Any updates on the Commander?

Is there street parking nearby?
Do they still give breakfast certs to Plats?

There's no street parking anywhere nearby. If you don't want in-and-out abiliities, you may be able to find a cheaper pay lot 4-5 blocks away.

I wouldn't stay at the Commander unless you're at least Gold. The basic Queen-bed rooms can be very very small, as in uncomfortable for two people small. As a Platinum, I've been upgraded to a "junior suite" (basically an oversized king room with a canopy bed) or a real two-room suite about 80% of the time. In your comments Ask for a room overlooking Garden Street regardless of floor - those are the larger rooms, tell them you'd rather have a larger room overlooking Garden Street then a room on the club floor. If I recall correctly, x02,x32,x33 are the junior suites and x01 is the main suite.

The last two times I was there, the Club lounge was open for breakfast again. Continental, not particularly exciting.

We just came back from a lovely stay at the Commander. This hotel was built in 1927.

The hotel had 2 weddings this weekend. The clerk said that no suites were available (I'm Platinum), but he had a good room for me.
It was a corner room in the back. Room 319 . This was their oversized king room. At first I was disappointed, but my wife liked it. After 1 minute, I liked it too. The room is decorated in an old world style. Think Sheraton Russell in NY. If you're a W type, this isn't for you. Nice draperies. The Sheraton bed ^ . Internet access.

The room itself was about 200 sq feet. Add to that an entry mini-hallway, and a nice sized bathroom, I think the total is closer to 275 sq feet.
The bathroom is all marble. The shower (no bathtub) is the size of the bathtub. Plenty of room. I loved the glass door.

I had a look/see at the room next door...lets just say I'm glad I have status; because this room was a little bigger than a postage stamp. It made my room look huge by comparison.

No lounge on the weekend, so we received 2 breakfast certs.
Valet parking $18 but I was aware of this beforehand. New Yorkers hate paying for parking.

It's about a 5 minute walk to 'downtown' Cambridge.
This was a cash and points award. Can't complain for the price.

Wow, I was just in Cambridge this past weekend.

The Commander hotel has a nice big electric sign that you can see from Harvard Sq.

Last time I stayed at the Commander, I made the reservations by phone to SPG because I was using a SPG50 and the woman on the phone reserved a smoking room for me for some stupid reason. Well, I'm a repeat customer, so the staff was a bit confused. So they had reserved both a smoking suite and a non-smoking back corner room (349) for me and let me pick, and said that they'd have a non-smoking suite for me the next morning.

I decided after about three minutes that I liked 349 just fine. It is about 10% smaller than the junior suites, but still a good size for somebody like me that likes to pace. The room layout was better organized (you could actually see the TV from bed, for example) and it didn't have the canopy bed which I find kind of annoying when travelling alone. I'd still prefer the junior suite, but 349 isn't bad.

A great thing about the Commander is that they take the SPG50s most of the time. During low season there's no point, but during high season it saves about $40-$60/night on base rooms. Since you can find SPG50s easily "for a good home" in Coupon Connection, it's a nice deal. And if you don't have status, the SPG50s get you into the junior suite (called an "executive king" on the web site) for a reasonable price.

Stayed at the Commander about a month ago for a weekend stay. Interesting property and hard to compare to other Sheratons any other place I know of.......

The upshot is that if you have an interest in, or a reason to be central to Cambridge/MIT/Harvard, you'd be hard pressed to find a more centrally located hotel. It is very residential in its look and feel --- it could be 1944, for all I knew when we checked it.

The downside, for me at least, is that---with ALL older hotels---you give up some of the niceties like expansive bathrooms with good lighting and large, interesting public spaces. We had a corner suite (w 2 rooms) that had the new Sweet Sleeper bed. The parlor part of the suite was furnished with pieces that were to look like period pieces, but to my eyes just looked a little tired. In all cases, the furniture and soft goods were in good shape and couldn't have been more than a few years old. I just don't have a solid appreciation for the style of decor.

I guess I'm getting a little jaded. Since I travel literally all the time for work, I have gotten used to the swank and cleverness of the new hotels and generally get really nice rooms. The Commander was just fine, but doesn't match up to my personal preferences --- unless I need to be in Cambridge again, I'll always stay at the Westin Copley when in the area.

[Do NOT take this as a condemnation of the Commander. We were treated well and appreciated the Platinum breakfast in the restaurant over the weekend, since the lounge is closed.]

Just finished another 3-day stay there, my seventh in the last year. I had written in the comments field of the reservation that if an upgrade was available that I'd prefer a room facing Garden Street (rooms ending in 01/02/32/33) in advance of a room on the 6th (top/club) floor.

When I arrived, the shift manager came out to greet me and apologized that the rooms I wanted were already booked, but that he had arranged for a different 2-room suite (645). He said it nice that a guest was enough of a repeat customer to know the hotel layout that well. It was technically a smoking suite, but I couldn't tell even a whiff of smoke so I didn't care. It's an interesting layout - 645/625 wrap around the elevators, and form a three-room complex. They can give the sitting room to either room or to both. 645 has a very large square bathroom (with a window) which I appreciated because many of the Commander's bathrooms are long narrow setups.

The first night, the TV in my bedroom wouldn't work. It wasn't a big deal as I could hear the TV in the other room instead and I just wanted the noise to fall asleep. I stopped by the front desk the next morning and asked them to take care of it. Turns out it was a blown fuse, and when I got back that night I had a message apologizing and asking me if I would prefer 1000 starpoints or $25 off my bill!

My problem with the scenario above is that I am the opposite of the poster. I need absolute SILENCE to be able to even think about getting rest. Thin walls in hotels make me totally crazy. And, the general populus listens to their TVs at volume levels that are ridiculous. Amazing that it pleased this poster, but would've ruined my stay there.

Go figure.

Sorry, I didn't explain that right - I had a two room suite, so I turned the TV on in the living room to normal volume and then I could hear it in the bedroom just enough to fall asleep. No walls involved.

And there's nothing worse than having the guy in the room next to you decide to watch an adult PPV feature just as you're trying to fall asleep and turn up the volume loud enough so that you get to share in his experience.

We are thinking of staying at Commander, anyone know how much taxi is from airport? We are arriving late at night, don't really want to take train or bus. We are visiting Harvard and MIT on the same day, would it be easier to take taxi to MIT, or do they have bus service in Cambridge? Thanks

Taxi from the airport to the Commander should cost about $32-35 including tip - I pay $42 to go to our office in NW corner of Cambridge from the airport, and about $10 for the cab between the office and the Commander. Tell the driver authoritatively that you want the Pike and the Allston exit, otherwise he'll take you on a nice long zigzag. Going to MIT will be more like $25. Just to get in the cab at the airport, it's $6.25 between the airport fee and the tunnel toll.

The train is a PITA - it requires a bus to the train station and two transfers between trains - four vehicles in all. Then you have to walk about four blocks.

On the way back if you leave from the hotel, it's a flat rate if you use a Brattle or Yellow cab (and maybe others but we have an account with those two).

I am trying to book a two-day stay using $$$ on Feb 17 and the SPG website and the people on the phone are telling me that despite the fact that the website says "rates from $265" that the ONLY availability is a "junior suite" at $365. This seems ridiculous.
Any suggestions on whether to call hotel directly and if so who to talk to??

Thanks

I would definitely call the hotel. I have found the front desk staff to be top notch and always willing to help. However, during Harvard events this property does fill up.

Try again using just a one-day stay. There's a glitch in their rate structure which sometimes crops up where the computer can't figure out how to tie together two cheaper rates and therefore goes and fetches the rack rate.

But if there's an event at Harvard, forget about it. I stay there 8-10x/year, but there's usually once or twice/year where they are sold out.

The "junior suite" isn't really that. It's a good oversized room which the property calls an "Executive King."

The "junior suites" that I have stayed in at this property are indeed a single room, though quite large and with a better bathroom (including jacuzzi tub) and a 4 poster bed. Quite nice and roomy but without the privacy of a separate living room. Rates are often high due to demand in the Harvard area.