The Omni Parker House: Boston's Kennedy Hotel

No family is more bound up with Boston than the Kennedys, and no Boston hotel is more bound up with the Kennedys than the Parker House, a landmark on the Freedom Trail since 1855.

Omni Parker House

Opened in 1855, the Parker House is the longest continuously operating hotel in the United States. Ulysses S. Grant stayed here, and Charles Dickens preferred it to the city's other hotels. Most of the original building was replaced in the 1920s with the elegant tower that stands today.

John F. Kennedy's ties to the hotel ran through his whole life. As a small boy he gave his first public speech in the hotel's Press Room, at a party for his grandfather, Boston Mayor John "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald. He later announced a run for office at the hotel, and hotel tradition holds that he proposed to Jacqueline Bouvier at a table in Parker's Restaurant in 1953, a claim the hotel's own historian admits another Boston restaurant shares.

A 2025 renovation refreshed the hotel for its 170th anniversary. Have a Boston cream pie or a Parker House roll in the restaurant where both were invented, then end the night in The Last Hurrah, Boston's most famous political bar.

Plan your stay: Explore more hotels in Boston

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About this guide: Presidential connections are drawn from public sources, including official White House schedules, presidential and historical archives, and reputable news outlets, as well as the hotels' own published histories. Hotel names, ownership, and amenities may have changed since publication. This information is provided for general interest, is not guaranteed, and should be independently verified. Hotelaholic is not affiliated with or endorsed by any U.S. president or government agency.