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Boston Park Plaza Hotel sold after owner realized how much it would cost to renovate
By adamg on Mon, 10/30/2023 - 9:49pm
Hotel under construction in 1926. Source.
Sunstone Hotel Investors of Aliso Viejo, CA, announced last week it's sold the 1,050-room Boston Park Plaza in Park Square for $370 million, to Parks Hospitality Holdings, which is returning "Hilton" to the hotel's name.
Sunstone paid $270 million for the hotel in 2013, but said that while it boosted profits at the hotel, it wasn't willing to commit to the renovations it says the hotel needs:
Based on the timing of the prior renovation, the Company anticipates that the Hotel will require significant additional investment to maintain its competitive position and sustain its current level of earnings.
The hotel opened in 1927 as the Statler Hotel Boston - and as the second tallest building in Boston after the Custom House Tower. Hilton, which bought the Statler chain, planned to shut the large hotel in 1976, but the Saunders family bought it and ran it until selling it in 2013.
Photo from the BPL Boston Pictorial Archive. Posted under this Creative Commons license.
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Comments
The seller spent a fortune
The seller spent a fortune during their ownership stretch and created a beautiful hotel with room rates typically among the cheapest among hotel's of this quality (because 1000 rooms means they usually have a bit too much supply).
Yup
This was my go-to hotel recommendation for people visiting from out of town because it was always surprisingly cheap, especially given the location.
The location is great
But the rooms are tiny, so that's a strike against it for repeat travelers. Plus in the era of online recommendations most people find out the rooms are tiny. The Parker House has the same problem FWIW, amazing location and history but teeny tiny rooms.
Personal preference, I guess
At least for me a successful trip is one where I spent as little time in my hotel room as possible. Luckily, my guests tend to feel the same.
I agree
When I'm on vacation. If you're a consultant doing the Monday-Thursday thing at the client site for weeks at a time you are going to probably want more comfort/space since you're going to Faneuil Hall or Newbury Street or the North End only so many times. Especially when it's on someone else's dime.
The fact that it was independent would have been a big disadvantage when road warriors are chasing points and room upgrades, too.
I was a road warrior
I never cared about my room size, amenities, or points. I just wanted to do the job and go home. And I didn't spend a lot of time in other cities' equivalent of Faneuil Hall: the way to stay sane on the road is to do things that are genuinely interesting, not things where you're not going to remember what city you were in when you ate that blooming onion.
Becoming a Hilton again?
Where did you see this? It is not in the press release that you linked to.
it was in an earlier story
No Statler though.
Probably too busy
Teaming up with Waldorf heckling Kermit and Fozzie...
Added a link
To an NBC Boston story that talks about Hilton.
Still a union house?
I think it is, or was, the only unionized hotel in the area, hence the choice of Democratic presidents and candidates.
call me crazy
They should make a floor of this into micro residences. The last time I stayed there in a double it had two bathrooms. It was 2 rooms combined, I guess. That kind of room could have one bath made into galley kitchen. It's close to everything. I don't know what the rent would be. It is hard to fill 1000 rooms. Heck they could chop those rooms back in half and put employees in there.
Like a lot of pre-war hotels, the original room sizes
were small by the standards of modern business-traveler hotels, so combining two rooms into one was probably necessary to quell online complaints of room size.
I wonder what direction they'll go in given the current trend of hotels catering to younger travelers who don't care about huge rooms but want bigger and better social spaces like a huge, comfy lobby, a big hotspot kind of bar, a nightclub kind of space, etc.
I wouldn't mind seeing a few more fresh, non-chain restaurants there.
Well even union shops have
Well even union shops have trouble keeping staff. It might make hiring easier if they could offer a room.
I've never stayed
I've never stayed there.. but have had.. uhh Friends. Yeah Friends.. uhuhuh stay there. *wink*wink*
I found the rooms to be TINY, even by 1920s standards. I'm not a size queen by any means when I stay at a hotel, but it'd sure be nice to be able to walk across the room and not bump into furniture.
And the bathrooms were even smaller. And I wont talk about the rates.. which are crazy expensive for what you get. The only bonus is the location.
tbh I agree with cinnamngrl this building has long outlasted its usefulness as a hotel and should be converted into something else. Micro Apartments would be a nice use without a 100% gut job to the building.
Same
My mom was put up there by a conference once and I found her room to be absurdly small (like intentionally small as to dissuade you from wanting to be in it). I've travelled for work quite a bit and had to stay in some cheap, small rooms like super basic Wyndhams and even then I felt like it was *efficient* but didn't feel as small.
The only other place I've stayed that felt almost as cramped was Hyatt Place just outside Times Square (which clearly took over some other hotel and just barely put a few new signs up). I had to duck around the TV to get to the bathroom from the bed in the morning...and it still felt slightly better there than the Park Plaza room my mom had.
small rooms don't bother me,
small rooms don't bother me, especially if the price is right. Weirdly, My mother also stayed there once and her room was huge. It had bathroom with a big sunken tub.
In my mind I always pictured
In my mind I always pictured the Park Plaza and the Parker House hotels as having the best rooms and best service in Boston. I guess the propinquity, the local history, and the epic locations kind of clouded my perceptions of them.
Was this picture taken in the wintertime or was it just an incredibly dusty process building a hotel in Copley Square?