Boston Harbor Hotel’s Presidential Suite
Photo Courtesy of Boston Harbor Hotel
Over the last few years, Boston’s waterfront has undergone a tremendous and wonderful revitalization that has brought with it a slew of new hotels, restaurants and attractions like the Rose Kennedy Greenway. With its ideal location and Forbes Travel Guide Four-Star eatery, Meritage Restaurant + Wine Bar, the Five-Star Boston Harbor Hotel has long been a mainstay on the shore.
Still, this is not a property to rest on its laurels. A recent multimillion renovation to all of its 230 guest rooms and suites (hot on the heels of updates to Meritage and the onsite Rowes Wharf Health Club and Spa in the past year) was a welcome change, modernizing the property with soothing coastal colors and high-tech perks we’d like to see at every hotel we visit. Here are some of our favorite touches.
The Harbor View Suite, Photo Courtesy of Boston Harbor Hotel
Design
Embracing the hotel’s waterfront setting, Wimberly Interiors, a well-regarded player in hospitality design around the world, brought attributes of the ocean to the heart of the hotel. The palette of ocean blues and neutral tones complement the water vistas to perfection.
Images of iconic Boston sites decorate the walls, an homage that mirrors the cityscape visible from many of the rooms. Large picture windows offer the space to look out over the expansive scenery: each room provides enviable views of either the harbor or the city skyline. Rainfall showers and high-end bath amenities from Italian perfumer Lorenzo Villoresi come standard.
These updates strike a sophisticated balance between the comfortable and the cosmopolitan.
High-tech amenities
Forget about tricky alarm clocks and hefty in-room directories, not to mention being on hold with the switchboard for room service. Each Boston Harbor Hotel room and suite has a convenient iPad that can be used for everything from ordering breakfast to requesting that the valet bring the car around. The iPads also have maps, menus, a variety of newspapers and other pertinent local info.
If you prefer, use your own mobile device to download the hotel’s app to do all the same things. You can also log into your Hulu, Pandora, Crackle and YouTube accounts on the smart TV present in each room — that is, if you can drag your eyes away from the boats bobbing in the harbor.
A Livelier Living Area, Photo Courtesy of Boston Harbor Hotel
Presidential Suite
The 1,400-square-foot Presidential Suite, which can be configured as a one-, two- or three-bedroom suite (as a three-bedroom, the suite measures 2,500 square feet), is the hotel’s snazziest accommodation. Riffing on its location, the 16th-floor suite features harbor-inspired artwork throughout, but the crowning glory is an enormous private balcony overlooking the water. Outfitted with comfortable furniture, the balcony is the ideal spot to lounge on a sunny day.
The master bedroom’s bath features a Carrara marble double vanity, a deep soaking tub and separate rain shower.
If you’d rather share the spoils, the suite also offers plenty of space for entertaining small groups: there’s a dining area that seats eight, a fully-stocked wet bar, a 56-inch curved flat-screen television and a Bose Bluetooth home entertainment system. The suite also comes with limo service from and to the airport, not that you’ll want to leave anytime soon.
