Boston’s Kenmore Square is a busy place. Throw in a Sox game at nearby Fenway Park and traffic can be a bad dream. If, instead of a baseball game, Fenway is hosting a sold-out concert with on-field seating adding to the approximately 36,000-capacity stadium, you’re looking at a nightmare scenario. My husband, Kevin, and I were thrilled when we snagged on-field seats last February for a July Billy Joel concert at Fenway. We figured we’d park in Back Bay and walk or take the T to Fenway. But then friends began regaling us with tales of street gridlock and seas of people blocking the intersections. We didn’t want to worry about parking, and we didn’t want to leave the concert early just to beat the crowds, so — at the suggestion of a friend — we targeted a few local hotels and kept an eye on room rates. We knew we were going to overnight somewhere, we just didn’t know exactly where. When a rate at our target popped up on Hotel Tonight, we booked immediately. We ended up staying at Hotel Buckminster, almost directly across the street from Fenway. Parking was part of the deal, so we handed over our car, dropped our bags, had a bite in the bar, and casually walked over to Fenway, where Billy Joel put on one hell of a great show! Then we strolled back to the hotel, had a good night’s sleep, applied a $10 voucher (included in the rate) toward breakfast at the hotel restaurant and got home just in time to start the business day, well-rested and relaxed. Hotel Buckminster isn’t a swishy 5-star hotel, but it’s clean, comfortable, convenient; and the staff is among the friendliest I’ve met in all my travels — including at some of those swishy 5-star hotels. — Lisa Matte, editor in chief