It’s almost unfair to be writing a review of a hotel in the middle of construction, but insofar as the Millennium Bostonian is in the game of renting their rooms out to the public, I suppose that my experience counts.

Here’s what I can say about the Millennium Bostonian. For the leisure traveler who wants to be in the heart of Boston, I can’t think of a better hotel to be in. After seeing all of the lousy economic news and knowing that it meant that hoteliers would start discounting like crazy, I waited until the last minute to book a midweek room. When my 50% off rate at the Westin Waterfront still ended up being $225, I went for the Millennium, knowing from the Tripadvisor reviews that it was under construction. My $200 rate would be discounted to $150 if I made my reservation non-refundable, which I was willing to gamble on. However, I did splurge and spend an extra $30 to be on the better side of the building, and I sent a little note asking if I could get a good view of Fanueil Hall. All of this for what I presumed would be a $400/night room once the renovation was complete, and I was again willing to take a chance on the noise.

That extra $30 was the best money that I spent during my trip to Boston. The room was absolutely outstanding. I was in a corner room on the 6th floor with a balcony (which was equipped with a lovely flower box) overlooking Fanueil Hall and Quincy Market, and we could see the Custom House and the Old State House as well. For my 10 year old, this couldn’t have been better. Now the noise which didn’t bother me was the music, drum circles and general hubbub from the streets below, and that pretty much died out by 10 pm. The location was ideal in another way because you are so centrally located to everything in Boston, particularly because you can walk to any of three different subway lines.

We were also in one of the newly renovated rooms which were very nice. I would describe them as boutique hotel contemporary. Not way out there, but tasteful and refined. What I liked were the bigger-than-it-had-to-be-but-I’m-not-complaining flat screen TV, the comfortable bed and sheets and the seating furniture in general. The clock radio had an i-pod hook-up as well. One disappointment was the $9.95 that they wanted for wi-fi access. The highlight of the room, however, was the bathroom. I give the shower an A+; it’s one of the nicest I’ve used anywhere. My son who rarely takes showers actually took two in eight hours. The limestone tile and oversized shower area gave it a luxe feel, but the kicker was the Grohe hardware – a combination raintree showerhead with a separate hand washer. It took a little while for the water to heat up, but that’s probably because of the low occupancy. Other than the shower, the bathroom was a bit small, and they could’ve actually claimed some room where they have a closet so that there would be a place to put my toiletries down. As it stood, the sink was the width of the room so my bag went onto the floor. Another amusing part of the room was the toilet which had a suction so violently strong that it could probably take off a limb. Finally, they had these frosted glass sliding doors separating the bathroom from the bedroom, probably to make the bathroom seem bigger, but they’re tough to keep clean so you see all the spots.

I didn’t mind the lack of a lobby or the fourth floor check-in. The areas which are being redone certainly needed it to get rid of the last vestiges of the motor lodge/rounded-high gloss-dorm room wood aesthetic. We didn’t try the restaurant since there were so many better options around. I didn’t really ask much of the hotel since that’s not why I was in Boston, but the service level seemed serviceable enough.

Which takes me to the noise. I knew there would be noise, I’m someone who prefers a fan when they sleep because the noise puts me to sleep, but I have to say that I know of many other hotels that tell their contractors to not start until 8 AM when many guests could be sleeping, particularly those from the west coast who can’t fall asleep until 2 AM. I wouldn’t complain if the contractors worked until 8 or 9 PM because most people are out enjoying the city, but starting the hammering at 6:30 AM seems pretty ridiculous. So I was awakened by this huge vibration vaguely reminiscent of the 5.4 earthquake that we just had in Los Angeles, followed by incessant hammering, and not the loud whacks that my next door neighbor’s contractor back home uses at 7 AM to frame their McMansion. No, this was more of a “tap tap tap tap tap tap” with a 10 second to 2 minute delay, then more of the same, ad nauseum. Then housingkeeping came by at 8:13 AM, by which time the hammering was perfectly acceptable, in my book, other than the fact that my son was still asleep, but fortunately the paper thin doors tipped me off and I opened the door just before the housekeeper knocked. What kind of housekeeping person comes by that early? In any event, it allowed me to see that the contractor had ripped open the ceiling a few feet outside our room. I said “Good Morning” to the tapper, and he tapped right back at me.

In the end, tapping or no tapping, I would definitely stay at the Millennium again because the positives definitely outweigh the negatives. What I will say is that that I wouldn’t take my wife during construction because I know she would be furious based on how she feels when the contractor next door gets a little over eager at 6:53. Also, I wonder what happens to the Millennium when the new Ames hotel which I can also see from my window opens up (Ames, of the Hudson/NY, Mondrian/LA uber-swank fame). But for me to be in the heart of Boston with everything at my fingertips, the Millennium is near perfect.