cwerdna

I've got a trip to Boston for about 4 days, later this month, as a tourist. I've never been to Boston before and am unsure where to stay. I'll be flying to Boston but don't plan on renting a car. I hope to depend on public transportation and a minimum of cabs.

I haven't figured out what I'm going to see yet, but I will go through the list at http://www.frommers.com/destinations...4_indattr.html in descending order of stars. I do know plan to take campus tours of MIT and Harvard (for fun, I graduated from college ages ago) but those aren't the only two things I'll do.

I've had reasonably good luck w/Priceline before (I'm very familiar with the advanced free re-bid algorithm). What zones should I pick or avoid based upon the above or should I not bother and just stick to sites like Expedia? I'm not looking for lap of luxury (places like La Quinta, Marriott Courtyard, Holiday Inn and their Express hotels are fine) but value, personal safety and proximity to public transit are important.

To save time, here are screenshots of Priceline's zones.
[img=http://img37.imageshack.us/img37/8725/boston1.th.jpg]
[img=http://img836.imageshack.us/img836/4818/boston2.th.jpg]
Thanks in advance!

snod08

have you looked at betterbidding.com? they have a sorted list of what property you will most likely get. very useful info.

cwerdna

Not until now (for Boston). I do see the list at http://www.betterbidding.com/index.php?showtopic=82& but since I'm completely unfamiliar w/the area, I'm not sure it's that helpful.

lo2e

Since you want to depend on public transportation, I would only bid in these zones:

Harborfront/Aquarium
Waterfront/Convention Center
Copley Square/Theatre District
Fenway Park
Quincy Market/Faneuil Hall/Financial

Any others and you could be a quite long walking distance to the nearest T stop.

JY1024

If you're there to be touristy, I'd hands-down recommend that you shoot for "Copley Square/Theatre District" as your first choice (by a long shot).

My next choice would be "Quincy Market/Faneuil Hall/Financial"...hotels in the Quincy Market and Faneuil Hall areas are good. Financial District puts you a little further away from the "action," but public transportation is still convenient.

Some people don't mind the "Waterfront/Convention Center" area, but I personally wouldn't recommend it. The hotels are nice, but not terribly convenient to access restaurants, touristy locales, or different public transportation options.

cwerdna

Big thank you to lo2e and JY1024! Your replies were very helpful. I think I will have to go with Priceline after reading about the >$200 avg room rate in 2008 at http://www.frommers.com/destinations...004010027.html and browsing the rates at Expedia on a map.

I wasn't expecting Holiday Inn or Express variants to be $250+/night.

Geez! I didn't realize that hotels in Boston were so expensive.

lo2e

Fall is one of the most expensive times of the year, believe it or not.

cwerdna

Thanks for the suggestions. I've run out of bids for "Copley Square/Theatre District" (shooting for 3*) and "Quincy Market/Faneuil Hall/Financial" (shooting for 3.5*) for now and need to wait for Priceline.

I moved my trip around to get cheaper NYC area rooms (already booked those thru Hotwire so I can't move them) and my Philly rooms are set in stone now (by Priceline). My plans are fly to Boston > bus/train NYC > bus/train to Philly, fly out of Philly.

That means I'm staying in Boston from 10/20 thru 25. Then I stumbled across http://www.betterbidding.com/index.p...wtopic=111922& about the weekend of Head of the Charles Regetta being expensive. Grrr... I may have traded one set of expensive rooms for another.

Are there any other areas I should consider that maybe aren't "near the action" or touristy spots but have good public transit access to them? Or, is it possibly too tough given the size of the zones? I may have to resort to them in order to keep from blowing a ton of $.

On Hotwire, if I choose Back Bay - Copley Square, Boston Common - Theatre, and Quincy Market - Financial and sort by price for that time period, the cheapest is $246/night.

I see Priceline lists these other areas that look somewhat close to Boston and each has their own zones:
- Boston Metro - South has zones Braintree - Quincy, Needham - Dedham - Norwood, Stoughton - Rockland
- Boston Metro-West has zones Bedford - Burlington, Lexington - Concord, Natick - Framingham - Sudbury, Newton - Waltham
- Boston North Shore has zones Beverly - Salem - Peabody, Danvers - Peabody, Saugus, Woburn - Wakefield

Don't bother w/these areas via Priceline? (Have no idea if they offer shuttles when bidding on Priceline.)

mareh

Some (not all) of those towns are on commuter rail, and I believe Quincy is on the subway, but you will not be very close to Boston at all. I'd be shocked if hotels in any of the listed towns have shuttles into Boston. Most of the hotels will not be within walking distance to public transportation either. If you get a rental vcar, parking at some commuter rail lots fills up early every weekday morning.

cwerdna

On Hotwire, last night and today, I spotted a hotel in "Peabody - Danvers - Wakefield area Hotel" for $59/night and it looked like "Crowne Plaza Hotel
BOSTON NORTH SHORE" from the hotel list at http://www.betterbidding.com/index.php?showtopic=69&. Unfortunately, it got a lot of bad reviews at http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev...achusetts.html.

I called them about a shuttle and they said they have one to take people to a commuter rail station but they said it's on an as needed basis and if there's someone to drive it. I got the impression that they could probably take me to the train station but coming back is iffy. They said that I should give ~1 hour to get to Boston (~45 minutes being the train ride). A cab would be ~$18 from the rail station back to the hotel.

I think I'll have to scratch that.

longwaybackhome

I wish you luck finding a hotel room on Head of the Charles weekend. For the record, even the $hit-tastic Best Western a few blocks from me is sold out.

cwerdna

I might be able to move around my trip (again) w/the Boston part being 11/1 to 11/5 to avoid the Charles weekend. It's not ideal, but might be worth it.

Side question: How about trying to book or bid on rooms in Priceline's zone 10 (Revere - Logan Airport) or Hotwire's "Logan Intl Airport BOS - Saugus"?

I'd imagine that many/most airport hotels have free airport shuttles. It sounds like the public transportation situation from the airport into Boston isn't so bad, am I right? Should I be concerned about the bounds of Priceline's zone 10 or Hotwire's zone?

avengerp

Try lastminutetravel.com

I'll be in Boston for the Charles weekend, and they appear to offer 3-star downtown for $144 a night (about $165 after fees). That's somewhat better than what I could find otherwise.

I'm giving it a try. Never used the site before but people seem to have decent luck with it.

lo2e

You're correct that the public transport options from the airport are quite good, but the Fairfield Inn Boston North charges $5 for the shuttle, and they're just barely within zone 10, on the very northern tip of it. The way to avoid this would be to bid higher than 2.5* in that zone, though I'm not sure if any other hotels charge for it.

cwerdna

Ok, I moved my trip around so I'm in Boston 11/1 to 11/6 after doing a whole bunch more unsuccesfull bidding in the earlier recommended zones, Boston airport (Priceline's zone 10) and South Boston (zone 11). I think I went as high as $97 in airport and South Boston zones, to no avail.

I finally ended up with Courtyard By Marriott South Boston (3* zone 11) and it was only $75/night + tax/fees. Total is $441.10 for 5 nights. It looks like hotel has decent T access.

I didn't know how much I'd have to go to win w/my earlier dates, but that difference already is pretty big when one is staying 5 nights.