The Westin Boston Waterfront is pretty well sitauted for getting to BOS.

Whatever you do, if you go into town for the night, don't go back to the airport the next day to rent your car. Why pay the fees and surcharges that apply only to airport rentals? IIRC, these are substantial at BOS.

Lots and lots of variables at play here, as others have noted. Many of us here at FT are fairly savvy about these sorts of things .... if you're comfortable telling us a little more about your needs and plans, we'll try our best to help you think things through (publicly!).;)

Honestly, as somebody with a wife and baby myself, if I was in your situation, I'd go ahead and bite the bullet and just stay at the Hilton Boston Logan Airport. Its a very nice, newer hotel, and its the only hotel that you can walk to from the airport terminals. Also on airport propert is the Hyatt Harborside, but you will need a shuttle for that one.

If you insist on staying in a Starwood property, than the Westin Waterfront is the closest to BOS, just on the other side of the Ted Williams Tunnel.

But frankly your life would be a lot easier if you stayed at the Hilton.

Yeah, but if you are going to be in Boston for a couple of days, Harvard Square gets pretty old quickly!

I love how all of us apparently care more than the OP!

I've burned all of my Hilton points over the last 2 months so it's definitely Starwood.

I'm going to Providence the next day. I plan to rent a car instead of taking the train because we'll have a lot of luggage, and 3 train tickets can get expensive. My priorities are 1) not having too long of a cab ride from the airport, 2) a decent hotel (and now that I think of it, I believe that I've stayed at the 4Pts before and didnt love it), 3) a suite so that I can put my son's crib in the other room, 4) breakfast in the hotel, preferably in a lounge/buffet setting and 5) somewhat near a rental car. Lastly, the Westin Waterfront is sold out that night.

Based on what I've read on other threads, it sounds like the Commander is my best choice (there's an Avis in Cambridge). Does that sound right?

The Commander is a reasonable choice. The other reasonable choice would be the Westin Copley (or Sheraton if Westin unavailable). The taxi ride will be about 5 mins longer and about $8-10 more than the cab ride to the Westin Copley. The Commander is a 5-minute walk to the Charles Hotel in Cambridge, which is where you'll find the Avis office. It would be somewhat easier to get on a highway to Providence from the Avis near the Westin, but it's not a big deal. Ask the Avis place for directions to the Mass Pike: follow the Mass Pike west to Rt 95 (also called Rt 128), and follow 95 to Providence. Same directions whether you stay at Westin or at Commander.

(To Bostonians: yeah, I understand that it's a few miles shorter to take the Expressway south, but the easiest route is usually the best route for those unfamiliar w/Boston.)

There's a National Car Rental on Mass Ave not too far from the Commander if you prefer them instead of Avis.

Westin Waterfront is ok but only stay there if you are going to the convention. The Sheraton Copley is awesome. Just got back from a stay there.

I just stayed at Westin Copley on Friday night. Upgraded to a "Jr. Suite" which is just a slightly-larger corner room as Platinum without having to request and upgrade. Great service at check-in, attentive staff, and clean, relatively modern rooms.

My only complaint would be the valet area (was backed up with tour buses, taxis, and full of valet cars when we arrived) - it is too small and not staffed by enough valets to handle all the traffic under the lobby awning when it is raining.

I was not offered any breakfast as a Plat.

I agree that the Sheraton is a well run hotel and they generally are very kind to Platinum guests, as space allows for upgrades. It's not fancy and it 'aint new, but it's a very solid Sheraton and their club lounge is quite good.

As a point of clarification, I'll just add that the Sheraton is actually called the Sheraton BOSTON. Some here on FT refer to it as the Sheraton Copley (which isn't really incorrect) which might cause some to become confused. For the record, it's the Sheraton Boston and the Westin Copley. The walk between the two is quite short.

I've been staying Westin Copley regularly for three years -- breakfast is not a Plat benefit at this property. I've also had them mark my reservation file at the hotel requesting the complimentary Plat water in the room every day, as it tends to be hit and miss otherwise. That's a nice feature, that they can tag your reservation with special requests locally that persists across stays.

Agreed - I had one bottled water in the bathroom with the "free from SPG" tag and two bottles in the main living area at $4.95 each.

:td:
Harvard Square is an amazing place. For me it was pleasant to walk through it

We just stayed at the Westin Copley, paid 12K points plus $35 for an upgrade to Junior Suite (they said it would cost more for a non-gold member).

The hotel was ok but not as good as I expected. The furniture was somewhat worn out, couch and chairs dusty, bathtub was small and very uncomfortable, TV was not working!, also there were some problems with the sink and the toilet. Room service was slow.

We went to see Cambridge/Harvard Square and I liked that location and actually thought we should have stayed at the Commander. It's a good location for nightlife/bars. Copley square location is better if you are in town for shopping.