Where to Stay - Boston 2009 - page 65

Tips for Last-Minute Planners
You waited until the last minute and you can't find a room. What to do?
• Call the Hotel Hot Line ( & 800/777-6001 ). A service of the Greater Boston
Convention & Visitors Bureau ( & 888/SEE-BOSTON or 617/536-4100; www.
bostonusa.com), it can help make reservations even during the busiest times.
It's staffed weekdays until 8pm, weekends until 4pm.
• If you're driving from the west, stop at a Massachusetts Turnpike rest area in
Natick, Charlton, or Lee and try the reservation service at the visitor informa-
tion center.
• If you arrive at Logan Airport without a room reservation (you daredevil),
ask the staff at the Visitor Service Center in Terminal C for help.

Tips

potential bonus: Hotels with a common
corporate parent may offer some flexibil-
ity. For instance, if one Starwood (Shera-
ton, Westin, or Le Méridien) property is
overbooked, management can whisk you
off to an affiliate and save you the trouble
of calling around.
Besides Starwood, other chains operat-
ing in and around Boston include leisure-
oriented Best Western, Holiday Inn,
Radisson, and Ramada; boutique-hotel
pioneer Kimpton; luxury operators Fair-
mont, Four Seasons, InterContinental,
Jurys Doyle (an Irish chain), Mandarin
Oriental, Ritz-Carlton, and Sonesta; and
business-traveler magnets Hilton, Hyatt,
and (in all its incarnations) Marriott.
The scarcest lodging option in the
immediate Boston area is the moderately

priced chain motel, a category almost
completely driven out by soaring real
estate prices. And brands that are bar-
gains elsewhere may be pricey here—
twice what you're used to paying, if not
more—especially at busy times.
Rates in this chapter are for a double
room; if you're traveling alone, single
rates are almost always lower. The rates
given here do not include the 5.7% state
hotel tax. Boston and Cambridge add a
2.75% convention center tax on top of
the 4% city tax, making the total tax
12.45%. Not all suburbs impose a local
tax, so some towns charge only the state
tax. These listings cover Boston, Cam-
bridge, and Brookline. If you plan to visit
a suburban town and want to stay
overnight, see chapter 11 for suggestions.

1 Saving on Your Hotel Room
The rack rate is the maximum rate that a hotel charges for a room. Hardly anybody
pays it, however, except sometimes in high season. To lower the cost of your room:
• Ask for a rate, then ask about special rates or other discounts. You may qual-
ify for corporate, student, military, senior/AARP, AAA, or other discounts. Nail
down the standard rate before you ask for your discount.
• Book online. Many hotels offer Internet-only discounts or supply discounted
rooms to Priceline, Hotwire, or Expedia at rates much lower than the ones you
can get through the hotel or chain. Some chains guarantee that the price on their
websites is the lowest available; check anyway.
• Dial direct. When booking a room in a chain hotel, you'll often get a better deal
from the hotel's reservation desk than from the chain's main number.