The Eliot Hotel Rating: 4.0 Pearls

Back Bay, Boston, Massachusetts

Old-money grandeur prevails

As the last of the Back Bay hotels to line this posh stretch of Commonwealth Avenue, the 95-room Eliot Hotel peddles in a certain old-money Boston grandeur. Originally built in 1925 as a home for semiretired Harvard professors, the stately brownstone still shares a wall with the next-door Harvard Club. Guests will feel like they've entered an old elegant Parisian hotel as they usher past the wrought-iron gate, into the tiny foyerlike lobby, and on to the front desk -- where brass room keys can still be found sitting in an old-fashioned key cubbyhole cabinet. At night they'll be joined by the rest of Boston for dinner at sashimi bar Uni or extremely popular French restaurant Clio, both overseen by James-Beard-Award-winning chef Ken Oringer.

While the Eliot eschews the sleek contemporary decor of competitor Fifteen Beacon opting instead for chandeliers and French toile, this is not a hotel trapped in the past. If anything, it's a successful study on how to marry the romance of an older hotel with the modernity of the 21st century. A charming old Otis wood elevator with brass accents carries guests up to suites (the hotel is almost all suites) decked out with iHomes, flat-screens, and marble baths with fragrant Archive Essentials toiletries. The most luxurious feature here though is ICE (Interactive Customer Experience), an in-room touch-screen through which guests can order room service, schedule reservations at Clio or the nearby spa, research kid-friendly attractions and bars, and even schedule the time of their nightly turndown.

Guests here receive other free amenities as well, from welcome chocolate cookies to passes to the Boston Sports Club (which certainly bests Fifteen Beacon's weak fitness center). While the Eliot Hotel offers a better gym option, along with ICE, and Clio, it can't beat Fifteen Beacon's long list of luxury amenities -- including in-room gas fireplaces, beds with 400-thread-count Frette sheets, and free Lexus hotel car service. But you can stay at the Eliot for considerably less -- and the tradeoff may be worth it, especially for families.

In-room ICE touch-screens for guest requests

Eliot is the first hotel in the country to use the fantastic ICE, an in-room touch-screen that lets guests order room service, schedule reservations at Clio, look up kid-friendly attractions and bars, even order up extra amenities. It definitely gives a boost to the other services the hotel offers -- like nightly turndown and free shoeshines.

• No separate concierge, but someone will assist you with anything you need -- reservations, directions -- 24 hours a day.
• Porters and doormen rush to open doors, hold open elevators, and carry luggage up to rooms.
• $36-per-day valet parking (about average for Boston)
• Chocolate cookies delivered to the room after check-in
• 24-hour room service
• Extra amenities (toiletries, sewing kit, comb, etc.) available by dialing it up on ICE, the cool, in-room touch-screen system
• Nightly turndown (you can schedule the exact time using ICE); includes chocolates and shades drawn
• Free USA Today delivered to the door Monday to Saturday
• Free overnight shoeshine

View on a Larger Map

The Eliot Hotel is located in the middle of the city in Back Bay, on a quaint, treelined street close to the Berklee College of Music and around the corner from Newbury Street. Back Bay is an upscale commercial and residential area where skyscrapers tower above centuries-old churches and expensive brownstone homes. 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. The area is filled with midrange and upscale restaurants, many of them chains, and the South End, a more lively bohemian area with trendy bars and eateries, is a quick 10-minute walk away.

• Five-minute walk to the Hynes Convention Center and one block from the Hynes Convention stop on the T (Boston's subway system)
• 13-minute walk to Copley Square, Back Bay's picturesque town square
• 15-minute walk to Fenway Park, home of the Red Sox
• 10- to 15-minute drive (about 2.8 miles) to Faneuil Hall, a historic marketplace dating back to the 1700s and a modern-day mall
• 10-minute drive (about two miles) to Harvard Square in Cambridge
• 25-minute walk to the Boston Common, the city's 52-acre public park and start of the Freedom Trail, a two-and-a-half mile path that passes through16 historic landmarks
• About a 20-minute drive ($25 to $30 cab fare) to Logan International Airport

The standard, or Deluxe Room, is small but elegant.

Decorated in a pretty, feminine style, the 79 suites and 16 guest rooms here feature either a French toile print or brown silk fabrics with azure-blue accents.

• Deluxe Rooms run 200 to 250 square feet (smaller than average for standard rooms in Boston) and come with a single queen or two doubles; most of the hotel's rooms are suites, however.
• One-bedroom suites are large, at 420 to 480 square feet, with a queen, a king, or two doubles, plus a separate living room with an additional flat-screen TV and a queen-size sleeper sofa.
• Two-bedroom suites (650 square feet) are one-bedroom suites connected to standard rooms.
• Elegant, but small, marble bathrooms, with fantastic Archive Essentials toiletries; good water pressure, but not a rainfall showerhead. According to the manager, the bathrooms are about to be redone, with the marble replaced and the tubs removed for showers.
• Basic, white cotton towels, and thick monogrammed Ty terry robes (available for purchase for $75 each)
• The 37-inch flat-screen offers a small number of channels -- only about 39 -- but includes free HBO and seven HD channels; there are pay-per-view movies, and adult entertainment and kids' programming like Disney Channel on demand.
• In-room touch-screen to order room service and extra amenities; schedule turndown; research bars, restaurants, and attractions; make reservations at Clio
• iHome clock radio on the nightstand
• Comfortable beds with Serta mattresses topped with a down duvet, four large goose down pillows, and a thick Anichini cotton throw
• Soundproof windows keep the room quiet.
• Minibar stocked with sodas, and snacks, plus small bottles of Glennfiddich, Courvoisier, Baileys

The Eliot's tiny "business center"

This tiny boutique may not have room for features like a huge gym, but it partially makes up for it with a free daily pass to nearby Boston Sports Club.

• Free pass to Boston Sports Club
• Behind the lobby, the small business center is free, but there's just one PC and one Dell printer.
• In-room Wi-Fi costs $5 per day, pretty reasonable for Boston
• In-room touch-screen to order room service and extra amenities; schedule turndown; research bars, restaurants, and attractions; make reservations at Clio
• Two on-site restaurants helmed by a James-Beard-Award-winning chef

There is no charge and no required deposits for pets of any size at the Eliot. There aren't any extra pet amenities included, though.

One-bedroom suites have pullout sofas.

The Eliot Hotel offers plenty of room for families, as most of the units are suites ranging in size from 420 to 480 square feet. The hotel is closer to Fenway Park (a 15-minute walk) than many other Back Bay hotels, but it's farther from the Boston Common. Try the Westin if you want a pool.

• Families should consider a one-bedroom suite with two double beds and a pullout sleeper sofa (sleeps up to two adults and two kids). Fourteen of the suites connect to guest rooms to become 650-square-foot, two-bedroom suites with two bathrooms (sleeps six).
• Free cribs, no rollaways; suites have sleeper sofas
• Free HBO and seven HD channels; kids' programming includes Disney Channel on demand for $3 to $9
• No children's menus, but kid-friendly fare is available through 24-hour room service like cheese pizza and mac and cheese; chocolate cookies delivered to the room after check-in.

Upscale French-American fare at Clio

James-Beard-Award-winning chef Ken Oringer helms Eliot Hotel's two restaurants: the upscale French-American restaurant Clio and the smaller and more casual sashimi bar, Uni. Neither offer lunch, although it can be ordered via room service.

• Clio is open for breakfast and dinner. Upon check-in, guests receive a coupon for $10 off the $20 continental breakfast buffet (featuring fresh croissants, baked breads, bagels, fresh fruit, and yogurt). Dinner reservations are recommended -- entrees run $32 to $44.
• Uni serves specialty cocktails and dishes like lacquered foie gras and barbecued eel, kobe-beef steak teriyaki, and crunchy Maine lobster with black pepper chili sauce ($10 to $21).
• The more casual 24-hour room service menu features breakfast items, sandwiches, and salads for around $12 to $20, and a few fancier entrees like sautéed halibut for $36 to $39; fewer items are available after midnight.

With vigilant housekeeping and constant renovations, rooms and common areas are well maintained and immaculate.