[Neale Pickett]

So I'm booking travel for this spam conference next month,

Where is the conference located? I'm guessing Cambridge.

and I'm learning that I probably don't want to rent a car in Boston.

Not unless you're traveling to a "far" suburb (like Burlington). Boston proper is a very small city, it's a maze of unmarked one-way streets, and there's very little parking space (in Boston or Cambridge).

The country being very automobile-happy, though, I can't find any hotels that advertise proximity to the subway.

googling on hotel boston subway finds a bunch.

Are there any Boston-area residents on the list who can recommend a place to stay that's near the subway?

Anywhere in Boston proper is close to the T (what locals call the subway) ... hmm, I see the conference is at the MIT Media Lab, and that http://www.media.mit.edu/contact/hotels.html lists a couple dozen convenient hotels. For whatever reason, they don't mention the T there either! MIT is at the Kendall Square stop on the Red Line. Any hotel in the MIT or Harvard area (two T stops away from MIT) would work fine, and the airport is easy to get to and from via T (take shuttle bus 33 from the terminal to the T station -- that's free).

I'm a tourist so I can't handle a lot of bus transfers.

Heh <wink>. Instead you can handle a lot of T transfers: Subway directions from Logan International Airport: Take the free airport shuttle to the subway "T" station. Take the Blue Line to Government Center stop where you will switch to the Green Line. Take the Green Line to Park Street stop where you will switch to the Red Line. Take the Red Line to Kendall Square stop. It's easier than it sounds. At least it was the sixth time I did it when I lived there <0.9 wink>.