Where is it? In the centre of Boston’s financial district, a minute’s walk from the almost completed Rose Kennedy Greenway. Some rooms overlook the small Norman B Leventhal Park in Post Office Square next to the hotel.
Room facilities All guestrooms have a double turndown service, extremely fast wired broadband access, costing US$10 for 24 hours, and the signature Langham Blissful Bed. The recently-renovated 147sqm presidential suite on the seventh floor costs US$2,000 per night, but you get to take (legally) home the Langham bathrobes (that normally cost US$90).
The restaurant also has seasonal menus to attract the local market – necessary because Boston has many fine restaurants to tempt guests away from their hotel. From September until June there’s a weekly Chocolate Bar on Saturdays, with fresh fruit, waffles, made-to-order chocolate crepes and 50 desserts.
The restaurant and bar are best reached by taking the lift down to the second floor and following the signs that indicate wheelchair access; otherwise it’s down to the lobby and walking through to the back of the building before ascending back up to the second floor. Another anomaly of the renovation of this former bank.
Business and meeting facilities There is a good choice of meeting rooms and a ballroom, but no business centre. The concierge and reception staff can help with printing, and the hotel shop has a printer.
Verdict Boston has no shortage of five-star hotels, from the Ritz-Carlton and Four Seasons to the new openings of the Westin and Intercontinental. The Langham remains hard to beat, however, for its prime position in the centre of the small but influential financial area and, coincidentally, only a short walk from the new Greenway area that had been cleared as a result of the Big Dig ‘s completion.
Prices for a midweek stay were US$265 for a moderate queen room and US$355 for a deluxe king room.
