| Journal: TWUK | Section: |
| Title: | Issue Date: 15/05/00 |
| Author: | Page Number: 40 |
| Copyright: Other |
Boston by Lisa James
City puts spotlight on conferencing market
New hotels open for business travellers
New hotels open for business travellers
In choosing Boston as the venue for its 2000 convention this month, the Guild of British Travel Agents opted for one of the most user friendly US cities and a popular business travel destination.Convention and business travellers account for over 60% of Greater Boston’s visitors and the number is growing each year. In order to keep up with demand, the city has embarked on a multi-billion-dollar building programme to improve hotel, airport, rail and convention facilities.
Twelve new hotels opened in Greater Boston in 1998, 12 more last year and a further six more are scheduled to open by the end of this year, all of which have excellent business and conference facilities. One example is Preferred Hotels and Resorts’ luxury and intimate Fifteen Beacon Hill Hotel which opened in December last year.
Each of the 61 rooms at Fifteen Beacon is designed to double up as a personal business centre.
In-room facilities include three telephones, a combination fax/colour printer, high-speed Internet access and a bedside keypad which activates digital satellite music from a stereo system. The bathroom even has a 4in television.
At check-in, guests are presented with personalised business cards that are imprinted with their own own direct telephone and fax numbers to be used during their stays.
Other properties which the Greater Boston Convention and VisitorsBureau is particularly keen to promote are the 362-room Wyndham Boston Hotel in the city’s financial district, situated off Boston’s waterfront, which opened in August last year; the Sheraton Boston Hotel and Towers which has undergone a $73m renovation including a new lobby, ballroom and individual conference rooms; and Le Meridien Boston which has finished the first phase of its $2.3m renovation.
Most conventions take place at the Hynez Convention Centre in Copley Plaza which is linked by a walkway to three hotels and a shopping mall.
However, construction has started on the new Boston Convention and Exhibition Centre, located in the Seaport district opposite the entrance of Boston’s Ted Williams Tunnel to Logan International Airport.
Once completed in 2003, it will be the closest convention centre to an airport in the US, with 600,000sq ft of meeting and exhibition facilities.
The Greater Boston Convention and Visitors Bureau has embarked upon a number of initiatives to promote Boston.
In December last year, it launched a quarterly newsletter for conference and incentive organisers to keep them up to date on new developments and has published a Year 2000 Destination Planners Directory with details of over 100 companies.
The GBCVB has also updated its Web site to show international flight details, discount coupons, links to maps, timetables and virtual tours of the area.
City skyline: Boston is one of the most user-friendly cities in the US
Factfile
Boston
Logan International Airport: is a few miles from downtown Boston and can be reached by water taxi, subway service, taxi and airport bus shuttle.
More information: the Greater Boston Convention and Visitors Bureau at www.bostonusa.com.