Boston hotels - prices are horrifying!
 

Hello.
My husband and I plan to visit the US in the first two weeks of October.
We would like to visit Boston and the Cape Cod-Martha's Vineyard area during one week and the Maine coastline the next.
We have just been having a look at the cost of Boston hotels and don't believe we can find a hotel we'd be happy with under £300 ($360). Is it possible to stay outside Boston and travel in? Where would you suggest we based ourselves please?
We would rather be in Boston but the prices are outrageous - and we say that having experienced London prices. We have looked at comparison websites and apartment rentals but the prices seem excessive and the quality lacking.
We would appreciate any advice.
Thank you,
Lisa and Grant

Read this - especially the first few and the beginning of the post by gail re:hotels outside Boston proper:

http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...ds-and-car.cfm

Boston hotel prices vary widely by what is going on in town. October is one of the more expensive times because of college events, conventions, and a high volume of visitors on foliage tours.

October 7-10 is the long Columbus Day weekend as well. What are your Boston dates?

Looking at hotels.com for the first week in October, I'm seeing the Hyatt Regency Downton for $267 and the Hilton Back Bay for $289. Some other hotels are in the low $300s.

I'd make a reservation now that you can cancel if you find a better rate later. If you can stay right in town near restaurants, shops, and the sights, it's much better than commuting in.

Both of those hotels are well-located for both walking and taking the subway. You don't need to rent a car until you are ready to leave Boston. Having a car in Boston is expensive and can be a bother.

Of greatest concern to me before making ANY recommendations are these words of yours: "a hotel we'd be happy with."

I would like to know now what it is about any hotel which makes you "happy." The price, the size, the location, parking, the style, the age, whether or not it is a so-called "chain" hotel, what?

Thank you for all the assistance.
We will certainly look into all those hotel options.
We do hope to be in Boston for a couple of days in the second week of October - probably towards the end of the week to make it our last stop before flying back to the UK on October 15.
Our hotel preference is generally for the smaller, boutique-type hotel rather than a massive chain but it is only for a couple of days.
We'd really like a clean, cheerful hotel room in a quiet area but I realise a quiet area and convenient location do not really go hand in hand.
Thanks again for all the input and advice. It is much appreciated.

For your last couple of nights, check The Inn at Crystal Cove in Winthrop @ Boston Harbor. Very easy/quick to get to the airport from here, and on your visit-into-Boston day the short bus ride to the tube is not terribly inconvenient considering the $ savings.

For the first few nights of October, Le Meridien at MIT is under 300 pounds per night including the taxes, or look at Best Western Hotel Tria. The Longwood Inn in Brookline has a small apartment available.

Maine is probably your best bet for the holiday weekend Oct 7 to 10 but you'll want to head there on Thursday the 6th before the traffic intensifies. Book something soon because that's prime fall-foliage time. To stretch your budget, look at the Footbridge North Hotel between Ogunquit and Kennebunkport, or the Ocean Acres Motel nearer Oqunquit. Further north in Camden/Rockport...The Cedar Crest Motel or the Mt. Battie Motel are both cheerful & clean and under $200. If you are going a far north as Acadia National Park, the High Seas Motel is a terrific bargain but it is small so book soon.

Cape Cod should not be a problem for Oct 11, 12, 13 but travel down from Maine on the Monday holiday would have some tight spots for sure. If you left early morning from southern Maine, you might be able to do the drive on Monday without much difficulty as traffic on the Cape will be in the other direction until noonish. Lodging looks wide open for Mon-Thurs here. Booking.com is showing lots of availability under $90 per night, some with good cancellation policies so you can book in now but change your plans later on. Look at the Holly Tree Condos in West Yarmouth or the Cape Wind Resort in Hyannis. Higher-end properties are also showing availability but if you economize here, you can up your budget for Boston on other nights.

We have found good rates, with breakfast included, at the Park Plaza in Boston. Great, central location. Historic boutique-type hotel.

https://bostonparkplaza.reztrip.com/...=en#?category=

Their on-site service is very good. We have been upgraded to a concierge level room, which is a great deal because you have a private lounge with a cash bar and complimentary continental breakfast and evening hors d'oeuvres.

I suggest you call them directly, for best rates and service.

Thanks so much both. The information on hotels and how to avoid the worst of the traffic is invaluable and much appreciated. Back to the research.

Look at Charlestown also. We love that area. Boston is more expensive than Paris but we do love going there. If it was more than two nights I would check airbnb.

I was horrified by the Boston prices, too. In the end (after deciding against a couple of B&Bs with shared baths) I got a reasonable senior rate by booking early at a hotel in Cambridge. Across the river, but only just, very convenient for public transport, and not that big. Very nice room, very good AC!

http://www.kendallhotel.com/

Do you have any hotel points? We have to make a trip to Boston in October and I will use my Hyatt points to pay for our stay.

I just received an email that the Park Plaza has finished a "$100 million" renovation and is offering a special, with free valet parking included.

It's not for everyone but I use hotwire, I plugged in some dates and the prices were a lot less than has been mentioned.

The catch is that you dont know the area, the number of stars, but you do not know the name of it.

Saying that, by checking the amenities and checking on betterbidding.com I've never got a hotel I was not expecting and I use it a lot all over the world

Sorry, it should say you DO know the area and the number of stars

The La Quinta in Somerville is $209/ night during that time. We stayed there for several days last year as part of a Cape Cod trip and it was very quiet, clean, and comfortable. I'd definitely return. We just cabbed it into Boston each day and it wasn't terribly expensive. It shares a parking lot with a chain restuarant and the food there was perfectly fine for us.

<i>Where would you suggest we based ourselves please? </i>

In order of preference...

1) On Boston Common, including the Revere and Park Plaza (though the Park Plaza has small rooms)
2) In and around Copley Square
3) Beacon Hill, including the Liberty Hotel
4) Theater District
5) Financial District, including the immediate waterfront
6) Kendall Square (in Cambridge)
7) North Station/West End
8) South Boston Waterfront
9) Harvard Square
10) Kenmore Square
11) Everything else that is on the T
12) Something off the T
13) Anything by the airport

<i>The La Quinta in Somerville is $209/ night during that time. We stayed there for several days last year as part of a Cape Cod trip and it was very quiet, clean, and comfortable. I'd definitely return. We just cabbed it into Boston each day and it wasn't terribly expensive. It shares a parking lot with a chain restuarant and the food there was perfectly fine for us.</i>

Bearing in mind that I am not necessarily recommending the La Quinta...

While eating at the 99 is an option, I would offer that the hotel is near Assembly Row, which has emerged as a very popular shopping/dining destination. Yes, mostly chains, but there are at least (much) better options than the 99. It also has an Orange Line stop. Both the stop and the shops are half a mile from the hotel. All in all, I would say that the improvements to Assembly Row have made the La Quinta a pretty attractive location for the "stay outside of Boston and commute in" strategy. Yeah, the area will never be confused with charming, it is by the highway, and retains an industrial vibe, but I wouldn't feel unsafe there and it is pretty convenient to Boston and the Cambridge sites.

In addition to the stuff that is walking distance, there is a fair concentration of good to excellent restaurants in Somerville and East Cambridge that would be convenient to the hotel via Uber or Lyft. Both Tasting Counter and Journeyman, for example, both of which would easily make my Boston top ten list are around 2 miles away. Puritan & Co isn't much further. Certainly, for pure location, I would say it handily beats Quincy or Braintree, much less any of the various other properties that aren't even on the T. I cannot speak to the quality of the hotel, though, as I have never been inside.

Some rooms were small at the Park Plaza, but we've always been given a different room if we had a problem. Since the hotel has been renovated, maybe the room size is not an issue anymore.

If interested, call the Park Plaza directly. They will help you decide.

We get it. You like the Park Plaza. I personally don't. And have travelled home when offered a night there when work had a short hour turnaround. I realized after a few visits that a couple of hours in my own bed was better sleep then suffocating in their rooms. We get it you had good experiences and were upgraded, what seems like once after complaining to be moved. Waste of my time. Anyone who books at an entry level will be assigned their "Cozy" room which is 100 sq ft. I'm not impressed with the lobby and public area makeovers. If they spent a good bit of that money upgrading air quality and windows I might consider it, but the rooms were so stuffy - especially if located above the stinky loading dock/garbage area. And I'm not sure what free parking has to do with this. I would assume the OP would rent a car after their stay in Boston to head to the Cape.

That said, and I'm not sure if it is still true, the Park Plaza was the to go hotel for Presidential visits as it was a great location for the Secret Service to secure and place sharpshooters. The skyline has changed, so I don't know if that is still the case.

Alrighty then, inababy. Not my experience there, though. Never had a stuffy room. Maybe the front desk didn't like your attitude.

"Maybe the front desk didn't like your attitude."

Really? That was a horrible leap to take. I've stayed at that property a half dozen times. To suggest I didn't get upgraded because of my attitude??? That's just messed up. I am only chiming in with my personal experience which differs from yours which you insisted to post over and over.

The OP is looking for affordable. With Boston at high capacity, the likelihood of talking sweet to the front desk isn't going to get you anywhere. Your's was a gifted experience being upgraded, or had the time to fight for a superior room, when rooms were available. Sometimes when you book entry level that is what you get. I give the same warning about the Omni Parker House that has "Euro style" closet rooms.

You launched into a personal attack on me, inababy. It's not a stretch to assume you might not be the nicest person at the reception desk. Just sayin': don't attack people, and you might have better luck.

<"Maybe the front desk didn't like your attitude."

Really? That was a horrible leap to take.>

Nah. A very short one, actually.

Do you have an issue with me NewbE in which you follow threads like this to chime in and comment about me and nothing about the topic at hand? I know that Taber does. Is this a lounge connection?

Can we circle this back to proper advice? I think we can all agree on the following:

- The Park Plaza enjoys an enviable, super central location. I personally think it is the 3rd best located hotel (after the nearby Taj and the Four Seasons across the street) in the city, but even those that would quibble with my ranking would agree it is very central.

- The Park Plaza is an older hotel that has some very small rooms. Heck, they say on their own website (about "Cozy Rooms"): "At around 100 square feet, these rooms are small!". Even the "Superior" rooms start at only 180 square feet, which is a little more than half of the national average.

In general, the "deals" one gets at the Park Plaza are for the super small rooms. It is up to the individual to decide if they can live with the room or how confident they are they can sweet talk their way to a bigger space, but let's be open about what the hotel is and what their rooms are like.

I think it is fortunate that the Park Plaza, with it's central location, does offer the option of less expensive, albeit smaller rooms, for a lower price. They do describe the "cozy" rooms as perfect for the solo traveler. And the newly renovated rooms look nice. More streamlined and well-designed.

Don't pull me into your paranoia, inababy. I have posted about the topic at hand, and replied to your attacks.

I'd hope that anyone has the good sense to find out what size room they are reserving, especially at an historic hotel. And, like I said, we have had great customer service while there.

Funny that the last time we were at Park Plaza was in May, during graduation season in Boston. We had reserved a large room, with a sofa sleeper for our son. Turned out the room was actually TOO BIG. It had a lot of wasted space, because it had a big dining table in it. We were there for 5 nights, so wanted to be comfortable.

We talked to the front desk, and they were extremely helpful. The clerk spent a lot of time on her computer, trying different configurations for us. The hotel was very full, but it turned out they gave us two connecting rooms-- one large suite, and one large double, for about $20 more per night. It was a great deal because we had two bathrooms and a large sitting area. Perfect.

That same visit, DH's sister and niece were also staying at Park Plaza. They were upgraded to a huge double room with two beds, and were given concierge level privileges, for about $10/day more. The concierge level lounge was a great place for us all to gather during the days.

So, that's my own personal experience, which is more than valid and applicable to the subject. Thank you very much.

Correction: our two connecting rooms were $80 more per night. Still a great deal.

Correction: I never attacked you. I have stated differing opinions and experiences. How you weave that into an attack is beyond my understanding never mind saying it over and over.

Correction: you stated multiple times that I deserved or invited poor service from the front desk because of my bad attitude? You just make this stuff up out of smoke? And now I not only deserve subpar service but I am paranoid.

Correction: You were not upgraded you were upsold for $80 a night which is not helpful to the OP who is looking for a bargain.

I am really sorry to the OP and others who seem to agree with me and the website that the rooms are cozy. You seem to be spinning wheels for no apparent reason.

The Park Plaza runs $247 on Oct 1, 2 and 3 plus $17 resort fee, and taxes. So under uklisa's listed budget and it's a superior room - 180sqft or larger.

For the location,imo that's certainly a better choice than $235 plus taxes at La Quinta Somerville. (the 209 rate mentioned upthread does not appear to be bookable).

https://bostonparkplaza.reztrip.com/...te_code=TRIPAD

Good find, Debbie.

I completely agree that if one can find a good hotel in the midst of Boston, it's so much better to be able to walk so many places.

How about a place in Beacon Hill like this, around $195/night total?

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/915272