NINE ZERO GIVES 100 PERCENT.

Byline: - Eric Noland

BOSTON - Nine Zero Hotel is part of the trend of urban boutique hotels solidly positioned to appeal to business travelers - especially the young ones. It offers high-speed complimentary Internet access, a printer hidden away in a drawer of each room's desk, two phone lines per room, Lognet and WebTV, and ergonomic desk chairs.

But my favorite feature was a decidedly low-tech one: Nine Zero's proximity to the Park Street Congregational Church, which has been standing at the edge of Boston Common for nearly 200 years. Beginning each morning and continuing until late evening (but, thankfully, not in the middle of the night), the chimes in the church's gleaming white steeple sound the quarters, the halves, the three-quarters and the hours.

Who needs a digital bedside clock when you can have such an elemental New England experience?

Nine Zero, named after its address - 90 Tremont St. - has many strengths. Embedded in the sidewalk just outside the door is the word ``Relax'' in brass letters, and the 190-room hotel takes pains to see that guests get the chance to do so.

Our room was sleek and stylish, with a lot of window space to let in natural light. It had a marble shower, black lacquer furniture and a high-quality, pillow-top bed. The toiletries were elegant and the linens luxurious, including fluffy bath towels and 330-thread-count Frette sheets from Italy.

Location might be Nine Zero's strongest attribute, though - whether you're traveling for business or pleasure. It sits smack on the Freedom Trail, directly across the street from the picturesque Granary Burying Ground, where such patriots as Samuel Adams, John Hancock and Paul Revere are buried. It's also on the edge of the city's downtown/financial district.

From here, we walked to dinner both at the Faneuil Hall Marketplace and the North End, and also launched a self-guided walking tour of the nearby Beacon Hill neighborhood.

Our room on the 17th floor afforded us a spectacular view to the northwest, taking in the golden dome of the Massachusetts State House, the verdant swath of the Common, the Charles River and the Great Dome of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on the far Cambridge shore, plus the neon Citgo sign that stands behind the left-field wall in Fenway Park.

Because this hotel caters to younger travelers, the staff is simply dressed and openly friendly - no stuffy attitudes or cartoonish livery worn at the front door. But we did find the front-desk staff to be a bit cavalier on a couple of beefs that we voiced.

One day the room hadn't been made up by 4 p.m., and we called down to suggest it just be handled later by the turn-town staff. We got a breezy response, but no apology or explanation.

Also, a previous guest had set our in-room stereo for a 7 a.m. wake-up (which we discovered the hard way the first morning). We couldn't make sense of the system, and alerted the front desk. Again there was a carefree response, and the less-than-reassuring words, ``Yeah, that's been happening a lot with those things.'' We were told someone would be sent up to reset it, but apparently no one was, because the alarm kicked in at the same time the next morning (fortunately, we'd turned the volume down).

Ultimate solution: We unplugged the darn thing.

It was preferable, anyway, to simply wait for the ancient and gentle chimes of the Park Street belfry.

--Web site rate quotes from $229 for October. [phone] or [phone]; www.ninezero.com.

CAPTION(S):

photo, map

Photo:

Boston's Hotel Nine Zero puts the emphasis on comfort: High-quality, pillow-top beds are made up with luxurious 330-thread-count Frette sheets from Italy. Plentiful windows offer a view of the Massachusetts State House's dome.

Eric Noland/Travel Editor

Map:

BOSTON