Best for Families
The Doubletree Guest Suites offers two rooms for the price of one, with two TVs and a refrigerator, and the property has a nice pool. The location, straddling Boston and Cambridge, is especially good if you're driving from the west -- you leave the turnpike before downtown traffic shatters the peace in the back of the minivan.

Best Value
The Newbury Guest House is ideal for travelers who want to take advantage of the Back Bay's excellent shopping. You can't beat the location, right on lively Newbury Street, and room rates even include breakfast.

Best Splurge
The Boston Harbor Hotel has it all: Huge rooms, magnificent views, impeccable service, luxurious health club and spa, terrific pool, and a great location adjacent to a marina where you can moor your yacht. Across the river, Cambridge's Charles Hotel offers a similar combination of amenities, location, and pampering service (though without the boat accommodations).

Most Romantic
The intimate atmosphere and elegant furnishings make a suite at the Eliot Hotel a great spot for a rendezvous. If you and your beloved need some time apart, close the French doors and maintain eye contact while in separate rooms. In Cambridge, the luxurious rooms at the Hotel Veritas feel cozy, not cramped -- perfect for cuddling..

Best Service
The Four Seasons Hotel is tops not just in Boston but in all of New England. The hotel's your-wish-is-my-command service -- which applies to both humans and their animal companions -- isn't the only reason for that status, but it helps.

Best for Business Travelers
The Langham, Boston occupies an unbeatable location in the heart of the Financial District and supplies all the services and amenities a tycoon or would-be tycoon could want. Yes, it's part of a chain, but a small, London-based chain that has a great reputation for a reason.

Best for Travelers with Disabilities
The Royal Sonesta Hotel in Cambridge trains its staff in disability awareness and offers 18 rooms (some of which adjoin standard units) equipped for the hearing, ambulatory, and vision impaired. A wheelchair ramp for use in conference rooms is available. The Westin chain is particularly attentive to the needs of travelers with mobility issues; check out the Westin Copley Place Boston and the Westin Boston Waterfront.

Best for Eco-Sensitive Travelers
Listing hotels that aren't on the green bandwagon might be quicker. Every large hotel chain is boosting its environmental awareness, with Hyatt and Kimpton -- parent company of Hotel Marlowe, Nine Zero, and the Onyx Hotel -- on the cutting edge. Boston's Lenox Hotel, Seaport Hotel, and Colonnade Hotel are especially green but by no means the only earth-friendly properties in town.

Best Pool
The Sheraton Boston Hotel has a great indoor-outdoor pool with a retractable dome. Cambridge's Royal Sonesta Hotel has a similarly enjoyable arrangement.

Best Views
Several hotels offer impressive views of their immediate surroundings, but for a picture-postcard panorama of Boston and Cambridge, head to the upper floors of the Westin Copley Place Boston. If you prefer up-close-and-personal views of Boston Harbor, check out the Fairmont Battery Wharf, on the edge of the North End, Boston's Italian-American stronghold.