<p>We need to stay at a hotel/ apartment near Cambridge for the last 2 weeks of July. Frankly, the hotels and rentals I’ve seen are completely out of my price range. I’ve looked at sublets but most are for a longer period of time/ too much $/ or are only for 1 person. I am willing to commute but would like a safe place. Any ideas? Is it reasonable to think I could commute from southern NH and, if so, where? (Other states are fine too. Just thinking…)</p>
<p>What is your price range?</p>
<p>Was hoping to do it on about $1500 for 14-15 nights (about $100/ night). Is that <em>totally</em> unrealistic? (And we don’t need an apt. I was just looking to see if a sublet would be cheaper.) It’ll be 2-3 of us.</p>
<p>My friend who lives near the northern MA border says her commute to Cambridge can be as long as 2 hrs one way depending on the time of the day. I would not recommend doing it. How much are you willing to pay?</p>
<p>Counrty Inn and Suites extended stay? Approx. $100/night plus tax</p>
<p>[Search</a> Results](<a href=“http://www.countryinns.com/hotels/us/ma/cambridge/6392]Search”>http://www.countryinns.com/hotels/us/ma/cambridge/6392)</p>
<p>Also check out Homestead and Extended SatyAmerica. They are not fancy hotels, but we lived in one for 2 weeks when we were moving between our old and new houses here in WA. It was OK, I even cooked dinners every night :)</p>
<p>Very cool! Thank you BB!</p>
<p>BunsenBurner, the Country Inn seems to be in Brockton - quite a drive from Cambridge. I’d look for something on the South Shore, near the Red Line. For example, this hotel has rooms for less than $100/night:</p>
<p>[InterContinental</a> Hotels & Resorts Hotel Reservations | First Time Here?](<a href=“http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/cw/1/en/rates/bosbr?ias=y&availCheckCaching=n&_requestid=415022]InterContinental”>http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/cw/1/en/rates/bosbr?ias=y&availCheckCaching=n&_requestid=415022)</p>
<p>I don’t know anything about this hotel, I just did a google search. But in your place I’d try to commute by subway. The Red Line goes directly from Braintree to Harvard Square. It probably takes 30 minutes or so.</p>
<p>You might be able to find a few hotels in the Burlington area. This is on Route 128 which is the first ring around Boston. You’d need a car to get in though. I expect prices around $130 a night.</p>
<p>You can get prices around $50 to $70 in Nashua, NH but it’s probably 70 minutes to get to Cambridge depending on the time. I haven’t done a drive into Cambridge in a long time and don’t know how bad the traffic is.</p>
<p>Brockton is not the best of areas.</p>
<p>Considering that the OP was looking for places in NH… You are right, that one may be too far - close to 20 miles. But there is a couple of Homestead ones closer, including one in Waltham (where I will be camping at the end of August) that might be a bit closer. All of the extended stay places under $120/night will be 2-3 stars max. Check reviews on Hotels.com to see if you are OK with staying at something that is less than posh.</p>
<p>Just took a quick gander. Maybe there’s more on craigslist list</p>
<p>[Furnished</a> rooms with kitchenettes and private baths. M857](<a href=“http://boston.craigslist.org/gbs/sub/705149562.html]Furnished”>http://boston.craigslist.org/gbs/sub/705149562.html)</p>
<p>I’ve had good luck with Priceline, but I’m not sure that this would work for a long stay. biddingfortravel.com has a lot of good information. See this, for example:
[Massachusetts</a> - Boston - USA Hotels - BiddingForTravel.com - Message Board - Yuku](<a href=“Massachusetts - Boston - BiddingForTravel.com”>Massachusetts - Boston - BiddingForTravel.com)
People have been booking the Hyatt Regency Cambridge for less than $100/night. There is also a good review of the Cambridge Residence Inn.</p>
<p>Also, consider Arlington. Very close to Cambridge and on the Red Line.</p>
<p>NYMomof2, That link won’t work for me. Which hotel is it? You’re right that being near the T would be a huge bonus-- but I don’t know Boston or the surrounding area well enough to figure out what’s near the T (nor have I ever ridden on the T).</p>
<p>Are you visiting colleges in the area or just staying in Cambridge? Will you be bringing a car and/or using a car? I live in the Boston suburbs and may be able to steer you, but need to know how much you plan to travel around. (Some of the Boston/Cambridge hotels charge $20-$30 a day to park!!!) The Sheraton Commander is the most economical hotel within walking distance to Harvard Square. I’ve had family stay there for years. There is nothing economical near MIT (too many hot bio-tech companies!)</p>
<p>My son will be attending a summer high school thing on the MIT campus for those 2 weeks. We’re driving in from another state. So he or he/ I will have to commute into MIT daily and I will hopefully get to do the Boston tourist thing. In an ideal world, we would leave the car at the hotel and take the T into the city daily.</p>
<p>Oh, and I tried the $85 bid for Cambridge and it was rejected. I can’t increase the bid price unless I expand the area to Boston Waterfront, Medford, Copley Square. Does anyone know which areas are <em>more</em> expensive?</p>
<p>2collegewego, on the T’s webpage ([MBTA.com](<a href=“http://www.mbta.com%5DMBTA.com%5B/url%5D”>http://www.mbta.com)</a>), you can put in a location and the site will tell you the closest service to that address.</p>
<p>You have my sympathy – last year I was trying to find a T-accessible hotel to book a block of rooms for my wedding guests, and I had a lot of difficulty finding a rate that wouldn’t make my Midwestern relatives die of shock.</p>
<p>This is the site of one of the fraternities renting for the summer. Perhaps you could check MIT for summer housing (google MIT summer housing) in the student residences.</p>
<p>[Alpha</a> Tau Omega - Beta Gamma Chapter | MIT: Summer Housing](<a href=“http://web.mit.edu/ato/www/summer.html]Alpha”>Alpha Tau Omega - Beta Gamma Chapter | MIT: Summer Housing)</p>
<p>So you will have a car to park, too… Parking in Cambridge is expensive, as someone already pointed out. Considering your budget, it looks like a hotel in the suburbs with free parking/access to public transport might be your best bet. I’d call the front desk of the hotels that you think would fall within your budget and ask about nearby transportation to Cambridge/MIT.
I find sometimes that locals are not the greatest source of hotel info. If you asked me about hotel options in Seattle - I’d be scratching my head really hard, since I never had the need to stay at a hotel in Seattle (other than our 2-week Extended StayAmerica stay).</p>
<p>2collegewego, if you go to biddingfortravel.com, and scroll down to “Frequently Asked Questions”, and click on the Hotel link, then on “Hotel FAQ”, you will learn a lot about how to bid on Priceline. Then go back to the main page, scroll down to “Hotels,” and click on “Massachusetts - Boston.” At the top there is a hotel list, under that is information on accepted and rejected bids from users. </p>
<p>One problem might be the length of your stay.</p>
<p>This place advertises rooms for less than $700 weekly and it’s walking distance to MIT.</p>
<p>[463</a> Beacon Street Guest House - Boston’s Best Slept Secret](<a href=“http://www.463beacon.com%5D463”>http://www.463beacon.com)</p>
<p>Here’s one that might work ($1100/week) but I’m not sure what you would do with your car:</p>
<p>[Boston</a> downtown vacation condo rental, CyberRentals property 181192](<a href=“http://www.cyberrentals.com/rental/p181192]Boston”>http://www.cyberrentals.com/rental/p181192)</p>
<p>This one also might be a possibility – parking is on-street, but since it is in Jamaica Plain you might have better luck finding a space:</p>
<p>[Boston</a> downtown vacation apartment rental, CyberRentals property 130832](<a href=“http://www.cyberrentals.com/rental/p130832]Boston”>http://www.cyberrentals.com/rental/p130832)</p>
<p>Actually, if you don’t bring a car, it would probably be less hassle and also cheaper.</p>
<p>(Thinking about it a little more, I would highly recommend that you plan on taking the T and leaving your car elsewhere.)</p>
<p>Editing again: I see that $1100/week is out of your price range, but if you consider the cost of gas, tolls, the need to find a parking space, etc., I would still advise you to look for a place in town on [Vacation</a> Rentals - Vacation Rentals by Owner - CyberRentals](<a href=“http://www.cyberrentals.com%5DVacation”>http://www.cyberrentals.com) or similar and not bring a car. You will have MUCH more fun staying in Cambridge, Boston, Somerville, or other car-free locations than you would in Burlington or NH. Waltham has commuter rail into Cambridge, and is also worth a look (if you can find something here you will probably also be able to park).</p>