You could play with www.rome2rio, entering Boston as a start and then some reasonably nearby city as an end. Quincy, Salem, etc. The site will show various ways of travel, with train to my two examples both under $10. Then there will be a click option for accommodations.

Maybe you will get lucky and find some interesting nearby city with lower hotel rates?

And I'd think you might be able to do somewhat better than the hotel rates shown by rome2rio.

Romelle

Since you did not provide specific dates, it is a bit difficult to help with any real research. Dates matter.... especially in Boston.

If you found $70 a night, I would have jumped all over that.

Depending on your timeframe, you could try a few credit card signups... if you and your wife both signed up for the Hyatt card... you could get two free nights each pretty quickly.