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Tags: Fall Foliage Hotels / Boston Hotels / Kimpton Hotels / Fall-Foliage-Hotels / → All Tags

Fall Foliage Hotels :: Get Away to Boston's Marlowe

Where: 25 Edwin H. Land Blvd [map], Cambridge, MA, United States, 02141

You may be smack in the middle of Boston Proper, but you can still enjoy that autumn chill in the great outdoors.

Kimpton's Hotel Marlowe is offering an active Fall Foliage Package. A rate of $999 (and going higher, depending on the room you book) gets you two nights, a bike ride around the city with Urban Adventours, and a kayak to swish up the Charles, park the car at Harvard yard (say that with a Boston accent).

For real trees with real leaves, the package also offers your choice of day trips to local working farms. You'll get a free ride to Boston Hill Farm in North Andover, for pumpkin picking and tractor rides, plus more apples you could eat or stuff into a pie, with Cortlands, MacIntoshes, and Macouns.

Or get a bit of history at Brooksby Farm in Peabody, 250 acres of farm, barns, gardens, and orchards, smack in the middle of the burbs. Pet emus, alpacas, and sheep, pick apples by the bushel, and wolf down some cider with a maple syrup candy chaser. Yum.

[Photo: GrigorPDX]

Tags: Kimpton Hotels / Hotel Animals / Pet Hotels / Hotel Happenings / Boston Hotels / → All Tags

Weekend Hotel Happening: 'Bark and Bath' at Boston's Hotel Marlowe

Where: 25 Edwin H. Land Blvd. [map], Cambridge, MA, United States, 02141

Hotel: Hotel Marlowe, Nine Zero and The Onyx in Boston.

When: Saturday, July 12th. 10 am to 2 pm.

Where: The Hotel Marlowe Courtyard.

What: Continuing Kimpton's streak of heartwarming efforts to embrace pets and their doting families, three Boston Kimpton properties -- the Hotel Marlowe, Nine Zero and the Onyx -- are holding a Saturday of doggie pampering for charity.

The event will feature wash-and-dry services provided by local doggie pamperers Laundromutt (hehe) and "puppy snow cones and peanut butter cupcakes" from Polka Dog Bakery. Awww!

The proceeds from the day go to benefit Boston chapter of the Trust for Public Land.

Before we pain you with a joke about the 'dog days of summer', we'll direct you to more info here.

[Photo: smwarnke4]

Tags: Kimpton Hotels / WiFi Hell / → All Tags

Kimpton Hotels Are Getting Stricter with Their 'Free' WiFi

Where: 25 Edwin H. Land Boulevard [map], Cambridge, MA, United States, 02141

We knew that the sudden pay-for-WiFi policy at the 70 Park Ave Kimpton Hotel in Manhattan was the start of more troublesome things to come for our #1 Best Hotel WiFi pick.

Take for instance the new WiFi rules at the Hotel Marlowe. Whereas once upon a time, you could just check an agreement to terms of service box and then surf the web, now you must input your room number and name.

The internet is still free for guests but if you want to VPN it is $4.95 a day. And if you are a a non-guest you need to pay $7.95 for Web and $11.95 for VPN.

Boo. Maybe Kimpton got sick of people hanging around their lobbies for free WiFi--certainly we would not do such a thing, heh--or else, they're just getting greedy like the Four Seasons in Palm Beach.

We have a strong feeling that suddenly Starwood Properties, who were once notorious for abysmal WiFi offerings, will surpass Kimpton in a very short while.

Related Stories:
· Best WiFi Hotels 2006 [HotelChatter]
· Kimpton Ditches Free WiFi in NYC [HotelChatter]

Tags: Hotel Deals / → All Tags

Hotel Marlowe's Jedi Mind Tricks

Where: 25 Edwin H. Land Blvd. [map], Cambridge, MA, United States, 02141

Hotel Marlowe is offering a Star Wars package this fall.

If you are OK with leopard print, Hotel Marlowe should be a fine place for central command during any leaf peeping/Boston visiting venture.

This Cambridge Kimpton propety offers great service, free WiFi, free drinks (happy hour), and a location steps away from the Museum of Science.

The Hotel Marlowe Star Wars package includes a room and two VIP tickets to the Star Wars exhibition at the Museum of Science. VIP tickets to the Museum of Science? What does that get you--a lightsaber or something? Turns out VIP passes mean you can bypass all lines at the Museum.

Hmm, you will still have to use the force to drown out all the screaming kids and giggling geeks. However, if you are a fan, seeing this exhibit that compares Star Wars innovations to real world technology should be right up your alley.

This package is available Friday, Saturday, or Sunday nights from November 12 - April 4 2006.

The package is not up on the hotel web site yet, it should be soon, in the meantime it looks like you will have to use that ancient talking device called the telephone.

Related Stories:
·   Star Wars Exhibit [Museum of Science]
·   Hotel Marlowe Reviews [TripAdvisor]
·   The Newest Cambridge Gem [HotelChatter]

Tags: Celebrity Scoop / → All Tags

Overheard At Hotel Marlowe

Where: 25 Edwin H. Land Boulevard [map], Cambridge, MA, United States, 02141

A Hotel Maven writes:

Was over at Hotel Marlowe for a meeting and overheard one of the wedding sales gals giving the pitch. She said "When Elton John was in town we tried to get him to stay here, but he will only stay in hotels where he can get a piano in his room, and we didn't have a piano for him."

This tells us two things:

1.  Sir Elton is a queen.
2.  Sir Elton made a mistake. Hotel Marlowe is currently one of the best hotels in the Boston area.

Related Stories:
·   Hotel Marlowe Reviews [TripAdvisor]

Tags: Hotels / → All Tags

Hotel Marlowe: Dog Days of August, to the Extreme

Where: 25 Edwin H. Land Blvd [map], Cambridge, MA, United States, 02141

These days if you want the royal treatment at a swank hotel you'll have to do more than pay for the room, we suggest bringing a pet.  'Cause from the looks of things packing a pet will assure you, or at least your pet some extras.

The photo to the right illustrates the princess like treatment some dog named "Zoa" received today at Hotel Marlowe in Cambridge, MA.

Are those cheese filled Combos in the dog dish? My god, wouldn't it be great if these hotels paid as much attention to the guests as they do the quadrupeds. Wouldn't you love to be welcomed to your hotel by a tasty bowl of cheese filled treats? We sure would.

These days most almost all hotels accept pets in one form or another.  If you travel with a pet this will get you fired up, if you don't want to travel in the company of pets we suggest you call ahead and ask where and how the hotel hosts pets. You may even want to request a "always pet free room" if you have allergies, or a pet free floor if you have an aversion to barking dogs.

Click on the photo for a closer look at the doggy treats and the welcome bone.

Tags: Hotel News / → All Tags

Hotel Marlowe: Rick Responds

Where: 25 Edwin H. Land Blvd [map], Cambridge, MA, United States, 02141

[Update 8.11.04: Rick took the CitySearch review down so there is no need to talk about it any longer. His hotel rocks, and it is nice to see responsive GM's like Rick running cool hotels.]
Rick Colangelo, GM of Hotel Marlowe in Cambridge, MA has responded to our questions about his CitySearch review.

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Tags: Interviews / → All Tags

Boston Hotel Scene: Interview with Hotel Marlowe GM

Where: 25 Edwin H. Land Blvd [map], Cambridge, MA, United States, 02141

HotelChatter comments in [ ]

[Original Story] [Hotel Marlowe was one of the first hotels we chronicled way back when.  So we figured what better place to start our new once in a while feature "GM Interviews".  We hope to get these GM's to loosen up a little, tell us tall tales of great deception and debauchery, but we know this will take some time.  If we don't get anywhere with the GM's we will just change the feature to "Desk Clerk Interviews"...that way we should be assured dirt on the hotel, and the GM.  Read on for the interview]

[Update II 8.11.04] Rick took the CitySearch review down. Bravo, and like we said before, this hotel stands out on its own anyway...

[Update 7.30.04: We just found out that Rick himself left a "glowing" review about Hotel Marlowe on CitySearch (that is if Rick is rickcolang, which seems to be the case, if not we stand corrected), but didn't identify himself as a hotel employee. We want to give Rick the benefit of the doubt, we like him, and his hotel, and actually believe everything he says in the CitySearch review, and maybe this was an honest mistake. However we do want to let Rick know that what he did is a no-no, and we need to call it out. We call planting a review "carpet bombing", and that is the kind of deception we are trying to avoid on the Internet. Now if a staff member wanted to say someting like "Hey I am the GM and I think my hotel rocks, come try it", that seems totally appropriate. But how is this faux CitySearch comment helpful to us, the possible consumer? Can you see how we might feel duped? Furthermore, what would you say if one of your competitors left false negative comments about your hotel on the site? Is that fair? This exercise in commenting proves that CitySearch and services like them are kinda broken, at least to an some extent. It is hard to keep bogus comments off your site, but you have to try. That is why we are here, to try and help cut through the crap when we can, and have you, the readers correct us when we don't. Or when we can't do that, to at least let you in on Britney's latest hotel antics. In our opinion Hotel Marlowe is, by all accounts, a great hotel, but these sort of hijinx make the property look kinda sneaky. Hopefully, when we talk to Rick he will realize his mistake and revise or delete the comment. We will be following up with Rick on this one. Rick is a really nice guy, and his hotel rocks, but sorry Rick, we just don't think your opinion on Citysearch is "unbiased". ]

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Tags: Tips / → All Tags

Kimpton Hotels: Doing Wireless Right

Why is it in this day and age hotels with good reliable wireless are still hard to find?

HotelChatter has been spending time this week over at Hotel Marlowe in Cambridge, MA where the wireless signal is strong, and it appears that all Kimpton Hotels come equip with some sort of wireless network that Kimpton themselves set up.  Good on ya Kimpton.

WiFi is becoming a definite dealmaker or deal breaker for some hotel clients.  Some hotels claim they have "Wireless Access in the Lobby", but when you get there you find out you are really trying to scrape off the Starbuck's/Tmobile connection across the street.  If you are lucky enough to get this UHF style signal to come in you will have to shell out cash to download your email.  Luckily for us Kimpton Hotels doesn't play those games.  What is the downside?  No guarantee on wireless access in the rooms, and chances are you will have to go to the lobby for your wireless.  But hey, at least it is guaranteed to be there for you in the lobby, and for free.  Hopefully in the future Kimpton will extend WiFi througout all guest rooms at no charge.  Now that would be doing wireless completely right.

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Tags: Hotel Heaven / → All Tags

Hotel Marlowe: The Newest Cambridge Gem

Where: 25 Edwin H. Land Blvd. [map], Cambridge, MA, United States, 02141

The Hotel Marlowe opened on the Cambridge side of the Charles River in late March of 2003 and has been going strong ever since. The Kimpton Group, which is a huge player in boutique hotels, has created another winner with Hotel Marlowe. This is one of those hotels you just can’t miss.

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Tags: Celebrity Scoop / → All Tags

Celebrity Sighting: Anna Kournikova @ Hotel Marlowe

The Boston Herald reports that Anna Kournikova and sports marketing genius Soosie Lazenby were spotted enjoying a night at the Bambara Restaurant at Hotel Marlowe. Apparently, Anna, the newly minted "awards presenting professionally", made jaws drop all over town as she frolicked around Beantown the last week of September, while moonlighting as a tennis professional at a Tennis Benefit at the Fleet Center.