Startle

Located at 15 Arlington St., at the corner of Newbury and Arlington streets, the Taj Boston occupies one of the city’s most prestigious addresses. The Taj Boston sits at the beginning of the luxurious Newbury Street — home to divine retailers including Chanel, Dior and Valentino — and directly across the street from the Boston Public Gardens. The hotel is part of Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood and just steps from some of Boston’s best sites, including the Boston Public Garden, Boston Common, Newbury Street and Faneuil Hall.

The Taj Boston values its rooms based on seasons and high-travel times in Boston. However, the hotel is one of the more affordable luxury properties in the city. From April to October, the Taj Boston’s lowest room rate starts around $329 for a courtyard view. The park view rooms with a basic king size deluxe bed are generally $100 more per night. Suites for the summer season start at $425 a night with park views upping the room rate an additional $100. Any guest can choose to upgrade to the Taj club level for an additional $100 a night.

Should you need to cancel your room at the Taj Boston, the hotel requires at least a 24 hour cancellation notice to avoid paying a one-night room fee, as a penalty. During major Boston event weekends, including the Boston Marathon, holiday weekends and graduations, the hotel requires a 48-hour cancellation to avoid paying any penalties or room night fees.

There’s a lot to love about the Taj Boston. It’s grandiose entrance on Arlington Street makes it not just a hotel, but a tourist attraction for many Boston guests. If you’re one of the tourists with a room key at the Taj Boston, don’t miss the following:

1. The best thing about the Taj Boston is its location. It’s within walking distance from most of Boston’s best tourist attractions, and is located just steps from the MBTA green line at Arlington Station stop. While you’re here, enjoy a stroll down Newbury Street at sunset. The stores have pretty much emptied out by this time and the shoppers have gone home to drop off their bags. You won’t be fighting for sidewalk space and can window shop your way down the street.

2. The Taj’s afternoon tea is legendary in Boston. The hotel was originally a Ritz-Carlton, one of the flagship hotels in the brand, and was made famous by its afternoon tea. Everyone from tourists to socialites to celebrities took part in the famed event and when Taj took over the space, it kept the traditional alive. The Taj Boston’s afternoon tea is served Wednesday through Sunday in the French Room (one of the hotel’s smaller ballrooms available for private events) and overlooks Newbury Street. A harpist plays as you’re served a variety of different teas and traditional finger sandwiches. Prices range depending on which tea and snack menu you choose.

3. The size of the rooms at the Taj Boston are bigger than one would expect, which gives guests staying here a bit more space to move around. The Taj is two sections: an old section, which is the original hotel dating back to the late 1800s; and the newer section, which became part of the hotel complex in the 1990s. The rooms are comparable in size and provide similar views, but the older section of the hotel has a more regal feeling, which we found to be a nice, authentic addition to the hotel. The newer rooms still embody the grace and authenticity of the Taj, but they have a more modern feel with brighter room walls and lighter carpets.

4. The bar on the lobby level of the Taj Boston is a throwback to the early 1900s, and one of our favorite things about the hotel. Its dark wood, heavy drapes and gold accents set a mysterious tone, perfect for secret meetings or quiet hideaways, unless you choose to sit in the tables near the front windows that look out over Arlington Street and the Boston Public Garden.

5. Not everyone head is created equally, and that’s why we love the Taj’s pillow menu. Choose from soft to firm density pillows, or opt for the microfiber or anti-snoring pillows. There are six different pillows you can request, all free of charge.

The Taj Boston is a complex property, thanks in part to its location in one of Boston’s most luxurious neighborhoods and to its desire to renovate to keep the hotel up to date. To describe this hotel, we’d use words like �traditional,’ �classic,’ �ornate,’ �ancestral,’ and �fancy.’ As the hotel continues its renovations and updates to both the guest rooms and the public areas, we’d suspect new words like �modern’ and �chic’ might come into play.

The Taj Boston spares no expense to present itself in grand fashion. The hotel’s front doors open to a marble-floored lobby area decorated with ornate chandeliers and gold accents. While many Four- or Five-Star hotels will put effort into the decor and design of the guestrooms, the Taj Boston makes its entrance the focal point of the hotel. The rooms at Taj Boston are very minimalist and don’t boast the same ambiance you might find in other luxury hotels, but they are bigger in size than most luxury hotel rooms in Boston. The hotel is relatively small by typical standards and during a crowded time can feel very cramped in the lobby area. There isn’t a large waiting area or concierge area for guests however, the guest room floors are wide and bright, offering a nice entrance to your room after check-in.

If you’re going to stay at the Taj Boston, you might as well indulge in a few of our favorite amenities: 1. The 24-hour room service menu means international travelers and jetlagged guests can eat when their body tells them it’s time, and not when the hotel dictates. The late-night menu includes everything from cheese plates to soups and sandwiches. 2. For kids (or for the kid in all of us), the in-room game consoles the perfect way to pass the time. It’s an easy hook-up to the TV and you can request various games from the concierge. 3. The Taj Boston boasts a brand new gym, which we have to point out as one of our favorite things about this hotel. The gym is open 24/7 with your room key. The cardio and weight equipment is new and in separate rooms. There is no locker room in the gym, but you’re only a short elevator ride to your guestroom. 4. Take advantage of the Taj Boston’s pillow menu while you’re here. If you can’t sleep on your own pillow at home, you might as well try to get something as close to it as possible. 5. For the romantics, reserving a fireplace suite comes with your own private fireplace butler, who will tend to your flames (via the fireplace) throughout the day or night. You’ll get to choose which wood you want to burn, which vary in scent, perfect for setting the mood.

If luck is on your side, you’ll walk into the Taj Boston when no one else is in the lobby and be immediately transported back to a time when Boston’s rich and well-known socialites spent money frivolously and with a passion. You can almost sense the women walking through the lobby and up the staircase in grand fashion, with big-brimmed hats and just the slightest showing of a round-toed shoe peeking out from underneath the scalloped-edges of their ankle-length dresses, looking for their dates in top hats and tails. The Taj Boston embodies all the decadence of Boston’s past while embracing modern-day glamour, so it makes sense that the design of the hotel is very traditional with a few modern touches thrown in. The lobby, ballrooms and conference rooms still play on the early 1900s design, with grand drapery and etched ceilings. The ambiance changes slightly depending on which room you’re in. During our stay, our room was a bit older with no artwork or ambiance, but the newer rooms do feature Boston scenes on the walls and a more updated vibe, with light blue and brown tones (a stark difference to our yellow and gold room), but still capturing the heart of the time period with dark wood bookcases, night tables and desks.

The Taj Boston offers Internet in every room, via Wi-Fi or cable hookup. The charge is $10.95 per day, but if you’re staying more than three days you might choose from one of the Internet packages offered (which can save you around $5 a day). The hotel promotes that Internet is available in the public areas of the hotel, but during our stay we had trouble accessing the Internet in the bar and lobby areas. The only signal available is through the Taj Conference facilities and you’ll need a passcode to get into that Wi-Fi system. Unfortunately, no one was able to give us a Wi-Fi code so we weren’t able to access the Internet anywhere except in our rooms. The in-room Internet was unfortunately very spotty and slow, so if you have a wireless card we suggest using that instead of paying for the Internet at the Taj Boston.

The rooms at the Taj Boston are bigger in size than most city hotels, which makes it a great choice for families and guests who are staying an extended time here, but they lack the ambiance and exquisite design you’d expect from a luxury hotel. When you book your room, be sure to request a room with a “park view.” While the “courtyard view” is certainly less expensive, your view will be the brick building next to the hotel or the hotel’s heating and cooling system, if you’re not placed on a high-level floor.