Boston's Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel Offers Grand Hospitality

One of the city's architectural jewels, The Fairmont Copley Plaza offers gracious hospitality in an elegant and refined setting filled with marble and gold – just as it has for the past 95 years. Just walk into the lobby, with its mirrored doors and intricately carved gold ceiling, or into its majestic Louis XVI-decorated ballroom – and you know that you're in someplace very special. How special? Let's put it this way: In 1912, when the hotel was first constructed, it cost an extravagant $5.5 million, which trust us, you don't want to count in today's dollars.

We stayed in a comfy suite with access to the Fairmont Gold Floor, an exclusive "home within a hotel" that delivers the highest level of personalized service. Our room featured all the amenities you would expect from a world-class luxury hotel: robes, mini bar filled with delicious goodies, plasma TV screens offering high-definition TV, chandeliers, leather-topped desk, gilded mirrors and marble bathrooms with Miller Harris of London bath products. The Fairmont Gold Floor offers wonderful amenities that are too numerous to mention, and the price is an added $100 per day; the list of features includes private check-in on the fourth floor; light secretarial services, complimentary local calls, high-speed Internet access and newspapers, and great food. Breakfasts are a sumptuous spread (including even modern-day health fare including flax seeds and pomegranate juice); and there's also an evening hors’doeuvres selection highlighting Boston's unique ethnic neighborhoods, including the North End (Italian fare) and Chinatown (assorted Asian fare including sushi); Saturday nights feature a chocolate fondue station. We have experienced many Club Floors in our travels, but Fairmont's is a standout. The lounge area at the Fairmont Copley Plaza is also quite lovely; with a living room with fireplace and chess-playing area, and a library where you can rent DVDs.

Six themed suites are also available, including the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum Suites (featuring a collection of powerful images that celebrate the public and private life of the late president); and the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Boston Pops Suites, which recognize the Fairmont Copley Plaza as the "official hotel" of the BSO and Pops with news clippings and images of world-famous Symphony Hall. These six themed suites are included in the 383 rooms and suites the hotel offers on six floors, all of which are newly renovated. Rooms start at $299 per night.

Seeking the perfect pillow? The hotel also offers five varieties designed to provide a serenity-filled snooze. And did we mention that the hotel is pet-friendly? You are more than welcome to bring Fido, at a cost of just $25. (While the practice of luxury hotels allowing this is increasing, we find it can pose distinct problems: Ever listen to Fido bark incessantly from an adjoining room? We did.) And just so you know the hotel is serious about pets, it has its own Canine Ambassador, "Catie Copley," a gentle black Lab who is stationed in a cozy dog bed near the St. James Avenue entrance. Catie is available for scheduled walks and runs, and guests who take her for walk are also told the special commands that Catie knows, and instructions to give her a biscuit for a job well done.

We recommend joining Fairmont's President's Club. Just joining gives you instant complimentary Internet access, a free Aveda amenity bag, and a wealth of other benefits including complimentary use of Taylor Made golf clubs at select properties, and savings at Fairmont's terrific Willow Stream spas (definitely a plus if you intend to visit the Fairmont Kea Lani on Maui, one of our very favorite resorts). Once you have 10 stays or 30 nights in a calendar year, the Fairmont Fit program offers free use of Adidas workout gear and even yoga mats during your stay – we love that idea. Anything that assists travelers in staying fit and trim is a great idea, in our book. You can also request an MP3 player with 300 songs loaded on it for use during your workout.

Dining Options

If you are on the Fairmont Gold Floor, you're all set for breakfast and hors d'oeuvres. For dinner, we highly recommend first having a martini in the Oak Bar, reminiscent of a World War II British officer's Club in the Orient. Then, get ready for a feast in the Oak Room, richly decorated with dark wood paneling, mirrored walls and Waterford crystal chandeliers. With its oversized red leather chairs and mounted deer on the wall, we got the feeling that Henry VIII would have felt right at home here. The menu features a decadent array of seafood and steaks. Take our advice – start with the Duxelle stuffed portobello mushroom and you will never want to eat another mushroom again, anywhere – it is that devastatingly delicious. The menu also features classic Caesar salad in a light sauce; Japanese Wagyu Kobe beef, prepared with an array of sauces ($120, yes, that's $120 for eight ounces, and we understand that the cattle even get a massage, prompting them to proffer delicious beef); fresh local swordfish from Gloucester; and delicious sides including a seasonal New England side dish – ours was a mousse of butternut squash laced with pumpkin seeds and cloves. For the record, we also could have made an entire meal of the warm crusty bread and garlic-laden hummus. Dessert? There's Boston cream pie, a New England cranberry linzer torte, and Vermont maple and vanilla crème brulee, among other options.

The wine list is primarily reds – geared to red meats and steaks – focusing on American wines, with a few from France and Italy. Also available are wines by the glass, including champagnes and dessert wines.

Of course, there's also room service – always a luxury. We had a delicious dinner of chicken soup (it was terrific – very savoury), salad, and salmon, and the service and attention to detail was impeccable, and of course, very romantic. Who doesn’t like that?

Activities

Alas, the hotel does not have a spa nor a pool. But there is a workout room, which although small, still lets you get the job done. It features weights, weight-lifting equipment, and treadmills.

One fantastic offering of the hotel is the Denise Hajjar boutique on the first floor. We have followed Ms. Hajjar’s brilliant career for years, and she excels at custommade outfits for many of the hotel's affluent women who come from all over the world. Ms. Hajjar told Deb that many of her clients are hotel guests, in their forties and fifties, who come to Boston to visit their children in college, or, are visiting the hotel because their son or daughter is marrying here. “Women come in from all over the country, and instead of wasting time looking around for the perfect outfit, they just have me make it for them," Ms. Hajjar told Debbi. The hotel's guests are thrilled with this service, and we know of no other hotel, especially in Boston, to offer such a unique boutique selling custommade garments. Most clients end up buying made-to-order evening wear – “We do tons of mother-of-the-bride and –groom dresses," she added -- but Ms. Hajjar's store in the hotel also carries a wide variety ready-made clothing. She is famous for her jackets with great collars, and matching scarves. "Size 14 is the first to go," says Ms. Hajjar, referring to her most popular size sold, to well-heeled women who find her fashions a wonderful alternative to the matronly clothing usually available in their size. (www.denisehajjar.com.)

The Fairmont Store, owned by the hotel, on the first floor, also carries very unusual items you're not likely to find anywhere else -- some of Deb's favorites are the Violet Skin Care Products made with organic ingredients, made exclusively for the store, and available in travel sizes.

Local Attractions

What to do? What not to do! There are so many things to do in Boston, that the hotel’s concierge could keep you occupied for hours just listing you your options. Smack-dab in the middle of Copley Square, travelers have all of Newbury Street right there, with its wide array of posh stores and boutiques; and Copley Place just across the street, featuring Neiman Marcus and 100 prestige shops such as Gucci, Thomas Pink, Jimmy Choo and Louis Vuitton. There’s also a Filene’s Basement in Back Bay, where items are always at 30-60% off (www.filenesbasement.com). If you really want to be a savvy shopper, however, spend the $40-$45 for the Fairmont to set you up with a tour company, that will take you roundtrip to the famed Wrentham Village Premium Outlets, about an hour away, and even give you a VIP discount coupon book. Many hotel guests take advantage of this service, and the opportunity to save 25% to 65% on designer fashions and sportswear including Adidas, Ann Taylor, DKNY, Jones New York, Michael Kors and Saks Fifth Avenue Off 5th (www.premiumoutlets.com/Wrentham).

Local highlights include:

Fenway Park, home to the Boston Red Sox featuring tours (www.tours@redsox.com)

The Freedom Trail (www.TheFreedomTrail.org)

The Boston Public Library, right across the street (www.bpl.org), home to 6.1 million books including first-edition Shakespeare folios and Mozart’s original music scores

Frog Pond ice skating in winter, located within the Boston Common, (617) 635-2120; www.bostoncommonfrogpond.com

Boston Common, America's oldest public park and part of the Emerald Necklace

For $44, you can use the City Pass to visit six famous attractions: The New England Aquarium, Harvard Museum of Natural History, Museum of Fine Arts, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Museum of Science, and the Skywalk Observatory at Prudential Center (www.citypass.com).

Getting There

Only four miles from Boston's Logan Airport. Just one minute away from the Back Bay Train Station, servicing AmTrak (and the Acela) and the commuter rail.

138 St. James Avenue
Boston, MA 02116
(617) 267-5300
www.Fairmont.com/copleyplaza

Hotel Profile, more photos: The Fairmont Copley Plaza