Hotels in Boston

I'm planning to spend a few days in Boston sometime over the next couple of months and I'm looking at hotels. Most of the central ones are, unsurprisingly, expensive.

I was looking at the Hiltons (because I'm Diamond status) using points but at the moment I only have 27k HHonors points. I also have 7k Marriott points and 10k Starwood points. I'm Club Carlson Gold but have no points.

There are no Accor hotels (what a shame they don't have Happy Monday sales for over there, I'd have loved three nights in an Ibis for 25 quid a night).

By the way, I did check to see if there was any value in buying points with bonuses before those offers expired, but it didn't seem worth it given that there are no low category hotels in Boston.

So, I'm open to suggestions. A challenge for Inside Flyer UK!

 

Hi Litefoot - great choice!

I was there a few weeks ago (second visit) and really like Boston.

Hotels can definitely be expensive - I stayed at the Royal Sonesta (on the Cambridge side) this time because I had a load of free Points from a promo years ago, so saved a bundle.

The first thing I would say is that Boston is very manageable and Uber is extremely good value, so I wouldn't worry too much about location, and would consider looking at Cambridge too if it's cheaper. If you aren't in a hurry, UberPool is fantastic - not just the price, but because it's a good way to see parts of the city you might not otherwise see and to get chatting with locals.

That said, if you don't mind hotel hopping, I'd probably recommend having your first night in Boston itself so you can get a real sense of the place straight away etc..

As regards Points hotels, by mixing your Marriott and SPG balances you should have enough for one night at the Westin Waterfront (depending on when your visit is) or the Marriott Courtyard Downtown.

There might be some Hilton Points + Money options too that can help take the sting out of of one of the night's costs.

I got an awesome Marriott Look No Further (Best rate Guarantee) rate in NYC (~£60 for a great Midtown location) with no hassle at all, so that's something to look into too. Marriott match the rate and take a further 25% off and for US bookings the process is very simple. IHG BRG might also be worth trying (I stayed at the Intercontinental last time and it's great!)

Definitely check hotelscombined etc, as there can be massive price differences between different sites. For example I just looked at a random date in April and the Westin Copley place (l saw it from the outside and it looked good - really near the excellent library) is $126 rather than $300+!

I don't know if you signed up to Club1 when that was free a few months ago? - they might have some decent rates, and priceline/hotwire etc are worth checking too perhaps.

Rates in Boston can be so high that it might be worth looking at buying hotel Points.

Airbnb? - I haven't checked the rates, but could be worth a look.

Hope some of that helps!

 

Thank you! I'm looking into these.

I'm flying out of Dublin with Aer Lingus so I'll probably do an overnight stay in the area. I did consider doing the short hop on the day, but if the flight gets cancelled or delayed, it's just too risky. Any recommendations for a cheap stay? Airport hotel prices are pricey.

Also pondering which of the two Boston flights to get, as I'd rather go when US clearance in Dublin is quieter. I'm guessing it's a lot busier in the morning when most of the US flights depart.

 

My pleasure!

I've not stayed there, but for the airport, the Hilton Dublin Airport looks like decent value using Points. It's a Category 4 (20,000-30,000 Points, and there might be good Points + Money rates sometimes).

There's quite a few Hiltons in Dublin actually and the Points prices vary a lot (30,000-60,000) even for the same hotel on different nights, so depending on when you're going, Points + Money could be worth a look.

If you can complete your IHG Accelerate targets cheaply and have a decent offer (or can find a cheap rate / brg), I really like the Intercontinental Dublin. Not the most convenient location for a one night stay, but a lovely place.

If you haven't booked flights yet, you may also wish to consider flying from Shannon too - there's a couple of Club Carlson hotels round there I seem to remember being quite reasonable (I think I used Points) and pre-clearance was great! That said, I think you should be ok with either flight from Dublin really - certainly beats Heathrow + normal US immigration!

 

I've stayed at the "Envision" hotel in South Boston, which can be reached on the tram. 30,000 Choice Privileges points per night and, if I recall correctly I bought those for 0.5 US cents each during the U.S. Daily Getaways promo.

If budgets are really tight, you can rent a car and stay outside of town.

Otherwise, as Joe mentions just go crazy looking for a BRG...

 

All food for thought, thanks!

Another question. Inbound flight gets into Dublin at half five in the morning. Do any hotels offer day use rooms so I can get some sleep, then catch a late afternoon flight home?

 

I believe the Hilton website lets you book day rooms, unlike most other hotel sites which only do nightly stays. Maybe have a try and see if it shows anything for the airport Hilton on your nights?

 

So they do - €47 on the dates I'm looking at. It's 10am to 6pm though. I wonder if Diamond status might get me in a little earlier.

 

For a day rate with check in that early, it's quite often worth getting in touch with hotels directly to see what they can offer (although I do like that feature on the Hilton website). If a hotel isn't busy and you can get through to someone suitably empowered (reservation manager etc) it can work out quite well. Status is always handy too, of course.

 

Just got off the phone with the BA Call Centre. Was expecting to be charged low taxes + 37.5k avios for a business flight from Boston to Dublin on Monday 13th March (an off peak date). Taxes sounded right (£27.70) but avios was 50k. I asked him to double check and he confirmed that was the price.

Did he make a mistake or is the '37.5k avios' price for business on this route definitely gone now?

 

OK, so I'm looking at recent coverage of the EI changes and I've realised my mistake. I knew the taxes on these routes were still low when you book via the BA call centre, but I assumed that the economy and business miles had stayed the same too. It's just the economy miles that stayed the same. while the business miles went up to 50k. Still a good economy deal though.

 

Yep, unfortunately so.

 

Personally, I'm not a fan of BA/Avios changing the distance rules when it suits them. But, indeed somebody has decided to shift Boston airport a few miles to the west.

I do wonder how long MAD-ORD will survive as one of those exceptions that works in our favour...

 

Totally agree - if they're going to have a distance-based award chart, then they should stick to it.

MAD-ORD will (probably!) be ok I think until the merging of the various avios platforms happens. I'm expecting that to be extremely bad news whenever they get round to it, but hope I'm wrong.

 

Iberia Plus does have priors for moving destinations around reward zones. When they launched Shanghai it had its own reward band, until they brought it back into line with Buenos Aires and Santiago (which IIRC also doesn't follow the usual distance rules either).

 

I've just booked an Aer Lingus DUB-BOS return in economy using avios, through the BA call centre. Just for the record:

The BA call centre is still waiving the booking fee if you ask them (because the flights aren't bookable on ba.com).

The taxes have gone up slightly. It used to be £75 return on this route; it's now £91.40 (63.70 outbound, 27.70 inbound). Better that than the silly taxes Avios.com charges on this route, though!

 

Good point re Shanghai. Frankly, trying to predict anything IAG will do (apart from that things will probably get worse one way or another) is beyond me.

 

How many Avios are BA charging over the phone?

 

13k each way.

 

OK, two free nights sorted, thanks! Trying to find a good option for Saturday night (4th March). All the 'Hotwire' options are secret hotels - any suggestions?