<p>What area is best to stay when visiting campus? I noticed area around UMass Hospital (Beechwood Hotel) vs closer to campus area (marriot?). I heard some areas are "sketchy" and want to stay away from there so my son doesn't get turned off too quickly as I think WPI may be a good fit otherwise. So please comment on area to stay away from and where it is best to stay. Even if it is in a nice town nearby, we don't mind as we will be visiting other schools too in Mass. </p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>We stayed at the Marriott. It’s near the Gateway research complex. I didn’t see any areas I would call sketchy, though perhaps my threshold is high. My son, who has less exposure to urban environments, had no problem at all as a lot of the surrounding area consisted of museums and open spaces. Troy, NY was another matter. He was a little put off by having to use his room card key to push an elevator button–and we weren’t staying in the penthouse. Again, for me, not so much of a problem. Guess it depends on the kid and what you’re used to.</p>
<p>I usually stay at the Fairfield Inn in Auburn. Nice, clean, restaurants around, and fairly easy to get to WPI. One time I Pricelined the La Quinta in Auburn - it was OK, but not as clean as the Fairfield.</p>
<p>The beechwood is in a good location with a lot restaurants nearby. From what I’ve heard it runs a bit expensive for what you get.
The marriott is in a pretty safe section of Worcester. There is a large amount of construction/demolition work being done in the area, consequently some buildings appear abandoned. I would though avoid the nearby veterans shelter as there can be some rough looking loiterers.
Like others have said the hotels in Auburn tend to be cheaper and in a decent location.</p>
<p>We visited Worcester two times: once for a campus visit/tour (and my son sat in on two classes (computer science)), and my son also attended the WPI Frontiers program during the summer before his senior year so I stayed in a hotel the night before picking him up. </p>
<p>For our first visit, we stayed at the Courtyard by Marriott on Groves St. It was fine, and it’s an easy walk to campus. I actually picked it because I wanted to try out Lucky’s Cafe in the restored warehouse area just up the street, but as it turns out our room fee at the Courtyard included a free hot breakfast buffet, so we did that instead. (The buffet was quite nice.) Yes the veteran’s shelter is right down the street from the hotel, but you don’t have to walk past it to get to campus if you find the guys disconcerting. </p>
<p>For the second hotel stay, I spent a night downtown at the Hampton Inn at 110 Summer St. (I’m including the address because for some reason this hotel doesn’t show up when I search for it on Google maps, but if you type in the address, it is marked on the map.) I would have stayed at the Courtyard again but it was fully booked. I see that the Hampton has a pretty poor review on tripadvisor.com but my experience there was fine. My only complaint was that at the breakfast buffet, they mixed meat in with the scrambled eggs (I’m vegetarian) so I didn’t get any protein in that meal. (The Hilton Garden Inn seemed to have a bustling business, and if it’s not a lot more expensive that might be a better bet overall.) I walked from the hotel to the Uno’s restaurant about two blocks away, and had a nice dinner, and then as an experiment (to see how safe I’d feel, and this was after sunset) I walked all around the downtown area, past city hall and the Worcester Common, and back to the hotel. The town was pretty dead, with very few shops/streets open, and there were some teens who might have been unsavory hanging around in the common, but I never felt unsafe, just a bit disconcerted (though that could be because I just don’t often walk around any downtown area after dark. 
I saw a couple of police cars patrolling but no flashing lights. Worcester still seems quite depressed (though people say it’s improving) but not really unsafe.</p>