A FLY BALL FROM FENWAY PARK , HOTEL COMMONWEALTH IS ANYTHING BUT ORDINARY .
By DAVID EISEN owned by Ohana Real Estate Partners ) it added more rooms to take the key count up to its present-day 245 . Today , the hotel operates as a true independent hotel , with no ties to a soft brand or a consortium . After the Great Recession , Sperling and his team toyed with the idea of joining some affiliation , but , in his words , “ Nothing felt right .” His recommendation to ownership , instead , was : “ Let ’ s go at it alone and see what happens .” his meeting with David Colella , who happens to now be the general manager of The Colonnade Hotel , also in Boston . During the meeting , “ I ’ ll never forget it ,” Sperling said , he placed a call to The Knickerbocker hotel and said , “ I can ’ t hire this guy , but he is meant for our business .” The reason he couldn ’ t hire him was because Sperling ’ s girlfriend at the time was working at the Ambassador . The rest is history .
Beyond Fenway Park ’ s left field wall , better known by its moniker the Green Monster , is a 60-foot-by- 60-foot sign emblazoned with the name CITGO , the oil and gas company . By now , the billboard has become as synonymous with Boston as cream pie . To Joe Carter , the former major league baseball player , it was a siren — calling him , tempting him . He didn ’ t see it as CITGO when he dug into the batter ’ s box , he saw it as C-IT-GO .
Truth is , the sign is some 1,200 feet from home plate and would take a Ruthian blast to reach . Peeking out a guestroom window of the Hotel Commonwealth , the CITGO sign feels to be within an arm ’ s length . It makes sense , then , that the Kenmore Square hotel is the official hotel of the Boston Red Rox . Team memorabilia adorn the lobby , an elevator ’ s panels are autographed by former and current Red Sox players and , naturally , the hotel has a Fenway Suite , complete with a replica Green Monster .
Baseball might be on the mind at Hotel Commonwealth , but the property is far from a baseball hotel . Its skipper — or general manager — is Adam Sperling , who has had a long career in hotel operations , the last 15 with Sage Hospitality , which now manages the hotel , but used to own it , having acquired it from Boston University in 2012 . The hotel opened in 2000 and was built by the university to , as Sperling said , serve as the gateway to the campus .
After Sage acquired the hotel ( it ’ s now
INDEPENDENTLY ACCOMPLISHED It ’ s been a rousing success , one that Sperling attributes to that distinct , independent spirit , which , in the hospitality arena , allows you to move on ideas more quickly and with less resistance since there are less stakeholders involved . Consider the Red Sox autographed elevator , a brainchild of Sperling that began as a cost-saving invention . When the original hotel was expanded , a new service elevator had to be added , making the old one redundant . However , converting the old service elevator to a regular elevator would have cost upwards of $ 200,000 . Instead , Sperling had the idea to basically just cover over the metal paneling and allow players to sign the walls . The whole thing cost no more than $ 3,000 and is now one of the hotel ’ s “ wow ” elements . In fact , on one occasion , Red Sox closer and World Series winner Keith Foulke rode the elevator in his uniform , greeting guests as they boarded — a surprise elevator operator if there ever was one .
COMING UP Sperling ’ s ascension within the ranks of hospitality started out similarly to those before him and those to come after him : like any young person , he needed to make money to be self-sufficient . In Chicago , a friend introduced him to the general manager of the Ambassador East hotel , a man that Sperling said had a profound impact on him and the trajectory of his career .
“ He was so inspirational ,” Sperling said of
I ALWAYS FELT LIKE I WAS GOING TO BE HERE INDEFINITELY . I WANTED TO BE SURE THAT I LIVED WITH THE CONSEQUENCES OF ANY DECISION I MADE REGARDING THE EMPLOYEE OR GUEST EXPERIENCE
– ADAM SPERLING , GENERAL MANAGER , HOTEL COMMONWEALTH
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