Small and traditional without being stuffy, this elegant Back Bay hotel welcomes guests like they were family — fitting, since it's been owned and operated by the same clan for more than 50 years. Named the No. 1 hotel in Massachusetts by Travel + Leisure's in 2012, the Eliot boasts 95 guest units, 79 are spacious suites, decorated in toile and raw silk, with Italian marble baths and French doors separating the bedrooms from the sitting areas. Staff members are warm, gracious and multilingual, and the property is uniquely kid-friendly: teenagers stay for free, and little ones are treated to rubber duckies and other bath toys. If your "children" are of the canine variety, that's okay too; pet-sitting services are available.

Room to Book: Light sleepers should request a room above the fifth floor; the hotel sits on heavily trafficked Commonwealth Avenue.

Insider Tip: Hit Maki Mondays at the Zagat-rated Uni Sashimi Bar; for $32 per person, it's all you can eat.

• 1. Eliot Hotel
  370 Commonwealth Ave., Boston, MA 02215; 617-267-1607 42.348586-71.088731 eliothotel.com