I missed out on the Westin this year due to the whole debacle that was. We've stayed there the last 3 of 5 years (when it was at the Hynes the first year we stayed way south of the city for cheapness and lack of understanding of how awesome it would be).
So we managed to book the Hilton Doubletree in Backbay. I almost don't want to review how nice it was, because it will definitely be my go-to back up for future years. It was one of the cheaper options available too which was awesome.
The downside was it had no shuttle, but parking at the hotel was only 12$, and parking at the BCEC was $12, so we still spent way less on parking than we did at the Westin! The hotel is a short 10 minute/under 3 mile (like 15 minutes on Friday with work day traffic) drive from the BCEC through South Boston. No problems there at all. It's also a short 5 minute walk to the JFK redline stop for the T if you dont want to drive. It was an easy enough drive we didn't need the GPS after the first day. And driving let us use the car as a 'homebase' for dropping purchases, swag, and getting food we had brought instead of needing to use the bag check.
The hotel gave us a minifridge for only 10$ for the whole 3 night stay. This was awesome because right next to that T stop is a Star Market grocery store, so we got yogurt and fruit for breakfast for the stay and snacks and what not. Also, free doubletree cookies are always awesome.
There's no free wifi in the rooms, but they did tell us there was free wifi in the lobby area. We didn't use it, so I can't comment.
Bed was a super comfy pillow top, and the hotel was nice and quiet. I love the Westin, but sometimes people can be kinda loud - especially Sat night. And I like my sleep as I'm an old lady, and like to be at the Con early. So being a little bit aways, and quiet, was nice. The hotel had a lot of exhibitors we noticed, including the entire twitch.tv crew apparently.
Staff were nice, though very overwhelmed on Thursday. Their manager said some large con was just ending Thursday, so they were swamped with people leaving, racing to clean rooms as the PAXers arrived early. We had a wait for our room, which was fine because we went walking to an amazing bahn mi place that was only a mile away (and so so so delicious). They seemed a little overwhelmed with upgrades, phone calls from desperate people needing rooms, and problems with OnPeak, but were ok after Thursday.
The hotel is also only 3 miles from the Franklin park zoo, so we did that Thursday which was awesome /bionerd
So yeah, Hilton Doubletree Backbay is a nice place to stay. I missed the whole Westin culture and soaking in pure-PAX-ness the whole weekend, but it was a good hotel and no problems and saved us a bit of money from our usual Westin stay.
Same thing happened for me. I reserved a room with two double beds, but what I got was a room with a Queen size bed. Not a big deal since I shared it with my roommate but it wasn't what I wanted.
So we managed to book the Hilton Doubletree in Backbay.
It's actually the Doubletree Bay Side. Back Bay is a different area of the city, near the Hynes where PAX East was it's first year. I was confused at first because I couldn't imagine a hotel in Back Bay charging so little for parking
Glad you had an awesome stay there, Doubletrees are often great hotels for their rates.
Stayed at the Westin for the first time this year (got uber lucky during the registration craziness), and have nothing but positive things to say. Room was nice, free coffee/water bottles, and they let me check out at 2PM on Sunday instead of noon, which was a great perk since I had a panel I wanted to attend that ended right at 11:30AM, which would have made things tight if I didn't check out very early.
I enjoyed my stay at the Seaport last year, too, and am glad to hear they're improving even more. I'll be looking to stay at either of these hotels next year--both were a good experience.
I will say--the Seaport is a little closer to "convenience" stores, such as the Dunkins, 7-11, and J. Pace + Son who makes great sandwiches and fair prices...also surprisingly decent breakfast pancakes! (8 slices of bacon ARE YOU SERIOUS?) Westin, however, being attached to the center meant I could basically spend an extra ~5-10 minutes during a bathroom break to not wait in lines, hit the hotel, and just relax for a few minutes if I had the time. Very nice to not have to walk 5-10 minutes to do that.
Really enjoyed my stay at the Renaissance this year.
I've stayed at the Westin all the previous years (except 2010), and while the connection it has to the BCEC is a huge boon, the Renaissance's proximity to restaurants and other businesses might be a better convenience in my mind, considering the walk to PAX is not bad at all.
Plus, it has (!) cell phone reception. Something that was never in plentiful supply in my years at the Westin.
Looking forward to 2015! It may be too hopeful to wish we'll have new hotels to choose from by then...
Glad the reception was good for someone. My wife and I have Aio (uses AT&T towers) and found that we only had reception on the side of the hotel opposite our room. The folks with Verizon had a real hard time with reception.
Which made it really difficult when 9 of us got stuck in the elevator as it broke.
I think I may have answered my own question after starting my post on my trip.
There is a master switch in the rooms that turns everything on and off. I have a feeling that switch also controls the plug that the minifridge plugged into so everytime we turned that off we were turning off the fridge.. thus making us have to keep restarting it later on.. I can't believe I didn't make that connection till now.
If that's the case I hope this helps anyone in the future who stays there and I'll try to remember this if we ever stay there again haha.
My group and I stayed at the Park Plaza for the first time. For the most part everything was alright: they had the double beds we asked for and brought up mini-fridges and a microwave we requested for no extra cost. The rooms were a bit tight on space with 4 people sharing a room and we had a lot of trouble finding a place to play tabletop games with 6-7 of us. The lobby's tables were way too tiny for that many people/certain games so one night we decided to play a game of Red Dragon Inn in the hallway in an alcove near the elevators (away from the rooms). We were having a great time until a clearly non-PAX guest came up to our floor and harassed us (and later threatened to assault one of us). No fault of the hotel, for sure, but certainly put some stress on us as to where to game thereafter.
When I checked out I saw that one of the rooms (my room) was charged for a breakfast at their restaurant which we certainly didn't order. The front desk asked me a couple of questions when I pointed this out to them but more or less removed the charge with little hassle.
I'm tempted to stay here again if only because it is the first shuttle stop on route 3 in the morning.
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Lady LilybellGeeky Crafter & BakerSouth Shore, MARegistered Userregular
We stayed at the Westin in Copley since we missed out on the closer hotels. I have no idea where our fellow attendees were but we never saw a soul in the hotel the three nights we stayed. The staff came off very stuck up. We checked three backpacks, one suitcase and a stack of boxes strapped to a cart Thursday morning with the luggage hold until we could check in. We tipped well but were given very cold shoulders and looks.
They charged us for two out of three night, a week before the convention started. We asked when we arrived and was given some bs "hotel policy when rooms booked through third party (onpeak)." We have stayed at the Westin Waterfront since the con moved to the BCEC and have had them put a one night hold until check in.
Hotel room was nice and roomy. The floor was quiet. We just felt like we were half way across the country from the convention.
I ♥ making awesome crafts! I ♥ my Cookie Brigaders!
We stayed at the Westin in Copley since we missed out on the closer hotels. I have no idea where our fellow attendees were but we never saw a soul in the hotel the three nights we stayed. The staff came off very stuck up. We checked three backpacks, one suitcase and a stack of boxes strapped to a cart Thursday morning with the luggage hold until we could check in. We tipped well but were given very cold shoulders and looks.
I've heard about other issues with Copley as well, I know someone who was told after the Friday of PAX a few years ago that "Your room isn't available any more" and they had to get help from onPeak to find another room that same night.
If you're unable to get a hotel near the BCEC and are looking in the Copley area, I've been at the Colonnade Hotel twice for PAX (it's barely a block from Copley, right across the street from the mall) and it's great! Costs a little more, but you get free wifi in your room with the iPrefer membership program (totally free, I was signed up within 30 seconds) and they have treated me very well for both stays.
If you're unable to get a hotel near the BCEC and are looking in the Copley area, I've been at the Colonnade Hotel twice for PAX (it's barely a block from Copley, right across the street from the mall) and it's great! Costs a little more, but you get free wifi in your room with the iPrefer membership program (totally free, I was signed up within 30 seconds) and they have treated me very well for both stays.
I'll second the approval for Colonnade - I stayed there a few years ago and the hotel accomodations were great, room had a fantastic view, and the staff were incredible. If being a little removed from the BCEC is fine with you, I recommend this hotel.
If you're unable to get a hotel near the BCEC and are looking in the Copley area, I've been at the Colonnade Hotel twice for PAX (it's barely a block from Copley, right across the street from the mall) and it's great! Costs a little more, but you get free wifi in your room with the iPrefer membership program (totally free, I was signed up within 30 seconds) and they have treated me very well for both stays.
I'll second the approval for Colonnade - I stayed there a few years ago and the hotel accomodations were great, room had a fantastic view, and the staff were incredible. If being a little removed from the BCEC is fine with you, I recommend this hotel.
It's actually closer than I thought: one of my roommates was walking back and forth, he said it only took him about 30 minutes each way (the shuttle ride was about 15 minutes each way).
stayed at the omni parker very good service was around resturants and stuff like that. I was told at 1st the rooms were small but I found prob could have even fit a 6th person in there I had 5. All in all very good experince and if I could not get one of the big 3 this would be my choice.
Ahhh geez, It totally forgot about this place. Wow, I wonder if it's even too late to talk about this now.
The omni parker was much more opulent than I ever realized. it was almost like staying at the the Ritz ....if I ever was given the chance to do so. The service was warm and friendly, I loved the electronic safe and the gym, it was conveniently located near many shopping places, plenty of bars and it was perfectly walkable from the convention center. It was so good i joined their guest program and plan on going to their other hotels if I ever get a chance.
The only problems I with the hotel was the price of the room service was too damn high, and the rooms took a bit to get used to in relation to size. There is also the location in relation to direction: DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT TRY LOOKING UP THE OMNI PARKER'S ADDRESS WITH YOUR SMARTPHONE! You will wind up somewhere far from the hotel...like I stupidly did Just type in the name of the hotel. Moreover, once you find your route to the hotel, STICK WITH IT! One day, I foolishly tried to take a short cut in order to explore, and for a first timer, being lost in the labyrinthine streets of Boston was frustrating. Just use the same route to get to and back from the convention.
Finally, I want to make a shout out to Ilta and if he is seeing this: You where right. Pax East is cool but going to Pax by yourself is not as cool as going with others. Next time, I will heed your advice.
There is also the location in relation to direction: DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT TRY LOOKING UP THE OMNI PARKER'S ADDRESS WITH YOUR SMARTPHONE! You will wind up somewhere far from the hotel...like I stupidly did
I almost made this mistake before with another address in Boston, it seems like there are some duplicate names: I usually confirm by looking up the official website of wherever it is I'm trying to go, and looking up a map from their About Us page to verify.
If you make a booking with Hotels.com for anything and, say, you need to change your payment information they're completely unable to do so. And, if you call the hotel in question, they're also completely unable to do so. Your only options are to nuke the booking and get a new one (which in my situation jacks the price up to double what I originally booked at).
Ahhh geez, It totally forgot about this place. Wow, I wonder if it's even too late to talk about this now.
The omni parker was much more opulent than I ever realized. it was almost like staying at the the Ritz ....if I ever was given the chance to do so. The service was warm and friendly, I loved the electronic safe and the gym, it was conveniently located near many shopping places, plenty of bars and it was perfectly walkable from the convention center. It was so good i joined their guest program and plan on going to their other hotels if I ever get a chance.
The only problems I with the hotel was the price of the room service was too damn high, and the rooms took a bit to get used to in relation to size. There is also the location in relation to direction: DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT TRY LOOKING UP THE OMNI PARKER'S ADDRESS WITH YOUR SMARTPHONE! You will wind up somewhere far from the hotel...like I stupidly did Just type in the name of the hotel. Moreover, once you find your route to the hotel, STICK WITH IT! One day, I foolishly tried to take a short cut in order to explore, and for a first timer, being lost in the labyrinthine streets of Boston was frustrating. Just use the same route to get to and back from the convention.
Finally, I want to make a shout out to Ilta and if he is seeing this: You where right. Pax East is cool but going to Pax by yourself is not as cool as going with others. Next time, I will heed your advice.
I was also in the Omni Parker last year and we ended up with a very small room. Granted, we may have done that ourselves. My group had a few rooms and I was checking in with my friend who reserved another room. I requested to have a room near them and we ended up next door to each other. However, the rooms, like I said, were incredibly small; probably a foot and a half from the side of the bed to each wall and the door to the bathroom would hit the toilet as you opened it. It wouldn't be a problem if you have one or two people, but we had 5...and that sucked. I went to see another friend who was also in the Omni Parker and her room was much larger, more like what I'm used to for a hotel room.
So I guess, room size will be a gamble, but other than that, I like the hotel. It's walkable to the convention center and there's a shuttle, in case you don't want to walk. Regardless of hotel, you probably shouldn't request having your room be near friends, especially if you plan on hanging out with them for the rest of PAX anyway.
ya I stayed at the omni and had no issue at all with space there were 5 people total in my room and honestly it prob could have fit 7 if we really wanted to. Maybe we just got lucky haha
Well we didn't have any issue there since we got a suite, helps to have had a 1 yr old with us :-) already got the freedom suite for 2015. We would need it anyway with our daughter.
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So we managed to book the Hilton Doubletree in Backbay. I almost don't want to review how nice it was, because it will definitely be my go-to back up for future years. It was one of the cheaper options available too which was awesome.
The downside was it had no shuttle, but parking at the hotel was only 12$, and parking at the BCEC was $12, so we still spent way less on parking than we did at the Westin! The hotel is a short 10 minute/under 3 mile (like 15 minutes on Friday with work day traffic) drive from the BCEC through South Boston. No problems there at all. It's also a short 5 minute walk to the JFK redline stop for the T if you dont want to drive. It was an easy enough drive we didn't need the GPS after the first day. And driving let us use the car as a 'homebase' for dropping purchases, swag, and getting food we had brought instead of needing to use the bag check.
The hotel gave us a minifridge for only 10$ for the whole 3 night stay. This was awesome because right next to that T stop is a Star Market grocery store, so we got yogurt and fruit for breakfast for the stay and snacks and what not. Also, free doubletree cookies are always awesome.
There's no free wifi in the rooms, but they did tell us there was free wifi in the lobby area. We didn't use it, so I can't comment.
Bed was a super comfy pillow top, and the hotel was nice and quiet. I love the Westin, but sometimes people can be kinda loud - especially Sat night. And I like my sleep as I'm an old lady, and like to be at the Con early. So being a little bit aways, and quiet, was nice. The hotel had a lot of exhibitors we noticed, including the entire twitch.tv crew apparently.
Staff were nice, though very overwhelmed on Thursday. Their manager said some large con was just ending Thursday, so they were swamped with people leaving, racing to clean rooms as the PAXers arrived early. We had a wait for our room, which was fine because we went walking to an amazing bahn mi place that was only a mile away (and so so so delicious). They seemed a little overwhelmed with upgrades, phone calls from desperate people needing rooms, and problems with OnPeak, but were ok after Thursday.
The hotel is also only 3 miles from the Franklin park zoo, so we did that Thursday which was awesome /bionerd
So yeah, Hilton Doubletree Backbay is a nice place to stay. I missed the whole Westin culture and soaking in pure-PAX-ness the whole weekend, but it was a good hotel and no problems and saved us a bit of money from our usual Westin stay.
It's actually the Doubletree Bay Side. Back Bay is a different area of the city, near the Hynes where PAX East was it's first year. I was confused at first because I couldn't imagine a hotel in Back Bay charging so little for parking
Glad you had an awesome stay there, Doubletrees are often great hotels for their rates.
I enjoyed my stay at the Seaport last year, too, and am glad to hear they're improving even more. I'll be looking to stay at either of these hotels next year--both were a good experience.
I will say--the Seaport is a little closer to "convenience" stores, such as the Dunkins, 7-11, and J. Pace + Son who makes great sandwiches and fair prices...also surprisingly decent breakfast pancakes! (8 slices of bacon ARE YOU SERIOUS?) Westin, however, being attached to the center meant I could basically spend an extra ~5-10 minutes during a bathroom break to not wait in lines, hit the hotel, and just relax for a few minutes if I had the time. Very nice to not have to walk 5-10 minutes to do that.
Glad the reception was good for someone. My wife and I have Aio (uses AT&T towers) and found that we only had reception on the side of the hotel opposite our room. The folks with Verizon had a real hard time with reception.
Which made it really difficult when 9 of us got stuck in the elevator as it broke.
I think I may have answered my own question after starting my post on my trip.
There is a master switch in the rooms that turns everything on and off. I have a feeling that switch also controls the plug that the minifridge plugged into so everytime we turned that off we were turning off the fridge.. thus making us have to keep restarting it later on.. I can't believe I didn't make that connection till now.
If that's the case I hope this helps anyone in the future who stays there and I'll try to remember this if we ever stay there again haha.
When I checked out I saw that one of the rooms (my room) was charged for a breakfast at their restaurant which we certainly didn't order. The front desk asked me a couple of questions when I pointed this out to them but more or less removed the charge with little hassle.
I'm tempted to stay here again if only because it is the first shuttle stop on route 3 in the morning.
They charged us for two out of three night, a week before the convention started. We asked when we arrived and was given some bs "hotel policy when rooms booked through third party (onpeak)." We have stayed at the Westin Waterfront since the con moved to the BCEC and have had them put a one night hold until check in.
Hotel room was nice and roomy. The floor was quiet. We just felt like we were half way across the country from the convention.
I ♥ making awesome crafts! I ♥ my Cookie Brigaders!
I've heard about other issues with Copley as well, I know someone who was told after the Friday of PAX a few years ago that "Your room isn't available any more" and they had to get help from onPeak to find another room that same night.
If you're unable to get a hotel near the BCEC and are looking in the Copley area, I've been at the Colonnade Hotel twice for PAX (it's barely a block from Copley, right across the street from the mall) and it's great! Costs a little more, but you get free wifi in your room with the iPrefer membership program (totally free, I was signed up within 30 seconds) and they have treated me very well for both stays.
I'll second the approval for Colonnade - I stayed there a few years ago and the hotel accomodations were great, room had a fantastic view, and the staff were incredible. If being a little removed from the BCEC is fine with you, I recommend this hotel.
It's actually closer than I thought: one of my roommates was walking back and forth, he said it only took him about 30 minutes each way (the shuttle ride was about 15 minutes each way).
The omni parker was much more opulent than I ever realized. it was almost like staying at the the Ritz ....if I ever was given the chance to do so. The service was warm and friendly, I loved the electronic safe and the gym, it was conveniently located near many shopping places, plenty of bars and it was perfectly walkable from the convention center. It was so good i joined their guest program and plan on going to their other hotels if I ever get a chance.
The only problems I with the hotel was the price of the room service was too damn high, and the rooms took a bit to get used to in relation to size. There is also the location in relation to direction: DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT TRY LOOKING UP THE OMNI PARKER'S ADDRESS WITH YOUR SMARTPHONE! You will wind up somewhere far from the hotel...like I stupidly did
Finally, I want to make a shout out to Ilta and if he is seeing this: You where right. Pax East is cool but going to Pax by yourself is not as cool as going with others. Next time, I will heed your advice.
I almost made this mistake before with another address in Boston, it seems like there are some duplicate names: I usually confirm by looking up the official website of wherever it is I'm trying to go, and looking up a map from their About Us page to verify.
If you make a booking with Hotels.com for anything and, say, you need to change your payment information they're completely unable to do so. And, if you call the hotel in question, they're also completely unable to do so. Your only options are to nuke the booking and get a new one (which in my situation jacks the price up to double what I originally booked at).
Back to playing OnPeak roulette!
I was also in the Omni Parker last year and we ended up with a very small room. Granted, we may have done that ourselves. My group had a few rooms and I was checking in with my friend who reserved another room. I requested to have a room near them and we ended up next door to each other. However, the rooms, like I said, were incredibly small; probably a foot and a half from the side of the bed to each wall and the door to the bathroom would hit the toilet as you opened it. It wouldn't be a problem if you have one or two people, but we had 5...and that sucked. I went to see another friend who was also in the Omni Parker and her room was much larger, more like what I'm used to for a hotel room.
So I guess, room size will be a gamble, but other than that, I like the hotel. It's walkable to the convention center and there's a shuttle, in case you don't want to walk. Regardless of hotel, you probably shouldn't request having your room be near friends, especially if you plan on hanging out with them for the rest of PAX anyway.