The Element Seaport, which opened earlier this year, is right across the street from the convention center, making it a good bet for people in town for trade shows and the like. Some 180 of its 510 rooms are suites.

The Aloft opened in the first half of 2015, and is another option convenient to the convention center. It's also proximate to the Seaport District and its super-fun Lawn on D park.

This 136-room, Marriott-branded hotel opened during the summer of 2015 amid Boston's amorphously delineated Innovation District. The minimalist, breezy design of the Envoy fits with that district's vibe.

When this 114-room inn opened at the tail end of last decade just north of the Financial District, it was noted for being a hip redo of an 1889 building—a trendy envelope-pusher, that is, about what Boston boutiques can be.

The 256-room, five-star hotel helped change the whole area, though it still has the feel of being out there on the water’s edge in the best and worst senses (i.e. fabulous views, but isolated). It is definitely for those who want an extra-quiet refuge from the city.

The former site of the Charles Street Jail way back when, the 300-room Liberty (get it?) is a tad out of the way for business travelers, but perfect for tourists wanting to soak up history in nearby Beacon Hill.

The 89-year-old hotel in May wrapped a multi-year, $100,000,000 renovation, including a revamp of its 1,060 rooms and its corridors.

The 214-room inn is pretty much smack dab in the middle of Back Bay, near the Prudential shops and Copley Square as well as the South End. This is a solid Plan A for tourists.

The 102-year-old granddaddy of Boston hotels, the 383-room Fairmont Copley is enviable for its higher-end aura: the entryway has been known as Peacock Alley (as in strutting) since the Jazz Age and John Kennedy’s grandfather, then the mayor of Boston, threw a party for 1,000 when the hotel opened.

It's supremely difficult to trump this 285-room hotel's location: across from the Prudential Center (and all that shopping), less than a mile from the Hynes Convention Center, and a mile from Fenway.

This more than 50-year-old boutique in Back Bay’s western hinterlands always garners props for its quiet elegance. Time magazine once called it "small and traditional without being stuffy." Kind of like Boston itself, eh?

The 94-room hotel opened in 2014 and replaced a Howard Johnson. The Verb is also near Fenway, but its decor pays homage more to the rock clubs that dotted the Fenway/Kenmore area back in the day.

This 470-room hotel is right on the river and perfectly situated for those visiting M.I.T. or tech-heavy Kendall Square. The Charles-side complex has 470 rooms, including 11 suites, and offers plenty of meeting space as well as a 24-hour fitness center. Mostly, though, it's that straddling-Cambridge-Boston-border location

Even though the Charles is usually the most expensive hotel in Cambridge, a visitor can't beat that location—especially if said visitor's visit is connected to Harvard or even to M.I.T. Since its opening in 1984 (it replaced an empty lot), the 294-room inn has been elegant proof that an inn can charge $350-plus a night outside of downtown Boston.