The Liberty Hotel: Boston
During a recent trip to Boston, I made it a priority to stay in the Liberty Hotel. Perhaps Boston’s most notable new luxury hotel, I had read some convincing reviews about it… its supposedly top notch service, historic ambiance, and in-hotel food options all led me to the front door.
Bottom line: this is a hotel for hotel connoisseurs, and for those of you out there who don’t yet know that you’re a hotel connoisseur, the Liberty may just clarify that question for you. I’ve decided to include an image of what the Liberty was in this post, because the hotel’s past is a major reason it is truly unique and worthy of praise. The Charles Street Jail, perhaps the best example out there of the “Boston Granite Style,” was built in 1851 in the Beacon Hill area of Boston. Over the years (until its closing in, I believe, 1990), it housed infamous as well as “pop” prisoners– Johnny Cash and Jane Fonda immediately come to mind. The Liberty retains the important character of its penal predecessor, somehow keeping the ‘wow factor’ but dispensing of that gritty and erie Alcatraz vibe.
With “ambience” quickly checked off my list, I turned to the service factor, or should I say, it turned to me. From the time I put the car in ‘park’ outside the hotel, I was assisted by the staff as if I were the only guest on the premises. Without ever feeling over-coddled, my bags were quickly whisked up to my room, and at the front desk, the check in process was streamlined with complimentary glasses of Vueve Clicquot. Later that evening, I discovered Clink, the in-hotel restaurant which sports ever-changing seasonal menus and has proved to be a legitimate Boston hot-spot, not just a convenient place to eat for hotel guests. The servers were as knowledgeable about the historical jail architecture retained in the hotel as they were about the menu. And the next day, when I inquired as to whether I could leave my luggage and valet-parked car at the hotel well past my check out time so I could walk around the city before my flight, they happily accommodated me.
Unyielding service is something we’ve all come to expect in luxury hotels, but the Liberty simply stands by itself in the way it pairs exemplary service with such a refined resurrection of a historic Boston jail.
