Boston Marriott Copley Place, Boston

...the Hynes Convention Center in Boston in September 2004. Earlier in the year, our convention committee presented a choice of two hotels, Sheraton Boston and Marriott Copley Place. Before booking, I dashed an email off to the concom, asking whether either of them was haunted. I hit the jackpot at the Royal York in Toronto the previous year, maybe I would this one as well. I was told neither had ghosts. It was discouraging, but when attending a Worldcon, ...
...Many hotels in central Boston usually ask $300-400. Regardless, I wanted to keep my expenses down. In true fannish style, I looked for roommates to split the costs and found a couple, Sionna and Rebecca. Only one was staying for the entire six nights, but such is life in the spec-fi convention world. In order to save us some grief, I asked the Marriott to set up separate accounts for each of us. This allowed us to all check in when we arrived, have ... more

Although my attendance at spec-fi conventions has become more and more limited over the past few years, one I still go out of my way to attend is the World Science Fiction Convention (aka Worldcon). This is the big one, despite a more media-focussed competitor held in the Atlanta area the same weekend attracting a bigger attendance. At least, it is for anyone looking to become a professional in the genre. It is ideal for anyone who wants to network because so many publishers, editors, and agents attend as well. Among Worldcon's other functions, the industry's prestigious Hugo Awards are presented and every member has the opportunity to nominate and vote on who they believe are the best candidates for each category. It is also a convention that's located in a different locale every year, and amongst the host committee's duties is to secure the facilities with an adequate block of hotel rooms for its members who are traveling from out of town. The 62nd installment of Worldcon (aka Noreascon 4) was held at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston in September 2004. Earlier in the year, our convention committee presented a choice of two hotels, Sheraton Boston and Marriott Copley Place. Before booking, I dashed an email off to the concom, asking whether either of them was haunted. I hit the jackpot at the Royal York in Toronto the previous year, maybe I would this one as well. I was told neither had ghosts. It was discouraging, but when attending a Worldcon, staying at one of its hotels is part of the atmosphere. By the time I acquired that info, the party hotel had been fully booked. I took a room at the Marriott. Big chains hotels usually bore me, but I have never been more impressed with how well the front desk kept up with the complicated bookkeeping details of my room.

At $144 per night, I later learned that the concom had negotiated an excellent rate for its members. Many hotels in central Boston usually ask $300-400. Regardless, I wanted to keep my expenses down. In true fannish style, I looked for roommates to split the costs and found a couple, Sionna and Rebecca. Only one was staying for the entire six nights, but such is life in the spec-fi convention world. In order to save us some grief, I asked the Marriott to set up separate accounts for each of us. This allowed us to all check in when we arrived, have our own keys, and not need to wait around for someone to let us in our room. I also let the ladies know I planned on reviewing the hotel after our stay and asked if they arrived before I did to keep the room as intact as possible. I wanted my initial impression to be as close to what the hotel prepared as possible.

MY ARRIVAL

My journey into Logan International went without incident. Another San Jose couple who was also attending Noreascon happened to be on the same flight as me. One of them had lived in Boston before and were a big help when I had decided to take the T to the Prudential Center. However, their knowledge was no longer as intimate as it used to be. Once we climbed the stairs to the streets, we still had to ask a couple of pedestrians for directions to our hotels. After about 15-20 minutes of wandering around the streets with my luggage, I walked into the lobby of the Marriott Copley Place. I later learned that the Copley Square stop may have been the best place for me to alight, whereas they were staying at the Sheraton.

The Marriott's lobby was heavily decorated with tiles. The lobby seemed smaller than I'm used to seeing in a big chain, 4-star hotel, but it was still attractive in its muted shades of tan and brick. With 38 stories, its space spread up instead of horizontally. The lobby was actually a two-level construction. Registration and the concierge was at street level, along with an entrance to one of its restaurants, Champions. The second story opened into the Prudential Center shopping mall, as well as having entrances to its other food establishments, Gourmeli's, Starbucks, The Sushi Bar, and the Terrace Bar.

When arriving for one of these genre conventions, hotel checkin is usually easy enough. They found my reservation without a problem. I asked if Sionna had arrived yet and was given an affirmative. They handed me my cardkey and, not requiring the help of a porter, I was on my way to the tenth floor. The elevator bay had quite a few available, but not all of them accessed the tenth floor. I had to ensure the one I took went where I wanted. As I walked through the corridors and found room 1039, everything looked clean and good condition. After my experience with a Days Inn in Orlando the previous May, I appreciate seeing management show more care in their facility. I opened the door and immediately saw Sionna sitting on the bed, apparently waiting for me. I had never meant to make her so tense about it.

THE ROOM

Although it was clean and well-kept, room 1039 still had cookie-cutter decor, looking little different than any other room in that hotel with the same features. It had two queen-size beds covered with a multi-colored print duvet. The walls were off-white with a leafy sandstone print wallpaper. The stripe trim had a weavy sort of design. The blue print carpet was primarily a shade somewhere between royal and navy. The curtains and bedskirting had colorful vertical stripes. Instead of a desk, this room provided a rectangular hall table, with a shorter and wider one underneath it. The TV cabinet had the appearance of six drawers, but one side was actually a door that concealed the minibar. Also furnished was an overstuffed upholstered chair, floor lamp, end table, and nightstand.

As a fan of B&Bs and independently-run hotels, this room had all of the personality of the corporation that manages it. Nice clean lines and efficient. Unlike so many of the historical hotels I have visited, it was too new to acquire much of an intriguing background. On the other hand, I'm an oddball in my preferences.

Some of the room's amenities could be found in its closet, including a luggage rack. The iron and ironing board saw some action from us. Sionna is a costumer, so it was a very important feature for her. The iron was particularly kewl because it kept its cord on a housed spool. (It was such a handy design that I kept it in mind when I needed to buy myself a new one shortly after this trip.)

The bathroom was comparable to what could be found in most American homes. It was an average size, neither too big nor small. The wallpaper had a green and off-white print of crosshatching leaves and berries. The tub was set into a tiled alcove with the shower faucet sprouting out of the wall above that of the tub taps. It shared the room with the toilet and sink vanity. The basin was set in a faux marble counter. A hairdryer was mounted to the wall by the mirror. On the counter was a coffeemaker with all of the necessary accessories. Amongst the courtesy supplies the management provided were lotion, shampoo, conditioner, shower cap, soap, and a shoe mit.

For the most part, the bathroom functioned just fine; however, the water pressure for the shower was poor. I had to set it to massage mode to work efficiently. The room also had no accommodation for ventilation.

LIVING IN ROOM 1039

By the end of the first day of the convention Sionna and I were wondering what happened to Rebecca. The door finally opened around 9 or 10 p.m. Our third roommate looked relieved to be there, after her long drive from New York state. She was followed by a porter with a trolley. I knew there would be lots of stuff strewn around the room, between all of the hobbies we had. I was really impressed at how well the chambermaids were able to keep up around us. We were leaving tips for them, but I can imagine we made them work for it.

As I checked my email on one of the terminals provided by Noreascon for its members, someone asked if I still had space available in the room. Knowing the other ladies were up for it, I said sure. This was life at a science fiction convention. I quickly went to the front desk and asked them to add another name to our room for the last three nights of our stay. I watched as they included our new fourth, also named Rebecca. What was even more interesting was learning that our add-on roommate was a young doctor who was in a transitive stage in her career. It sounded like that desk clerk was on top of things, but I skeptically believed that paying my bill would take at least half an hour to explain all of this when I checked out.

On Friday or Saturday, I returned to the room late one afternoon to find that some things we had shoved into a corner had been moved about. There was also some dampness in the carpet. When I saw Sionna later that evening, she told me that the air conditioner had been leaking. I suppose that should have been expected as we kept it running continuously since we entered the room. Sionna said she called maintenance, who had someone up within a half hour. Problems can occur in rooms at any time, so for me a lot depends on management's response once a reasonable complaint is made. Considering how quickly they responded to Sionna's call and we never had to deal the problem again, Marriott Copley Place deserves some applause.

THE LOCALE

Even though the Marriott had five food concessionaires, the only one I really took advantage of was Starbuck's, which was on the lobby's border with Prudential Center. The coffee and service was little different than what I've dealt with in any other Starbuck's shop in North America, so it always comforting having something that resembles home when traveling long distances. I did notice that Gourmeli's was a very popular place for brunch. The line for a table was quite long on Sunday.

The Prudential Center and Back Bay area of Boston has restaurants all over the place. Among some of those I ate at were Legal Seafood, California Pizza Kitchen, Cheers, and the food court at the Prudential Center. A Shaw's supermarket was across the street from the hotel and it was a good place to go for snacks.

The Prudential Center connected the Marriott, Sheraton, and the Hines Convention Center into a single complex, so we walked through the corridors of stores to attend programming without any need to walk out on the streets. The mall had many contemporary shopping mainstays, such as Bath & Body Works, Barnes & Noble, and Lord & Taylor, as well as a few special to the New England region. Basically, it's a great place for power shopping. The Prudential Tower was an attraction itself. Tickets were sold for a trip to the top, but I never pursued that one. The mall was also a start point for several tours of Boston, including the popular Duck Tours. Newbury Street was a few blocks away and I enjoyed seeing all of the shops and restaurants in this pretty little neighborhood.

At the top of my list of things to do in Boston was take the self-guided tour of the Freedom Trail. The start point for it was the info center at Boston Common, which would have been a little too far to walk before actually starting, so I took the T from Copley Square to the Park Street station. Boston is a lovely walking city. The only city in California where residents can conveniently live without a car is San Francisco, but woe to those who have reason to leave the city.

THE REAL TEST--CHECKOUT

The day after the convention, three of us still remained in room 1039 and we all checked out. Rebecca had left the day before, because she had to rush home and prepare her kids for school the next day. Dr. Rebecca was the first to leave on Tuesday, efficiently packing up so she could go home and make plans for her new position. Sionna and I bustled around the room shoving our things back into our suitcases so we could meet our noon check-out deadline. We had both scheduled our flights late that day so we could do a bit of sightseeing before we left. The hotel graciously held our luggage that day while we ran around town before it was time to leave.

As I checked out, I had expected to spend at least half hour explaining to the front desk how the four of us had separate accounts. Two people had not spent the entire the six nights there and I drew up a little diagram to explain who spent which nights. To my surprise, they already had all the details straight and I had to clarify nothing. Perhaps they dealt with science fiction conventions before, but it seems like every time I've been in a room situation like this explaining the complicated details was a major job I had to take on for lessening the costs. Maybe it was because my roommates and didn't run up any additional charges, but I was impressed nonetheless. Every time I have left special instructions with the front desk of any big chain hotel in the past they were forgotten as soon as the next shift took over. Lots of kudos to the Marriott Copley Place on this one.

THE BOTTOM LINE

The Marriott Copley Place has 1,100 rooms and 47 suites. Checkin is 4 p.m. and checkout is 12 p.m. No pets are allowed, but service animals are permitted for folks with disabilities. Among some of the features the rooms include are air conditioning and individual climate control, alarm clock, coffeemaker, iron with ironing board, color TV with cable features and VCR player, hairdryer, and phone with voicemail. An internet browser/web TV was available, but I never took advantage of it. Cribs, rollaway beds and refrigerators are available, but need to be requested. (I expect the fridge would be an additional charge.) Among the hotel's complimentary services are free newspapers and toll-free phone calls. Also available was a health club, full-service business center, indoor pool, hot tub, and sauna. For dining, the hotel provides room service, four restaurants, and a coffee shop.

When I returned home and had my film developed, the Marriott surprised me again. I had quickly taken a few pictures of our room so I could refer to them while writing this review. One of them showed a blotch of white defecting my image. The photos I took around Boston produced more spirit shots than I have brought home before, but this one made me wonder. The more I look at it, though, the more I believe that my camera's cord was in the way. Sometimes when objects get too close to the lens when the flash goes off, they reflect as white on the exposed film. They sure can look spooky once the film developed. In the aftermath of my stay, I received a call from a Marriott solicitor trying to sell me a visit at another of the chain's properties. He soon cut the conversation short when I started asking about the spirit photo I took at their Copley Place location. Despite this, I highly recommend the Marriott Copley Place for anyone who's okay with big chain hotels.

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Originally posted at Epinions on May 5, 2005. 

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