The Boston Park Plaza opened in 1927 as the first hotel to have both running water and a radio in every room. When I stayed at the hotel 72 years later, I felt as if they had only progressed to maybe 1935 standards. A friend and I spent four nights there last August.

Walking into the hotel, I couldn't help but be impressed by the large, elegant lobby, complete with the second biggest chandelier I'd ever seen. However, when we got up to our room, I was disappointed. For a "luxury" hotel, the room was small and outdated. It consisted of two double beds, a small table, two chairs, and a TV. The bedspreads looked like they were 1927 originals. The bathroom was tiny. It was hot in the room, so we immediately turned on the air conditioner... it didn't work. We called down to the front desk, and they sent up a repairman, who worked on the ancient air conditioning unit with little success. We were put in another room, nearly identical to the first, but at least the air conditioner worked… sort of. We had to open the window at night to stay cool (which made it extremely noisy in the room). It was outside that window where we saw some unusual activity...

Location (aka "The Prostitutes Outside Our Window"): The Park Plaza is in a seemingly good location in Boston's Back Bay area. It is adjacent to the Public Garden, near the theater district and just one block from Newbury Street, which is Boston's answer to Rodeo Drive. The hotel is also just 3 miles from Logan Airport. During the day, the area around the hotel is bustling with people, and it seems like a nice area. However, at night, it gets a bit seedy.

The first night, we were shocked to look out the window and see several prostitutes right outside the back of our hotel. That was definitely their regular spot because they were there every night we stayed there. We used this as late night entertainment, watching dozens of cars pull up to the women of the night, and sometimes pick them up. Being a naive suburbanite, I found this quite fascinating. We decided to take a walk down there on a fact-finding mission. I noticed that I didn't feel especially safe walking around the hotel at night. We talked to the women, feigning interest to get some information. They gave us rates for "services" I didn't even know existed. As they begged us to purchase their services, we used the excuse that we were staying at the hotel. They assured us that the hotel knew about them, and didn't care as long as they went in the back entrance. That didn't bode well for my opinion of the hotel.

Services: The Boston Park Plaza is first-class when it comes to service (and I'm not talking about the "services" mentioned above). The hotel has a full-service concierge, 24-hour room service, cable and in-room movies, voice mail, laundry/valet, baby-sitting services, on-site car rental, parking garage, and airport shuttle. Located right inside the hotel are three restaurants, a piano lounge (with entertainment), a business center, travel agency, airline offices, gift shop, bakery, currency exchange, fitness center, barber and beauty salon, and even a pharmacy. Valet parking is available for $23 per day and self-parking is $18 per day in the hotel's garage. But my favorite perk of staying at the Boston Park Plaza was the free Hershey's Kisses! They had big containers of them throughout the lobby, and I grabbed a handful on every trip through the lobby.

The Fire Alarm: One night, we were up at about 3 AM watching TV in the room, while occasionally checking out the action outside the window. My friend asked if I heard something like an alarm. I said I didn't. He muted the TV, and we could hear the faint sound of what appeared to be the fire alarm. I find it completely inexcusable for a hotel fire alarm not to be loud enough for people to hear it. We figured we better go down to the lobby in case there really was a fire.

I led the way down the 9 flights of stairs (since, of course, you're not supposed to use the elevator in case of fire). The amazing thing is that in a hotel with 950 rooms (which were supposedly all full), we were the ONLY people going down the stairs at that time. As we reached the second floor, there was a door with a bar that said "For Emergency Use Only - Alarm Will Sound". Hmmm... well, this was a potential emergency, so I hit the bar and headed through the door. As I hit the bar, an ear-piercing siren went off that was substantially louder than the fire alarm. When we reached the lobby, there were only a handful of people down there. Eventually, maybe 25 people or so came down to the lobby (most via the elevators) in various states of undress. Now we're talking 25 out of potentially 1000+ people staying in the hotel that night that came down to the lobby. I wonder how many people never heard the fire alarm, and how many only heard the alarm I had sounded. A few minutes later, the fire department came rushing in through the lobby, and eventually cleared everyone to go back to their rooms. For safety, I give the hotel an F-.

Other negative factors: One day while we were staying there, my friend and I split up and planned to meet later. Like the moron I am, I left my key in the room. The room was in my friend's name, and they refused to give me another key or let me into the room. I can understand (and approve of) some security measures, but there were things they could have done to let me in the room. In a similar situation in Detroit, I described my personal belongings in the room to a staff member, and he went with me to the room to verify it. The Boston Park Plaza refused to do that, and thus I was locked out of my room for several hours until my friend returned (the positive to being locked out was that I wandered over to Four Seasons a couple blocks away, where I talked to Bruce Springsteen outside his *much nicer* hotel). Other complaints included dirty towels, and one deathtrap elevator.

Rates: Single room rates range from $175-$350 per night, although we got a Priceline rate of $85. Suites range from $350-$2000. Note that the city and state taxes tack on an additional 12.45%. I can't imagine paying $175 for the room we got. In fact, I decided to in stay Boston one extra night, and the lowest rate they'd give me was $199. Needless to say, I stayed elsewhere. Of course, I grabbed a handful of Hershey's Kisses on my way out.

$60,000,000 Overhaul: The Boston Park Plaza, seeing the need to modernize the hotel, started a $60,000,000 overhaul of the hotel this year. Their plans include adding exercise bikes, fax machines and 27-inch color televisions with Internet access to each guest room. Hopefully, they will also update their fire alarm system.

Note: My 2 star rating is based on the condition of the hotel on my visit last year. Although the huge overhaul may greatly improve the hotel, I just can't recommend it as it was during my stay. While the services offered at the hotel are first-class, there was just way too much mediocrity in other areas for a hotel in the "luxury" category. On the bright side, there was never a dull moment staying there...

Recommended: No