury Street or a leisurely stroll through the Public Garden. As you might expect, all this luxury does not come cheap, so save up and indulge yourself. Doubles start at $435.
Taj Boston
15 Arlington St.
(617) 536-5700

The Lenox
The Saunders family, one of Boston's premier hoteliers, has just completely restored this Back Bay hotel to its original Victorian splendor. Built in 1900, the old world charm is now evident from the lobby area to the 212 refurbished rooms, some with a working fireplace. Conveniently located just one block from Boston's historic Copley Square and one block from Newbury Street, a shopper's paradise, the hotel has just added one of the Hub's newest luxury restaurants within its facility: Azure. For more casual dining, there's the City-Bar. Giving this small luxury hotel its European ambience is the recently-added service of well trained "Concierges" to cater to your every whim. If it's old world charm you're after, look no further than the Lenox.
The Lenox
710 Boylston Street
(617) 536-5300

The Eliot
Located on the edge of Boston's Back Bay at the corner of Massachusetts and Commonwealth Avenues, this recently-renovated continental hotel's rooms, with English-style antiques and pastel colors, are set up as suites, most with kitchen facilities. The over-all ambience suggests European rather American hotel living, and with its popular luxury restaurant "Clio," it has become one of the city's most popular hotel/dining destinations. The word is getting out, so early reservations are recommended, especially during the busy spring and summer season in Boston. The Eliot is within walking distance of Newbury and Boylston Streets and the Hynes Auditorium. Suites: $255. (800) 443- 5468.
(617) 267-1607

The Fairmont Copley Plaza
Originally built in 1912 by the folks who designed the Plaza in N.Y.C. and the Willard in Washington, D.C., this still-grand hotel is entitled to its sobriquet as the "Grande Dame of Boston Hotels." In its latest reincarnation, now part of the Fairmont chain of hotels, the traditions and sense that this is still "Old Boston" remains. The familiar pair of gilded lions still guards the entrance facing historic Copley Square, and the vaulted ceiling in the gilded lobby still recalls memories of grand epochs and cotillions gone by. "The Copley" (I can't refer to it any other way) still combines Old World charm with modern convenience. My particular favorite is the corner Oak Bar, a great spot to unwind over cocktails and listen to nice music wafting through the private-club atmosphere of the room. The location is ideal -- across from the Copley Place shopping mall, the venerable Boston Public Library, and famed Trinity Church. It's also within walking distance of the Back Bay, with its prestigious shopping -- especially Newbury Street, one of the Hub's best known shopping Meccas. (See shopping page.) If you're looking for "Old Boston", it's a great choice.
(617) 267-5300 or (800) 225-7654

The Regal Bostonian Hotel
If you like being smack-dab in the middle of the action, this small luxury hotel is directly across the street from the famous Faneuil Hall Marketplace. Many of the rooms have French doors opening onto private balconies, so you can check out the activity in the market area. It was built on a spot that was right in the heart of the historic Blackstone Market District, and what is still on weekends a busy open-air market, with merchants selling fresh fruit and vegetables from their carts. Located in one of the oldest and most colorful sections of the city, the hotel has a display on the ground floor of some of the history and archeological finds unearthed when it was built in 1982. There are over 150 rooms, including ten honeymoon suites with Jacuzzis and working fireplaces. Within walking distance to the North End of Boston, which is home to a large Italian community with many restaurants and shops, the hotel offers the usual amenities you'd find in any luxury hotel, and boasts one of the city's top restaurants, "Seasons." The traditional and the modern converge in this area, and the contrast works, especially for those who like to be close to the heart of the action.
The Regal Bostonian
Faneuil Hall Marketplace
(800) 343-0922

Cambridge Hotels

The Inn at Harvard is quiet and well-appointed, with traditional furniture and muted colors. It's close to Harvard Square and all the Cambridge offerings, and it's half a block from the Fogg and Sackler Museums. There are 113 rooms and a restaurant in its atrium. Rooms start at $189.
Adjacent to the Square at 16 Garden Street is the stalwart Sheraton Commander Hotel, a long-time tenant in the area (800 535-5007). 175 rooms. Rates start at $199.
At Kendall Square, closer to M.I.T., another of Cambridge's famed educational institutions, the Marriott has added to its facilities with the new 221-room Marriott Residence Inn at the corner of Broadway and Ames Streets.

The Charles Hotel
Cambridge would be part of Boston were it not divided by the Charles River, but it is a city nonetheless, and so close to Boston that staying there is often the choice for both business travelers and tourists. At the Charles, you're right in the heart of bustling Harvard Square, and yet inside there is a serenity and tranquility that permeates the elegant surroundings, filled with New England antiques and art. This 294-room, 10-story hotel has all the niceties you could want, including access to the neighboring "Le Pli," a health spa with all the amenities. The hotel boasts two fine restaurants, "Rialto" for top-notch dining, (rated one of the Hub's finest), and the less pricey and not as "fawncy" "Henrietta's Table," whose daily fresh produce insures the freshest and tastiest menu. If you're a jazz lover, the hotel has one of the city's top jazz rooms, "The Regattabar," where some of the top talent in the country perform. There's easy access to all the shops in Harvard Square, as well as in the hotel's adjacent Charles Square shopping mall. It's always been one of my favorite hotels, with friendly, high class service.

Bed and Breakfast

Bed and Breakfast Associates Bay Colony (888 429-7568)
They have a listing of accommodations for the budget-minded and can book places in the city or suburbs. Doubles from $90 to $175.
A Victorian Town House in the South End of the city with two guest rooms, private bath, garden-level kitchen, full breakfast and parking costs $99 - $160.

Newbury Guest House
Right in the heart of the Hub's tony Newbury Street neighborhood, this elegant family-run brick and brownstone dates back to 1882 and has been modernized with amenities (private baths). It features 32 rooms, each furnished with charm that will give you the feel of "old Boston." Breakfast is served either in the parlor or on the patio  in nice weather. And -- a rarity in this part of the city -- parking can be arranged in advance. Rates are $95 - $140, depending on room location. They have recently added a sister location in the financial district: Harborside Inn, 185 State Street, for those who prefer being closer to the water.
Newbury Guest House
261 Newbury St.
Boston, 02116
(617) 437-7666

Gryphon House
In a cozy Back Bay location near Kenmore Square in Boston, this hotel offers quite a variety of themes in each distinctively decorated room: Italian, Victorian, Gothic, Garden, Riverview, etc. There are 8 suites, each with queen size bed, gas log fireplace, and private bath. Rates range from $129 - $260. You can actually view the accommodations on their Web site.
Gryphon House
9 Bay State Road
Boston
(617) 375-9003

And for something a bit out of the ordinary:

Marriott Custom House
One of Boston's historic buildings (1847), its famous clock tower was added in 1914 and is a visible landmark in the Waterfront area of the city. The building was recently renovated and turned into a time-share resort by the Marriott Corporation. And today, some 80 luxury suites are available until the time share is complexly sold out. Two areas are open to the public: the rotunda, which contains objects on loan from the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, and the city's only 360-degree outdoor observation deck. (617 790-1400)

You might also want to stay in a private club. The College Club, the oldest women's college club in the U.S. welcomes both male and female non-member guests. It's located at 44 Commonwealth Avenue, a typical Back Bay brownstone with 11 guest rooms, each uniquely furnished with antiques. 6 of the rooms have fireplaces. (617 536-9510)