Fifty hotels, all of them open, all of them checked. This is not a ranking and there is no first place: the order is thematic, and a hotel that appears late in the list is not worse than one that appears early. What every entry has in common is that it tells you something about how Boston works — how the city was built, where the money moved, and what it now sells to visitors.
How this list was built
- Every hotel here is currently operating and was checked against its own site.
- The order is thematic, not ranked. There is no best and no worst.
- The range is deliberate: grande dames and budget rooms, chains and independents, Boston proper and the Cambridge and Seaport edges.
- No hotel paid to be here, and nobody was told in advance.
- We hold to roughly one entry per property group, so no single brand crowds the list.
The grande dames
1. Omni Parker House · Downtown Crossing
Founded by Harvey D. Parker in 1855 and billed as the longest continuously operating hotel in the United States. Both the Parker House roll and Boston cream pie were created in its kitchens.
2. Fairmont Copley Plaza · Back Bay
Opened in 1912 facing Copley Square, and still keeps a resident canine ambassador — currently a black Labrador named Cori Copley.
3. The Lenox Hotel · Back Bay
Opened in 1900 at Boylston and Exeter, and still run independently rather than under a chain flag.
4. Hilton Boston Park Plaza · Park Square
Opened on 10 March 1927 as E. M. Statler’s Statler Hotel Boston; it took the Hilton Boston Park Plaza name in October 2023.
5. XV Beacon · Beacon Hill
A 1903 Beaux-Arts building by William Gibbons Preston that housed the Boston School Committee from 1923 until its conversion to a hotel in 1999.
6. The Eliot Hotel · Back Bay
Opened in 1925 on Commonwealth Avenue with 95 rooms, most of them two-room suites.
7. Boston Harbor Hotel · Rowes Wharf
Its archway and rotunda frame the harbour entrance, and guests can arrive by water taxi or seaplane directly at the dock.
8. The Charles Hotel · Harvard Square, Cambridge
Home to the Regattabar, a jazz club that has operated on the property since 1985.
9. Copley Square Hotel · Back Bay
Dates to 1891; its basement once housed the Storyville jazz club, which booked Billie Holiday and Duke Ellington.
Modern luxury
10. Four Seasons Hotel One Dalton Street · Back Bay
A 724-foot, 61-storey Henry Cobb tower, New England’s tallest residential building. The hotel occupies floors 8 to 21.
11. Four Seasons Hotel Boston · Boston Common
Faces the Public Garden across Boylston Street; its lobby restaurant, The Bristol, has been a fixture for decades.
12. Mandarin Oriental, Boston · Back Bay
Built into the Prudential Center complex with direct indoor access to the shops, and home to Gordon Ramsay’s first Boston restaurant.
13. Raffles Boston · Back Bay
The first Raffles in North America, at 40 Trinity Place, built around a three-storey Sky Lobby with the ballroom on the 19th floor.
14. The Newbury Boston · Back Bay
Occupies the 1927 building at 1 Newbury Street that opened as the first Ritz-Carlton in the United States.
15. The Ritz-Carlton, Boston · Theatre District
At 10 Avery Street on the southern edge of Boston Common, sharing its block with the Ritz-Carlton Residences.
16. The Langham, Boston · Financial District
Housed in the 1922 Federal Reserve Bank of Boston building; the bank’s former grand hall is now the Grana dining room.
17. InterContinental Boston · Fort Point Channel
At 510 Atlantic Avenue, a curved glass façade directly on the channel and the Harborwalk.
18. Encore Boston Harbor · Everett
A harbourside resort and casino on the Mystic River, with its own waterfront park and boat dock.
Buildings with a past
19. The Liberty, a Luxury Collection Hotel · Beacon Hill
Converted from the Charles Street Jail. The former drunk tank is now the Alibi bar, and the original catwalk is a guests-only lounge.
20. The Revolution Hotel · South End
Built inside the former South End YWCA, which later operated as a hostel.
21. Hotel AKA Back Bay · Back Bay
Occupies the 1925 Boston Police Department headquarters at 154 Berkeley Street.
22. The Whitney Hotel · Beacon Hill
At 170 Charles Street, designed by Hacin + Associates to match Beacon Hill’s black-shuttered townhouses, and named for industrialist Henry Melville Whitney.
23. Battery Wharf Hotel · North End Waterfront
Low-rise buildings on their own pier at the northern end of the North End, directly on the Harborwalk.
24. The Verb Hotel · Fenway
A mid-century motor lodge next to Fenway Park, kept in its original two-storey courtyard form, with a rock-music memorabilia collection through the public rooms.
25. Eurostars The Boxer · Bulfinch Triangle
Occupies a flatiron-shaped brick building on a wedge site near North Station.
26. Pennyweight Hotel Boston · West End
112 rooms at 155 Portland Street, one block from TD Garden. The name is a unit of weight equal to 1.55 grams — matching the street number.
Design-led boutiques
27. The Godfrey Hotel Boston · Downtown Crossing
Built around a historically protected interior courtyard, with a George Howell Coffee bar off the lobby.
28. Hotel AKA Boston Common · Downtown
The former Kimpton Nine Zero at 90 Tremont Street, reopened under the AKA brand.
29. Revere Hotel Boston Common · Theatre District
At 200 Stuart Street, with a large open-air rooftop bar and pool deck above the Theatre District.
30. Hotel Commonwealth · Kenmore Square
Sits directly on Kenmore Square a short walk from Fenway Park; its ground floor holds Row 34 and Blue Ribbon Sushi.
31. The Envoy Hotel · Seaport
At 70 Sleeper Street on the Fort Point Channel, with the Lookout Rooftop bar on top.
32. Kimpton Marlowe Hotel · East Cambridge
On the Cambridge bank of the Charles, beside the Museum of Science.
33. The Hotel Veritas · Harvard Square, Cambridge
A 31-room townhouse conversion at 1 Remington Street, on the residential edge of Harvard Square.
34. Beacon Hill Hotel · Beacon Hill
A small hotel above a bistro at 25 Charles Street, in the middle of the antique-shop row.
35. The Colonnade Hotel · Back Bay
At 120 Huntington Avenue; its 12th-floor RTP deck is billed as Boston’s only rooftop pool, and sells day passes to non-guests.
Waterfront, Seaport and the big houses
36. Omni Boston Hotel at the Seaport · Seaport
Seven restaurants and bars on one property, plus a heated fifth-floor rooftop pool open year-round.
37. Seaport Hotel Boston · Seaport
Attached to the Seaport World Trade Center on Commonwealth Pier, with Tamo Bistro + Bar facing the water.
38. YOTEL Boston · Seaport
At 65 Seaport Boulevard: compact cabin rooms with adjustable beds, and the Deck 12 rooftop bar.
39. The Westin Boston Seaport District · Seaport
Connected by skybridge to the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.
40. Boston Marriott Long Wharf · Waterfront
A stepped brick building on Long Wharf, next to the New England Aquarium and the harbour ferry docks.
41. W Boston · Theatre District
Occupies the lower floors of a 2009 tower at 100 Stuart Street, shared with private residences.
42. The Royal Sonesta Boston · East Cambridge
On the Charles at 40 Edwin H. Land Boulevard, with a large permanent contemporary art collection through the public spaces.
43. The Dagny Boston · Downtown Crossing
At 1 Avenue de Lafayette, reopened under an independent name.
Well priced, well placed
44. Harvard Square Hotel · Harvard Square, Cambridge
A small, plain hotel in the middle of Harvard Square, two minutes from the Red Line.
45. Porter Square Hotel · Porter Square, Cambridge
Directly on Massachusetts Avenue at Porter Square, one Red Line stop north of Harvard.
46. Inn at St. Botolph · Back Bay / South End
All-suite with kitchenettes and keypad self check-in rather than a staffed front desk.
47. citizenM Boston North Station · West End
Adjoins TD Garden and North Station, with fixed-size rooms and tablet-controlled fittings.
48. Harborside Inn · Faneuil Hall
200 rooms in an 1846 mercantile shipping warehouse on State Street, a block from Faneuil Hall.
49. Studio Allston Hotel · Allston
An artist-themed independent on Cambridge Street, on the Boston University and Harvard Business School side of the river.
50. Sheraton Commander Hotel · Harvard Square, Cambridge
At 16 Garden Street facing Cambridge Common, where Washington took command of the Continental Army.
How this list is maintained
Hotels close, rebrand and change hands, and a list like this decays quietly if nobody looks after it. We revisit it as things change rather than once a year, which is why there is no date in the title. If an entry here has closed, changed name or moved, tell us and we will fix it.
How to get added
We add hotels because they belong here, not because they asked — but we do read every message. If you run a Boston hotel that you think earns a place, write to us with what makes it specific: the building, the history, the thing it does that nobody else does. Adjectives will not do it; facts will.
If you are on this list
You are welcome to say so, and to link to this page. A link back is the only thing we ask, and we would rather you use it than a screenshot.
Frequently asked
What is the oldest hotel in Boston?
The Omni Parker House, founded in 1855 and billed as the longest continuously operating hotel in the United States. The Copley Square Hotel, dating to 1891, describes itself as the city’s second-oldest in continuous operation.
Which Boston hotels have rooftop pools?
The Colonnade’s RTP deck is billed as the city’s only rooftop pool and sells day passes; the Omni Boston Hotel at the Seaport has a heated fifth-floor pool deck open year-round.
Keep reading: all our TOP 50 lists · Boston hotels by neighbourhood · find your neighbourhood · the Data Room · join the club