I'm going to Boston in June with my 2 kids (there are 3 of us) and have been looking for affordable lodging in Boston. We won't have a car and we need at least 2 beds. So far I've narrowed the search to 3 places (thank you, former Fodorite posters!):

Midtown Hotel (on the Green Line @ Sympony stop): For $141/night we get a pool
Charlesmark (also on the Green Line @ Copley stop, I think): For $189, we get continental breakfast
John Jeffries House (on the Red Line @ Charles/MGH): $165 gives us continental breakfast, kitchenette, separate sleeping areas

Convenience, good location, and cost are all important to us. Any recommendations among these places, or for similarly priced places in June? Thanks!

The Charlesmark is in the most convenient location of the 3. Have you checked tripadvisor for reviews?

Have you considered Newbury Guest House? It is located very conveniently to everything plus breakfast is included. Oh, and they have parking,not that you would need a car to get around Boston.

We stayed at the Chandler Inn at 26 Chandler at Berkeley.We paid 569 $ for 4 nights(2 adults) in Sept 2004. It's located in the heart of Boston's South end.The best thing to do is take the shuttle the first day. Then you can explore the things you really liked the other days of your stay. Paul

John Jeffries House woudl be a good choice. It used to be the dormitory for nursing students at Mass General Hospital. The Charles Street "T" subway stop is on the same block, so it's very handy to whatever you'll need to do. I used to work for a company that had visitors coming to Boston for a couple of weeks at a time; we put them in the Jeffries and everybody liked it.

The Symphony stop on the Green line is on one of the branches, and thus not served as frequently as Copley, which serves all 4 lines. Also, Copley is in walking distance of lots of things to do. So I guess Midtown would be my vote for least convenient to both transit and things to do.

Thanks for the help. Wyatt92, TripAdvisor ranks Charlesmark much higher than Midtown; I guess I was just looking for confirmation before taking the more expensive route. But that, combined with Anonymous's info on location, makes Midtown less attractive. As for John Jeffries vs. Charlesmark, they're in different categories on the other web site, so hard to compare.

Thanks for the suggestions about Chandler and Newberry House. Looks like the latter doesn't work with 2 kids (1 bed rooms, and one site said it was for adults only). I'll follow up on location and price of the former.

I don't necessarily agree that the Midtown is the most inconvenient. It can't be more than a 10 minute walk to Copley Square, less to the shops, food court, and restaurants at the Prudential Center.

I think for location only, the Charlesmark is certainly the winner, but I'd put the Midtown above the John Jeffries house, location-wise.

Not sure how lively it is around the John Jeffries house at night. I don't often go to that end of Charles Street in the evening.

TravelinMom, you won't go wrong with any of the choices. The differences in location (except for the Charlesmark) are not large.

I always recommend the Charles mark because it's in Copley Square and across from the Main Library and Copley subway stop. You have Newbury Street shopping, Copley Place and Prudential Center and down the street from the public garden.