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Hotels in Boston are pricey. Even the basic rooms among the major chains can start in the $200-300 per night range, depending on the time of year. Cutting down hotel costs or eliminating them altogether will save you a lot of money on your trip to Boston. In this post, I will outline how I saved $850 on my trip and how you can save money in Boston too.
How to save money in Boston
Utilize hotel transfer partners
I spent my first two nights in Boston at the Hyatt Centric Faneuil Hall, entirely for free. Yes, free. I didn’t pay any cash for the nightly rate. Instead, I used 40,000 Hyatt points. Had I paid the cash rate, the same two nights would have cost me $808.55. And $164 of that was just the taxes and fees! So my redemption gave me a value of 2.02 cents per point and saved me 800 bucks. Nice!
So where did the 40,000 Hyatt points come from? I was able to transfer them over to my Hyatt account thanks to the Chase Sapphire Preferred. The Sapphire Preferred earns Chase Ultimate Reward points, a flexible point currency that can be transferred to a variety of airline and hotel partner programs. Just use the card for the everyday purchases you were going to make anyway, earn UR points, and then move them to an airline or hotel partner when you have a specific redemption ready.
Use free night certificates
Another way you can save money at Hyatt hotels is by using the Chase World of Hyatt credit card. For a $95 annual fee, you’re awarded a free night certificate every account anniversary, which you can use at any Category 1-4 property. I view these certificates as prepaying one hotel night, locking it in at a rate of $95. So if I redeem the certificate for a night where the cash rate is more than $95, I’ve saved money. I didn’t have any free night certificates when I booked, so I opted for the above method. However, it’s an excellent strategy to save money on your hotel.
In downtown Boston, you can redeem a Category 1-4 free night award at the following properties:
- Hyatt Regency Boston Harbor
- Hyatt Regency Boston/Cambridge
If you prefer Marriott properties to Hyatt, a different card with a very similar benefit is the Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless card. This card also carries a $95 annual fee, accompanied by an annual free night certificate for up to 35k points each account anniversary. Unlike Hyatt, Marriott allows you to top off up to 15k points from your account to your free night certificate. That means you can use the free night plus an additional 15k points for a night that costs 50k points.
In downtown Boston, you can use the 35k certificate at the following properties (point price will shift depending on peak vs. off-peak dates):
- Residence Inn Boston Downtown/South End (35k certificate + ~11k points)
- AC Hotel Boston Cleveland Circle (35k certificate + ~7k points)
There’s also a handful of lower-point Hyatt and Marriott options in the Boston suburbs, if you don’t mind staying in a less central location.
Use any annual credits
I spent my second two nights in Boston at The Revolution Hotel in the South End. Since the property is an independent boutique hotel, there was no partner program I could transfer points to. I paid the cash rate, but a couple extra credit card benefits brought the cost down a bit. Again, the Chase Sapphire Preferred came to my aid.
The full cash rate totaled at $601.04. However, I paid $551.04. One annual benefit awarded to the Chase Sapphire Preferred is a $50 statement credit on hotels booked through Chase’s travel portal. While $50 off doesn’t give the same satisfaction as a free night, it does allow you to visit a couple more museums or be a little more indulgent with your meals. That is, if you were planning to spend that money anyway.
In addition to the $50 credit, booking The Revolution Hotel through the Chase travel portal meant that my purchase would earn 5x Chase UR points instead of the usual 2x on travel. That’s 2,755 points instead of 1,102. Since I can easily get 2 cents per point by transferring to the Hyatt program, I consider 2,755 points $55.10 in value towards future travel.
Other ways I saved money in Boston:
Taking public transportation
Instead of using a rideshare service, I was easily able to take the train (aka. the T) from the airport to Hyatt Centric Faneuil Hall, which only cost me a couple dollars. You do have to take an airport shuttle to the Bowdoin Blue Line station, which involves some extra waiting, but it’s a good way to cut down on costs if your accommodation is near a T station.
Not renting a car
Expanding on the above point, I didn’t feel the need to rent a vehicle. In fact, unless you’re planning on going back and forth between downtown and the suburbs or doing frequent day trips, I would avoid driving in Boston unless you absolutely have to. Those streets were not designed for cars. Even walking around holding Google Maps, the pedestrian walkways can be confusing at times.
Despite the strange intersections, Boston is still very walkable. And between the T and your own two feet, you can access the major downtown attractions without a car.
Buying discounted theatre tickets
I went to see August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone at the Huntington Theatre (it was fabulous, by the way), but I wasn’t too keen on shelling out $60-100 if I could avoid it. Fortunately, the Huntington is one of many theatre companies that offer a “35 Below” discount for patrons aged 35 and younger. Because of this, I was able to sit in the second row for $30.
The Huntington also offers student, active military, and accessibility discounts. If you don’t qualify for any of those, the theatre does have a small selection of $30-35 tickets for each performance that anyone can purchase. Those seats will just be in a specific section.
Overall
I stayed downtown for four nights, using a combination of cash and points. My total out of pocket cost in cash would have been $1,409.59, but with the help of the Chase Sapphire Preferred, I only paid $551.04 and 40,000 points. If you’re looking for ways to save money in Boston, the Chase Sapphire Preferred can help when used stragetically.