Now THAT’S A Celebrity Named ‘Catie’
The 94-year-old Fairmont Copley Plaza hotel spent $38 million on a facelift, refurbishing its soaring lobby with 21-foot-high Italian marble columns, gilded ceilings and Waterford crystal chandeliers.
Yet the most popular upgrade didn’t have anything to do with French antiques or the ornate arches in Peacock Alley, an entrance hall lined with eight-foot mirrors and Renaissance friezes.
No — the most exciting thing to happen here lately was that the “Grande Dame of Boston” got a dog.
Catie Copley, a 68-pound black Lab, now greets guests with a heartfelt wag and a curious nose. The hound came to the hotel as a gimmick in 2004 to showcase the renovation and has breathed life into the once stuffy 5,000-square-foot lobby
…In Boston, some guests call three months in advance to book a walk with the pooch, dubbed a “canine ambassador” by the hotel. Tour guides on Boston’s Duck Tours talk about Catie in the same breath as Trinity Church’s architecture when describing Copley Square.
…”It’s a down-home, welcoming feeling,” said New Yorker Curtis McKinney, 44, who comes to Boston once a month for business and now stays exclusively at the Copley Plaza. “We started coming here basically to see her.”
Wabs have that effect on people.
Life | tree hugging sister | 
July 24, 2006 4:51 pm
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Needs pearls.