HotelChatter

Check In
The brand new, ground up 265-room W Boston is now open. So what was it like to check-in to the hotel? Well, check-in was chipper. There was the bustle of a new hotel without the confusion. These check-in folks were pros and they made sure our request for a room on "the highest floor possible" was met.

Room Reaction
On the surface room 1206 appeared to be the perfect 2009 model for W hotels. However, once we looked under the hood it did seem like the W room fixtures have not escaped the worldwide cutbacks of 2009. What are we talking about? Check out exhibit A below:

Overall the fixtures reminded us more of an aloft than a W. However, the W Boston room did have some cool new design schemes that we hadn't seen elsewhere. First, there was a charger pad with multiple phone charger dongles coming off of it. Since we are a frequent member of the "forgot our charger" brigade this simple yet elegant solution made a huge impression on us.

Second, the W Boston finally gets the peekaboo bathroom right. Well, that is as right as you can get it. Why? First off the toilet is in a totally separate room, with a door to close it off. Second, the peekaboo-ness is kind of hidden behind a one way mirror with magic eye inspired art on the other side. Let's face it, the peekaboo trend peaked at outrageously kitsch back in May, however seems W has made strides to integrate it into these rooms without offending anyone -- nice work.

In-Room Entertainment
WiFi is $14.99 per day, do we need to go any further?

We will add that the LG flat screen in-room television had one of the clearest HD pictures we have ever seen. Also of note, no iHome. There was a iPod docking station, but we have just gotten so use to the ubiquitous iHome, a docking station on its own looked a little lonely.

View
The 12th floor didn't get us high enough to really see over the Theatre District buildings on Stuart St. Though we bet, if you score a room (or condo and you know those condos are going to be for nightly rent at some point) the views of Boston would be sweeping. That said, for our money the Liberty Hotel upper floors are still going to give you the best views of Boston.

Restaurant & Bar
By now you probably know, we test out a hotel restaurant by ordering a cheeseburger, preferably the same cheeseburger you would get if you ordered room service. Why? Well maybe we just aren't very sophisticated but seems to us most people ordering in-room will get a cheeseburger or something similar. Market, W Boston's on site restaurant passed the burger test, sort of. The burger was excellent and cooked to perfection. However, we ordered mushrooms as our side and were served fries. Oh well, the fries ended up being tasty as well.

The hotel bar is very traditional W both in location in decor. Meaning it is a big part of the lobby and yes, you can sit next to a fireplace. The bar was hopping while we were there, probably because it is the newest after work spot in the Theatre District, and while service was excellent we could tell the the bar was on the verge of being too crowded. Not necessarily a bad thing, but there isn't a huge amount of space in the lobby bar to account for large crowds.

Location
W Boston is centrally located in the Theatre district and a couple blocks from Boston Common. This means you can easily hop on the orange line at Chinatown or hoof it to Back Bay or South Station like we did.

Cost
Freakin' high. In general Boston hotel room rates seem to have bucked the overall 2009 trend and gone higher this year (thus all the new hotels coming online in the Hub). Total one nights stay including taxes came to $314.10.

Bottom Line
It seems eerily apropos that W Boston is opening just months before the end of the first decade of the new millennium. While the rooms actually exceed the standards set at many older W hotels (Hi Lexington!), the whole property just feels a little ambitious for 2009. One-hundred and twenty-three private residences and 235 hotel rooms? Though the hopping bar seen, super friendly staff, and new room design quirks make it hard for you to be disappointed with your stay if you get a sufficient deal.

Should you stay at W Boston?
If the room prices drop from the stratosphere and you enjoy the W experience, W Boston will not disappoint. However if the prices stay high, well we have seen what happens when a hotel becomes haunted by the ghost of W.