Hotel Information

Contact the Innkeeper (@email) if you have a hotel question not answered here or if you need more information.

Dealing with Reservations

Don’t panic if your desired room type comes up as full! Although we ultimately fill the hotel, we block only enough initial rooms to meet our contractual requirements and avoid being charged for empty rooms. We request a smaller number of rooms on Thursday, Monday, and Tuesday. When the room types sell out, we gather up the requests and work with the hotel to add rooms and nights that we can offer to our attendees.

You can use the special request form to ask for a shift to your desired reservation. As we shift reservations to Suites and Accessible rooms slots open up for additional requests.

Room Info

Arisia has blocked most, but not all, of the rooms at the hotel. When making a reservation, ask for the type of room you'd like. For Arisia 2019 at the Boston Park Plaza hotel we will not have the traditional Active and Standard blocks. After making a reservation, please let us know if you'd like to request a special room (Active, Family, Access, Shabbat, and so on).

Room Types

The hotel has rooms called "doubles" but they are configured differently, as below.

Regular room: A single room with one bed, either a Queen or a King-sized bed.
Double: A single room with two beds. Depending upon the category of room (see below).There might either be two Double or Queen beds in the room.
Suite: A pair of rooms designed to be used together, generally with one sleeping room and one parlor room, which may have a pull-out bed. Allocation of suites is managed by the Party Czar team. See the Parties page.
Connecting rooms: A pair of rooms that share a common wall and doors that go through this wall without going out into the hotel hallway. In hotel most of these connecting rooms are made up of one King room and one Double room.

Room Categories

The BPPH has different categories of rooms. Click on the bed types below to see photos and full description of the rooms on the BPPH website.

Standard/Run of the House (aka "Cozy"): "At around 150 square feet, these rooms are small! Our hotel's Run Of House Room category in the heart of Boston, MA is perfect for the solo traveler who is looking for great value and smart design. [...]"; Does not have a fridge.; Queen bed only
Superior Rooms: "Our Superior Rooms offer 180 - 280 sq. ft. of space. Rooms feature bathrooms with Tubs and Grab Bars. Our Superior Room is ideal for the extended business or leisure stay [...]"; King/Queen or Two Doubles
Deluxe Rooms: "Our Deluxe Room allow you to treat yourself to one of the most spacious options in Boston lodging. These recently redesigned and stylish accommodations provide a rare blend of contemporary design and comfortable elegance in a timeless Boston MA hotel. [...]"; King/Queen or Two Queens
Studio Suites: "These bright suites, all with city views, offer a comfortable living space with a leather sofa featuring a queen-sized pull-out bed and an arm chair. [...] The newly updated rooms, ranging from 350 - 550 sq. ft., blend contemporary style with thoughtful amenities. [...]"; Suite with a sofa bed
One Bedroom Suites: "With a spacious bedroom and comfortable sitting area, our refined One Bedroom Suites offer a full bathroom and a leather sofa featuring a queen-sized pull-out bed. [...] With 530 sq. ft. of space, the bright and light suites have the welcoming feel of home.[...]"; Suite with a sofa bed

Special Hotel Requests

The Special Request Form https://www.arisia.org/requests is the umbrella method for all requests to the Innkeeper, and to get on a waitlist. Examples include changing the duration of a stay, asking for a different room type or location, configuring a room a certain way, and making an accessibility need known.

Filling the request form out allows us to keep track of everyone’s requests and to process them in the order received. Requests are generally processed in the order received and all forms should be submitted by December 17th.

You will need your reservation number (or numbers, if you are asking about multiple rooms) when you submit the Special Request Form. Please have them handy. If you are on the waitlist and don't have a room number, see the next section.

Request Types and Actions

Arrival Date, Departure Date, Room Block, or Room Type: let us know what you want and we'll try to make it happen. Remember that there are a limited number of any given type of room, a limit on hotel dates, and the hotel has final say on who gets early check-in or late check-out. Within these limits, we'll do our best to meet every request.
Connect multiple rooms: fill out one Request form with both reservation numbers. Let us know (in the More Information field) if "nearby" is acceptable in case we can't actually give you connected rooms.
Special location request: We can try to make one of these three location requests happen.

Shabbat/Low Floor

Request this if you need to be able to take stairs to your room so the lower the better.

Near Babysitting

Request this if you have young fans of the ages that are early to bed and early or noisy to rise or a Turtle Track member and would like to be near other similar groups.

Open Party Floor

Request this if you are willing to be in a room with parties all around and lots of people, or if you will be hosting one of those parties. For hosts, please also read all the things on the Party page and fill out their request form. See also Party Buffer below.
Room feature request: We can work with the hotel on adapting your room in these ways. Ultimately, though, room-setting is done by the hotel and may be limited by their supplies.

Rollaway

This is a twin bed that can be added to a King room. The hotel has a very limited number of these. We will review the requests in December with the hotel and update your status at that time.

Crib

This is, you know, a crib that can be added to a room. The hotel has a very limited number of these, too. We will review the requests in December with the hotel and update your status at that time.

No feathers

The hotel also has a finite number of feather-free bedding sets. A feather-free room has no bedding, pillows, or other furnishings that contain feathers or down.

Unscented

Unscented also needs some lead time but there are no capacity limits on this one.

If you have access needs

The accessible-designated rooms at the hotel have different features so we want to you in the room that has the features you require. Select the items that apply and use the Other field to give us more detail about what you’re looking for. Usually access requests take precedence over room block but we’ll do our best.

Early Check-In

Standard check-in is 3pm, Early check-in is noon. We can't guarantee your room will be ready early. The bellhops are able to store your luggage until your room is ready (please tip them). Early check-in depends on how many reservations the hotel has leaving on the day you’re checking in.

Late Check-Out

Standard check-out is noon. Anyone can request a late check out of 1 pm or 2 pm by calling the front desk the night before you check out - no special request form needed. Whether the hotel can grant it is controlled by how many people are checking in that day.

Party Buffer room

We encourage party hosts to have friends and co-hosts take buffer rooms adjacent to party space to limit the impact on neighbors. If you are willing to be in such a buffer room, please fill out the Special Request Form and let us know that. Please include the reservation number of the party for which you are willing to buffer, if known.

Waitlists

If you are unable to get any kind of reservation at hotel, this is the choice for you. Do not despair! Although our room blocks fill up quickly, we do process many people off the waitlist and will work through the list throughout the Fall and December.

To get on the waitlist, fill out the Special Request Form.

Using Hotel Points to Book a Room

Our contract with the hotel does not allow paying for rooms with points during our event although you will still earn them.

Cancellations

Rooms booked through the Arisia links must be cancelled by filling out the Special Request Form https://www.arisia.org/requests. This way we can assign the room to someone on the waitlist. Cancelling through the hotel makes the freed up room available to the general public at the rack rate and Innkeeper doesn’t get notified.

Room Limits

The hotels (and fire codes) do not permit more than four people to share a hotel room.

Food in Room

All hotel rooms have a mini-fridge (except for the "Cozy" rooms). When you arrive, please check that it is plugged in and set for the coldest setting.

Cooking food in hotel rooms is not permitted. Rooms do not have the necessary ventilation to deal with cooking odors. If you have medical needs, please email the Innkeeper (@email) to review your options.

No smoking

All hotels in Boston are smoke-free. The hotel provides designated smoking areas outside their buildings. Speak to the hotel concierge if you cannot locate the area.

There will be a $250 cleaning fee charged for smoking anywhere in the hotel, including guest rooms. This includes vaping and cannabis.

WiFi

The hotel has free Wi-Fi in their hotel lobby, but charges for Wi-Fi in the meeting rooms. Hotel guests will be given an account number to use Wi-Fi in their hotel rooms at no charge.

Reconciliation Track programming is posted

Safety

Volunteer