Beantown Travel
Sep 25th, 2003, 11:17 AM
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Beantown Travel
20 Ohio University seniors will be attending the Law School Admissions Forum at the Marriott Copley Place the weekend of October 23rd. I am the President of the Pre-law Fraternity and also the Boston travel coordinator.
Friday afternoon, we will be meeting with admissions officers at BC, BU, and Northeastern and Saturday morning we will be attending the LSAC Forum at the Marriott.
Unfortunately, staying at the Marriott is out of our price range, and it is difficult to book 5 rooms on a site like "priceline" or "hotwire."
I am desperate for any suggestions about websites to use to book nice hotel rooms at a discounted price in a prime Boston location. Please point me in the direction of the best bars, activities, and accomodations Boston has to offer. Thank you!
Friday afternoon, we will be meeting with admissions officers at BC, BU, and Northeastern and Saturday morning we will be attending the LSAC Forum at the Marriott.
Unfortunately, staying at the Marriott is out of our price range, and it is difficult to book 5 rooms on a site like "priceline" or "hotwire."
I am desperate for any suggestions about websites to use to book nice hotel rooms at a discounted price in a prime Boston location. Please point me in the direction of the best bars, activities, and accomodations Boston has to offer. Thank you!
Sep 25th, 2003, 12:57 PM
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Jennifer:
Late October is a busy time here in Boston with tourists and conventioneers, etc. You might need to split up into groups.
The following are all large hotels are all in very close proximity (if not attached) to the complex where the Marriott Copley Place is located:
Sheraton Copley
Westin Copley
Back Bay Hilton
The Colonnade
The Copley Square Hotel
The Lenox Hotel.
Good luck!
Late October is a busy time here in Boston with tourists and conventioneers, etc. You might need to split up into groups.
The following are all large hotels are all in very close proximity (if not attached) to the complex where the Marriott Copley Place is located:
Sheraton Copley
Westin Copley
Back Bay Hilton
The Colonnade
The Copley Square Hotel
The Lenox Hotel.
Good luck!
Sep 25th, 2003, 01:33 PM
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Can you give us an idea what your budget is for lodging and if you will have automobiles?
Being that you are on some type of budget, it might be advantageous for you to stay in Braintree and take the Red Line into Boston. There are only a few hotel choices in Braintree that participate with Priceline - the only 3 star hotel is the Sheraton Braintree, and you should be able to get a successful bid per night for no more than $65. Parking is free. I also believe that the Sheraton Braintree offers free shuttle service to the Braintree T station.
If you do have cars, you will not want to park them in Boston, as parking can cost you close to $40 per day/per car in the hotel lots.
Assuming that you do have cars, and you don't want to stay in Braintree, you could still attempt to bid on Priceline in the Framingham/Natick area and bid on the Marriott Courtyard in Natick, which is the only 2.5 star hotel available in that category. The hotel is brand new, is readily accessible to the Massachusetts Turnpike, and there is plenty of shopping and restaurants in the area. Parking is free. You could drive to the Riverside parking lot (junction of Route 128 and Massachusetts Turnpike) and park each car for $2/day and take the T into Boston.
You may very well be flying into Logan Airport from Ohio, and if that is the case, I can also give you some hints on bidding successfully at either the Airport Hilton or Hyatt Harborside at the Airport (I have stayed at both hotels). Don't be concerned that you will need to "commute" into Boston on the airport T bus and then connect to the T to get to the colleges and Copley Place, as Boston public transportation is easy to use. I have stayed at the airport hotels on many occasions when returning from vacations on Sunday evening to eliminate my roundtrip ride from Boston to suburbia in the evening only to return very early into Boston on Monday morning to get to the office. I've stayed at the Hyatt Harborside for $38 per night 10 times over the past year and the Airport Hilton twice for $50 per night.
Being that you would need 5 rooms and the maximum number of rooms that you can secure on Priceline with anyone bid is 2 or 3 rooms, this works out well for you, as you will be able to better determine what the lowest pricing will be if you don't hit the nail on the head with the first bid.
Having had a great deal of experience bidding on Priceline, and also being very familiar with the majority of hotels in Boston and the surrounding communities (having worked in Boston and resided in a Boston suburb), if you do decide to go the Priceline route, and you need help, feel free to post again, and I'll help you formulate a bid.
Being that you are on some type of budget, it might be advantageous for you to stay in Braintree and take the Red Line into Boston. There are only a few hotel choices in Braintree that participate with Priceline - the only 3 star hotel is the Sheraton Braintree, and you should be able to get a successful bid per night for no more than $65. Parking is free. I also believe that the Sheraton Braintree offers free shuttle service to the Braintree T station.
If you do have cars, you will not want to park them in Boston, as parking can cost you close to $40 per day/per car in the hotel lots.
Assuming that you do have cars, and you don't want to stay in Braintree, you could still attempt to bid on Priceline in the Framingham/Natick area and bid on the Marriott Courtyard in Natick, which is the only 2.5 star hotel available in that category. The hotel is brand new, is readily accessible to the Massachusetts Turnpike, and there is plenty of shopping and restaurants in the area. Parking is free. You could drive to the Riverside parking lot (junction of Route 128 and Massachusetts Turnpike) and park each car for $2/day and take the T into Boston.
You may very well be flying into Logan Airport from Ohio, and if that is the case, I can also give you some hints on bidding successfully at either the Airport Hilton or Hyatt Harborside at the Airport (I have stayed at both hotels). Don't be concerned that you will need to "commute" into Boston on the airport T bus and then connect to the T to get to the colleges and Copley Place, as Boston public transportation is easy to use. I have stayed at the airport hotels on many occasions when returning from vacations on Sunday evening to eliminate my roundtrip ride from Boston to suburbia in the evening only to return very early into Boston on Monday morning to get to the office. I've stayed at the Hyatt Harborside for $38 per night 10 times over the past year and the Airport Hilton twice for $50 per night.
Being that you would need 5 rooms and the maximum number of rooms that you can secure on Priceline with anyone bid is 2 or 3 rooms, this works out well for you, as you will be able to better determine what the lowest pricing will be if you don't hit the nail on the head with the first bid.
Having had a great deal of experience bidding on Priceline, and also being very familiar with the majority of hotels in Boston and the surrounding communities (having worked in Boston and resided in a Boston suburb), if you do decide to go the Priceline route, and you need help, feel free to post again, and I'll help you formulate a bid.
Sep 25th, 2003, 03:19 PM
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Staying out in Braintree or other suburbs will eat up a lot of your time. Unless there's some compelling reason that you all absolutely MUST be in the same hotel, I'd take my chances with Priceline. You can bid for up to 4 rooms at a time: I'd bid for 3 in the Copley area, then another 2. Even if you're not in the same place, the area is small. You'll have much more energy for the business at hand than you would if you were dealing with a commute in from the burbs, even on a weekend (when trains and even the subways run less often).
Taking the Red Line into Boston from Braintree costs $2 per person, per trip -- 4 people sharing a room would spend $16 per day on subway fares, plus the better part of an hour traveling each way, since it's not on the same subway line and you'd have to switch. Plus, those Braintree hotels are in the middle of noplace and you've indicated an interest in making the most of your Boston experience.
P.S. Please do NOT call it "Beantown."
Taking the Red Line into Boston from Braintree costs $2 per person, per trip -- 4 people sharing a room would spend $16 per day on subway fares, plus the better part of an hour traveling each way, since it's not on the same subway line and you'd have to switch. Plus, those Braintree hotels are in the middle of noplace and you've indicated an interest in making the most of your Boston experience.
P.S. Please do NOT call it "Beantown."
Sep 25th, 2003, 04:11 PM
#5
jen, try the prime spot, copley Sq. newest hotel that opened recently.
The Charlesmark Hotel
charlesmarkhotel.com...yoiu can't have a better location. subway across the street, prudential and copley pl. malls right there. and best restos in walking distance.
The Charlesmark Hotel
charlesmarkhotel.com...yoiu can't have a better location. subway across the street, prudential and copley pl. malls right there. and best restos in walking distance.
Sep 25th, 2003, 04:30 PM
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Is this weekend parents' weekend in Boston - I thought it was this coming weekend. I checked the Hilton in Back Bay, and that hotel has no availability from October 23rd (Thursday) through the 26th (Sunday). The rooms at the Sheraton are booking in the range of $350 to $425 for a standard room. I can only imagine that the Westin, Marriott and others are either sold out or also booking at similar rates. A quick peak at Bidding for Travel for Priceline bids shows no bookings for this weekend.
Although Anonymous disagrees with staying out in the suburbs, this group may very well have to in order to get reasonable pricing for accommodations. This is a group of undergraduate juniors and seniors that are looking at law schools to apply to. Besides transportation from Ohio to Boston, it appears that they need something affordable for housing for the weekend.
Have you contacted the individual colleges to see if they have housing for you for the weekend? You might have to split up. Possibly local alumni might be providing rooms in their homes. Also, has the LSAC Forum established group rates for some of the hotels in the area?
Although Anonymous disagrees with staying out in the suburbs, this group may very well have to in order to get reasonable pricing for accommodations. This is a group of undergraduate juniors and seniors that are looking at law schools to apply to. Besides transportation from Ohio to Boston, it appears that they need something affordable for housing for the weekend.
Have you contacted the individual colleges to see if they have housing for you for the weekend? You might have to split up. Possibly local alumni might be providing rooms in their homes. Also, has the LSAC Forum established group rates for some of the hotels in the area?
