A free night to spend in Boston

[stephenmarco]

thanks so much for the advice you've given here - I've just printed it and will use your great suggestions in October - when we are going to Boston.

Originally Posted by lrfox

Full disclosure: I work for Starwood hotels.

If you call the Starwood reservations number ( 1-800-368-7764 ) or make a reservation online for any Starwood hotel in Boston (Sheraton Back Bay, Westin Copley, Westin Waterfront, W Boston, Liberty Hotel Boston, Sheraton Commander in Cambridge, etc), you are not charged until check in, and you can typically cancel any time until the night before check in with no penalties (read the cancellation policy... it says when you need to cancel by and it's almost always 24 hours before check in). You do need to leave a credit card on file to reserve, but again, no charges (or holds) until you check in.

The no-charge reservation ONLY works if you book through directly through Starwood reservations (either the phone number or on the starwood hotels, spg, or hotel brand, i.e. Westin, website). If you reserve through priceline, hotwire, expedia, orbitz, hotels.com, etc. it's a prepaid nonrefundable rate. Personally, I'd suggest calling the number and talking to someone. Make sure you ask for discounts and specials because they'll only quote you the "Best Available" rate if you don't ask (there are always discounts available even simple ones like AAA). And just so you know I'm not making an elaborate sales pitch, I can almost promise you if you go on priceline or hotwire at the last minute you will get better rates at many hotels in Boston. Still, making a reservation that doesn't require a financial commitment is a nice way to have some piece of mind. I don't know if JW Marriott or the Intercontinental Group have the same policy (no charge until check in/ cancel up until 24 hour before arrival), but it would be worth checking. Marriott has two awesome hotels (Custom House and Long Wharf) downtown that are nicely located.

Honestly, It's a great way to assure yourself of a room in advance (a worst case scenario, I guess) while waiting and doing the last minute thing on Priceline or Hotwire (both of which work great in Boston). Hotwire and Priceline work best within the week before your arrival (they are primarily for hotels to sell unbooked hotel rooms at the last minute). Any 3+ star hotel in Back Bay, Fenway, Copley, Financial District, Beacon Hill, North End, Faneuil Hall, and Theatre District area will be safe, nice, and well located. Cambridge and the Seaport or Waterfront districts will be safe, nice, and OK in terms of location, but a little more disconnected from downtown. East Boston and Revere are airport hotels and may or may not have good connections to the city center (though Eastie is a cool, gritty neighborhood with some good dining and AWESOME views of the city... I suggest a trip to Piers Park for a sunset). Anything outside of that is suburban and should be avoided unless you plan on driving in and out of town or spending a lot of time on trains.

*edit* Logan will be quiet from about 11pm-6am. Little to nothing will be open. However, the airport is technically open 24-7 and you can sleep there. I've never done it, but here's a good site with some reviews on good spots to crash. Seems a lot of people like the rocking chairs between terminals A and C, and it's not a terrible idea to pay $40-50 to use the lounge of the airline you're flying on (assuming your airline has a lounge at Logan).