Good stay (late March 08) at this Back Bay hotel. I was here for five nights for a professional conference. As Mrs. G is in the same profession, we both participated, and had Kiddo along as well. I’ve stayed here before, but it’s been 5+ years.

Our conference drew about 1000 people. All meetings and our exhibit hall were on-site. Hotel handled our conference, and a couple of smaller ones, effortlessly, and you really didn’t notice the size of the hotel.

Lobby looking a little dated now, but certainly well maintained. Elevators, in spite of there being, what, a dozen?, are painfully slow. Excellent sushi restaurant, with staff that happily provided loads of edamame for Kiddo. Arigato gozaimasu, guys! Our conference included a lot of food/drinks, so did not spend time in lobby restaurant or bar. Many restaurants in the adjacent malls, though.

I’m Silver with Marriott, and successfully begged for one of the corner rooms mentioned in other postings. Yes, much larger, and had great space for Kiddo’s rollaway. We had Concierge Lounge access, which is helpful for morning beverages and munchies.

The room was an ok mix of Marriott 1.0 and 2.0. They still had the Desk That Works, which is great when I’m on solo travel, but not helpful with multiple folks in the room. The bed was the new Revive bedding, which was nice, and the bathroom vanity/counter/mirror was new. Carpet, wallpaper, armoire with tube tv, all still waiting patiently for their kiss at the pig. A small fridge was brought in for Kiddo’s stuff, and no charge, so that was nice.

Internet is wired, and strong… happy here. There is a Starbucks in the lobby, but which serves TWO different malls, so continually busy, with folks lined up. There is a Legal Seafood in one of the malls, which is one of the best reasons available for visiting Boston.

The grocery store across the street was great.

Front desk was crisp both on check-in and –out. .

You know, maybe I’ve been staying in too many nice hotels outside the US lately. This was a solid, uneventful stay at a clean, well maintained Marriott. There was, however, no “wow” to it. No turndown chocolates, no extra effort, nothing to make me feel that my business was appreciated. So, for a US hotel, it probably warrants a full 3.5 rating, but I just can’t give it a 4.0. To be clear… I’d happily return here. Would be a great location if I was touristing Boston!