We have some friends from the midwest coming for a visit memorial weekend. We made reservations at the Millennium Bostonian Hotel and now I have read some recent poor reviews in "Tripadvisor.com" and it has me concerned. Any thoughts?

I have stayed at both the Marriott locations(Copley and Long Warf) and both of those were great, but are rather pricey that weekend.

Thanks so much for any advice.

Memorial Day weekend is likely to be expensive with high occupancies - beginning of vacation season for those without kids and also college graduation season.

I've found the reviews on TripAdvisor to be quite representative when I look up places we've stayed.

But, I've had fabulous luck with Hotwire and Priceline. We weekend in Boston throughout the year. I've liked the Hotwire hotels better, but have gotten significantly lower rates with Priceline. For the savings, I'd never quibble (though I've never had a less than satisfactory experience). For example, when I got the Doubletree Downtown with Hotwire, I would have rated it a 3* (but stars, apparently, are more or less assigned for ammenities that may or may not be of interest), rather than a 4*. But, for the rate I paid it didn't matter.

If you want to see which hotels you might get for those dates with Hotwire or Priceline, shop your dates as a package (try a few different airports). The hotels are displayed before you book when booking a package. You must be able to figure out in which area the hotels are located and accept that other hotels may be available that do not come up with the packages.

I already have a reservation at the Millennium Bostonian for a very reasonable cost. I was more looking for those who may have stayed at this particular hotel or know of it.

As for occupancy, I have not had a problem finding rooms. I just was curious about this certain hotel. Thanks!

I have second-hand knowledge of it from when a friend stayed there (must have been about 2 years ago). Overall, the hotel got a positive review; the one complaint I remember is that it was noisy. It is located directly across the street from Quincy Market, but the real problem as I recall was Haymarket which is the outdoor food market on the weekends. That begins just outside the door and runs along the neighboring side street.

This is a hard one to call. The location is excellent. Lots going on plus some really great restaurants. The staff is so-so. Rooms are a little small but they were well decorated, clean, and very quaint. Our room had a "tiny" balcony and a wonderful view of Quincy Market/Fanieul Hall.

Street noise is another problem. During the day who care's - the outdoor market/traffic was no bother at all. The nightclub across the street in Fanieul Hall was quite another story. We actually had them relocate us at 3 in the morning because we couldn't sleep (I even had ear plugs in). To be fair it's not under the hotel's control and the night club noise may have only be a weekend thing. We ended up accepting a room away from the street which was much much quieter even if the view was not nearly as nice. I would warn you that some of the rooms overlooked their alley with a rather unslightly view of dumpster row.

My advice is to be picky at check in and ask for a room with a nice view (i.e. no dumpsters thank you) of Faneiul Hall but far enough away where noise won't be an issue. All in all for the price I would have to say it was just fine. Enjoy your trip. Boston Rocks!

I've stayed at the Bostonian and really enjoyed it. Just ask for a "quiet" room. Front desk staffs know all of the rooms and the strengths/weaknesses of each.