Some meeting planners think small
Rhode Island is the smallest of the US’s 50 states. It is such a tiny place that the state of Alaska could hold 424 similar sized states. But almost one-third of it involves bays and inlets, which greatly adds to its popularity as a meeting destination.
The preeminent of areas is obviously the historical cities of Providence and Newport.
In Providence, the choice of relatively large meetings is the Rhode Island Convention Center, in the heart of downtown and offering 100,000 square feet of meeting space, 23 meeting rooms and 20,000 square feet of ballroom space.
The center is conveniently located next to the 564-room Westin{rovidence, which also has more than 22,000 square feet of meeting space.
The city of Providence itself is known for its number of universities — seven of them, including Brown University.
The city of Newport also has a sense of history. It was founded in 1630 and is said to have more preserved colonial homes than any other city in the country. It also more than its share of lighthouses and boats.
A very popular excursion for meeting-goers is the Cliff Walk, which includes the towns’ 11 historic mansions, many of which are meeting venues.
The city is also known for its boating scene and it has some of the country’s largest fleet of America’s Cup boats.
Its diversity makes it popular for off-site meetings.
"You can go to a much larger city and not get the variety of venues we have here," said Anne Roberts of the Newport & Bristol County Convention & Visitor’s Bureau.
Newport has four major conference centers, including the 257-room Hyatt Regency Newport Hotel & Spa, which has 75,000 square feet of function space.
For even smaller venues, the Hotel Viking Newport that opened in 1926 has an award-sinning spa, fine dining and 14,000 square feet of clearly upscale meeting space.
By David Wilkening
David
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