Courtyard By Marriott Boston Copley Square Rating: 3.0 Pearls

Back Bay, Boston, Massachusetts

The Courtyard by Marriott Boston Copley Square

Housed in a romantic turn-of-the-century building with beautiful old stone work and bay windows, this former apartment building doesn’t look like a typical chain hotel -- at least from the outside. Inside, it's the same tasteful, pleasing, but perhaps not-so-thrilling decor of your conventional Courtyard by Marriott.

Style aside, you'd be hard-pressed to find such new, big rooms for such a low price in Back Bay -- just down the block from Copley Square, within walking distance of Newbury Street, Boston Common, and the Hynes Convention Center. Rooms at the nearby Boston Park Plaza are older, cramped, and come with out-of-date tube TVs. Next door, the Copley Square Hotel has a cool martini bar and a nightly wine reception, but its standard rooms are especially tiny.

Beyond the guest rooms, there are some additional perks, like the comfy business lounge with a computer station and a big flat-screen TV or the fitness center (a small room in the basement with a weight machine, a bike, and two treadmills). And while there's no room service or a full-scale restaurant on-site, the Courtyard Cafe serves a breakfast buffet ($15) that's cheaper, and better, than the buffets at the nearby Sheraton Boston and Hilton Boston Back Bay. And in the spirit of the Copley Square Hotel, the hotel hosts a free beer and cheese reception (the Sam Adams happy hour) once every week.

View on a Larger Map

Back Bay, in the middle of Boston, is an upscale commercial and residential area where skyscrapers tower above centuries-old churches and expensive row houses. It's a popular area for business travelers, as it's the home of the Hynes Convention Center, but it also has some of the city's best shopping, from quaint Newbury Street boutiques to the massive Prudential Center mall, and plenty of midrange and upscale restaurants (chains, mostly). Major attractions like the Public Garden and Boston Common and the start of the Freedom Trail are within a few blocks. The South End, a more lively bohemian-flavored area with trendy bars and eateries, is a quick 10-minute walk.

• 1.5 blocks from the Copley Square stop on the T (Boston's subway system)
• Two blocks from the shops and cafes of Newbury Street
• 10- to 15-minute drive (2.1 miles) to Faneuil Hall, a historic marketplace and modern day mall
• About five blocks (a 15- to 20-minute walk) to the Boston Common park and the start of the Freedom Trail, a 2.5-mile path that passes through 16 historic landmarks
• Five-minute drive or 25-minute walk (one mile) to Fenway Park, home of the Red Sox
• 15-minute drive (two miles) to Harvard Square in Cambridge
• 20-minute drive (3.5 miles) to Logan International Airport

A Standard Room

Rooms are sizable. The standard guest room with a single king starts at 280 square feet. A room with two queens clocks in at almost 400, making it a great choice for families, and there are also one-bedroom suites that sleep up to six, with two queen beds and a pullout sleeper sofa. Plus, the bathrooms feature showers with extended, rounded rods for a little more room.

• 37-inch flat-screen TVs; limited offering of cable channels (about 30)
• Free wired and wireless Internet
• Comfortable beds
• No connecting rooms
• Rollaways and cribs are free, but in limited supply.
• Tip: Ask for a standard room on the corner, ending in the numbers "05" -- it costs the same, but offers a little more space and beautifully restored, original bay windows.