UALkid1

I am going up this weekend and just wanted to see if anyone had any advice on parking as I heard the Sheraton Boston hotel is pretty expensive.

toolz

You'll have the same problems with the Westin Copley. Parking in Boston is pretty bad overall. Across from the Sheraton Boston are two pay lots where you can self-park but you'll have no in and out privileges.

Meter parking is 2 hour limit and you pay a quarter for every 15 minutes. Sunday you get free parking but good luck. Might try parking Saturday evening on Newbury after the restaurants are closed and walk over to your hotel.

sbtinme

Be advised that the 24 hour charge for parking is about $40, but over the years, I've simply resigned myself to paying it. To attempt to avoid the $40 cost would involve much more hassle, IMO, than it's worth.

I don't want to have to constantly be feeding meters or moving my car after 10pm to open spots, etc. Some might, but the $40 is well spent money for the total convenience and security of it all. Just my $00.02.

If I'm there on business, the company covers the cost, of course. If I'm there on pleasure, I don't want an added hassle of having to worry about my car's parking spot.

sxpsxpsxp

Well, I'll just add my bit to this thread.

Sheraton Boston -- stayed here a LOT last year and was always treated very well. If you're not on the club floor it can feel a bit worn, though.

Westin Copley -- has been years since I stayed here, so don't have recent comments. I understand they have a ton of corner junior suites that they give to Plats.

Sheraton Commander -- my main complaint about this property was that it was just very noisy. One night I actually felt the building and my bed vibrating as a truck went by on the street. The staff were very nice, though.

Sheraton Newton -- it's a dump.

sbtinme

Well, not really. I believe that there are just 18 or so of these corner jr suites and there are plenty of Plat members who'll tell you that they rarely get to see one! I've stayed in these rooms over the years and enjoyed them; while they are comfortable and have some extra room, they are not, by any standard, extra spacious or luxurious. Was disappointed to find that the junior suite bathrooms are standard in every way.

MarkXS

Westin Waterfront is nowhere near the North End. And though there's the Silver Line as TrishBOS pointed out, just steps away from the hotel, it's a double-connection (no charge but a PITA) first to the Red Line to South Station, then to either the Orange or Green Line to Haymarket, to get anywhere near the North End.

I lived for a year on Salem Street just down from the Old North Church. Walked to work downtown. Passed so many cannoli shops (well, didn't pass all of them) that I put on more weight than I walked off. Maybe walking all the way back from the North End to the Westin (which is in South Boston) might have done the trick.

The only restaurants of any note near the Westin Waterfront, in walking distance, are the No Name on the Fish Pier, and Legal Seafood's hip trendy not-much-seafood Legal Test Kitchen LTK. Maybe Aura at the Seaport Hotel, if you want pricey hotel-food that's different from Sauciety at the Westin. For lunch, Pressed Sandwiches (around the corner from LTK) is pretty decent.

prosen

Honestly when in Boston just give up on eating good healthy food. The north end has a rep for "good italian". Having been to 3 of the top rated I can safely say that this is a total fabrication.

Boston is utterly lacking when it comes to it's restaurants. The lack of good sushi is especially noticeable.

Seattlenerd

Try Osushi right next to the Westin in Copley Square.

mpagefromord

There are approximately six junior suites per floor and with about 30 floors of rooms that's about 180 or so units. I've spent well over 100 nights at the Westin Copley, scored about a 90% success rate as a Plat into an upgrade and I think it is a very good hotel. Yes, the jr. suites are not anything but larger rooms (except for the '01 units which actually have two separate areas). But from a location and quality point of view this hotel is pretty consistent. The Commander and the Sheraton Back Bay are ok, but they are Sheratons. I would rather stay in a junior suite at the Westin Copley, instead of scoring a really big suite at a lower class hotel which both Sheraton's clearly are in my opinion.

The Westin Waterfront is not real close to anything but maybe the Children's Museum and the new Convention Center (not the old Hynes which is located in the Back Bay) so I've not spent any nights there.

Regardless of your choices, Boston is an expensive hotel city. Consistent demand from biz travelers, frequent mid sized conventions and a rather limited supply of overall available rooms translates into one of the most costly room night cities in the states.

sbtinme

I just pulled my old Westin directories (pre-Starwood) and see that this property showed 45 suites in very early 1994 (possibly the end of 1993) That was the last directory published by Westin before the integration.

(Edited to add: the only reason that is significant is that Starwood no longer consistently makes public the number of suites in any given property. That's why the old directories come in handy!)

I, too, have stayed at this hotel over the years -- all of which were at the highest level of the Westin Premier Program or, following that, SPG. I'm not sure where the 6 junior suites are per floor, as I have only consistently known of two per floor. I have had the great fortune of scoring the exceptionally rare upgrade to their Imperial Suite (or whatever name it has now), which was nice.

There may, indeed, be some floors with differing room layouts, but I stand behind my statement that most floors have 2 junior suites on the end. And, even then not each floor has junior suites on the side of the hotel directly facing Copley Square. (For example, I've been in meetings before on the 5th floor in a boardroom where the junior suites would have been.)

In any case, I'm not aware of any Westin globally with a suite/standard room ratio of 180/800. That's 22.5% of total room inventory as some manner of suite. Given the consistently tight reviews here on FT over many years about Plat upgrades, I'm inclined to think the 45 number is closer.

andymo99

Oishii.
Fugakyu.

Not quite on the same level:
Sakurabana.
Uni (with Clio at Eliot Hotel).


Those are all outstanding sushi options. There are plenty more ordinary ones that meet the "good" requirement you note in your post.

ldsant

Where have you been trying to eat?! I think there are some EXCELLENT restaurants in BOS. Lack of sushi - not sure I'd pick BOS for sushi, but that's because I live in SEA where the sushi is great!

sbtinme

This is an astonishing statement.

itsaboutthejourney

Cracker Barrel is about the only restaurant that Boston is lacking, actually maybe not exactly "lacking".

Have you tried:
Legal Seafood
Davios
Olives (Todd English)
Bonfire (Todd English)
Mike's Pastry
L'Espalier
Mistral
Sonsie
Jae's
Anthony's Pier 4
Icarus
Hamersly's Bistro
Oishii
Faneuil Hall's eateries
even Turner Fisheries @ the Westin Copley Place is a destination for many.

Occupationalhazard

Y'know, I don't know if they still do this, but BU used to house its "overflow"--i.e. students for whom there was not yet on-campus housing available--in the Sheraton. That means in Sept-Oct, there would be lots of college students at the Sheraton, with the associated drinking/noise etc. OTOH, there would also be co-eds, so you pays your dime and takes your chances. *shrugs*

On one stay there, I parked on the street (arrived late, and found a spot right across the street from the hotel), on the first night, then paid for parking over the next few nights. A charge for the first night was later added to my bill, but was removed with no trouble.

O/H