Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Branches New England Boston hotels?

Hey everyone! I know it's been a while- sorry!

Just wondering (since there are a few of you that either live/work right near there, or go there often enough to know) if anyone can help me.

Steve's family (well, to be specific, it's going to be 8 of us girls!) are planning a weekend away in March in Boston. We will be attending a comedy show, as well as hitting some bars. We will be taking the train from Exeter, NH to Boston to help with the driving issue. The only thing that we don't have is a hotel! We're looking to stay somewhere nice (not too expensive, but not a dive, either...as we will only be there to sleep for a few hours, and to shower). Any ideas? We will be attending a comedy show on Hanover St in Boston...and will be hitting some bars afterwards. So, we're hoping to get a hotel that isn't too far away.

Any help would be much appreciated! Thanks guys!

Oh- also...feel free to give your thoughts on restaurants (again, not too expensive, but has decent food), as we will need to eat, too!

Most of the restaurants I ate in when I worked in Beantown were of the "inexpensive" (read:fast food) variety-Washington Street seems to have quite a few decent shops and eateries. My personal favorite Boston eatery is Durgin Park, and fav club is Jillian's, across from Fenway.

Cna't help with Hotels-why not check out Bizrate or something similar?

Jillians sucks now. They turned into a bowling alley and lounge. A great place to eat that wont cost you too much is quincy market. They have all sorts of restaurants with lots of variety and resonable prices. I have heard that hotels in the Boston University area are not that expensive (BU just built a hotel on comm ave).

Double Tree Inn is really nice next to the river by the BC campus

I got a room there this past summer cause I had just gotten outa Avalon and was too trashed to get back to alewife to drive home..yea it was about $110/night..good thing I had a friend who was 21+ get me a room but he used my credit card! it was a really nice room

Hanover St. is in the North end, so you'll prolly want a hotel in that area, unfortunatly most in that immediate area are expensive. The best deal would prolly be the Marriott Long Warf. I did a quick search and it looks like $199/rm and you'd need 2 rooms for 8 people. Looks like it would be about $50/person if you went that route. Its a very nice hotel, I've stayed there a couple of times long ago. Its right next to the aquarium and within walking distance of fanuel hall and the North End.

As for restauraunts, there's one that Kim and I go to all the time. It Georgio's LaFamilia in the north end. Its not one of the expensive fancy places, but real good Italian cooking! Its on Salem St. which runs parallel to Hanover St. If you take any side street off Hanover heading north, you'll hit Salem. Don't forget to hit Mike's Pastries on Hanover afterwards for a conoli!!!

Hmmm, all this talk makes me want to make a day trip sometime!!

have you checked out hotels.com or any of those types of sites?
Personally, I'd go with whichever is best quality at cheapest price, which is most likely outskirts of Boston, and then take the T wherever you need to go.
The 8 people thing sharing costs does help quite a bit though.

get a room at motel 6. between the 8 of you it should be about $8 a piece!

As for hotels, I've had AWESOME luck with Priceline.

On 3 seperate occasions I've asked for a hotel in the Boston area, and included Cambridge by the river. I then set my price at $80, and I've gotten the Hyatt Regency EVERYTIME. Now, since this is Priceline, I can't guarantee anything, but it hasn't failed me yet.

Here is the hotel: http://cambridge.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/index.jsp

From the picture you may recognize the hotel from trips into the city.

Its right on the river, but on the Cambridge side. They also have a shuttle that will bring you to Harvard Square or Kendall Square (T Stops). From there you can go where you need to.

Also, if you do select this, and get a room. You can then call up the hotel directly and ask for specific rooms. Certain rooms have a great balcony.

I've done this everytime too, and it hasn't failed. They've always been incredibly accomadating.

I would avoid the Double Tree mentioned by Goonz. Its too outside the city for a weekend in the city IMO. Also, its not really close to BC either, not that you want to stay that far out.

Thanks so much guys!
It was really nice of you to share your stories. I didn't want to just go to a website and pick a hotel without knowing if it was a dive or not! It's always hard to know when you do that. Plus, all I need is the 7 other girls being angry at me because the room was crappy! Although, most likely, with all of the drinking that will be done at night, we'll be lucky if we make it to the room to sleep!!!!!