Best Western Royal Plaza Hotel & Trade Center
Address: 181 Boston Post Road West, Marlborough, MA 01752
Fax: 508-303-1709
Phone: 508-460-0700
Website: www.rplazahotels.com
Number of Employees: 185
Top Executive: Rick Skinner, general manager
Product or Service: Full service hotel and event facility
Year Founded: 1985
Bigger is better for hotel convention business
Bigger is most definitely better when you’re marketing to regional and national trade shows and conventions. Best Western Royal Plaza Hotel & Trade Center touts its size, along with service and Metrowest location-convenient to both Boston and Worcester
Twenty-five miles west of Boston and 12 miles east of Worcester, the hotel’s location offers accessibility for convention business from both cities, according to Christine Kelly, director of sales. "We’re the largest facility outside of Boston, so we can compete with Boston hotels for convention business," Kelly says.
Best Western Royal Plaza Hotel offers 431 guest rooms and a total of over 80,000 square feet of meeting and exhibit space, including the 47,500-sq.-ft. trade center and 14,000-sq.-ft. cathedral style tent.
As attractive as its size are the1,300 free parking spaces and affordable room rates — "just about half the rate being charged in Boston," Kelly adds.
For business travelers, the hotel provides complimentary high-speed wireless Internet access and data ports in all the guest rooms, as well as meeting spaces. The facility also provides HSIA wired and wireless in meeting spaces for a fee, as well as full on-site audio-visual tech support. Local phone calls are free, and phones are equipped with voice mail.
Accommodating visitors headed for the increasing number of businesses located off Highway 495 and Route 20 in Marlboro and Westboro, the hotel offers shuttle service to companies located within a five-mile radius.
The hotel’s recently renovated 22 meeting rooms can accommodate an entire range of meeting sizes, from small gatherings of four or five people to mega-meetings in the royal ballroom featuring theater seating for up to 1,100.
Best Western Royal Plaza Hotel caters to leisure travelers too, especially those families who combine conference attendance with a vacation. Earlier this summer, the hotel hosted participants in the Ice Skating Institute World Recreational Team Championships and their families.
"We’re frequently used as a hub," says Rick Skinner, general manager. "Because of our location just off 495, it’s convenient for people to tag on trips to Boston, the Cape or Maine."
Families and business travelers have access to the hotel’s indoor pool and fitness center. The hotel’s two restaurants feature pub-style American cuisine, and room service includes full meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
The hotel also is actively marketing itself as a venue for weddings and other special events, such as family reunions. Last year during the holiday season it introduced its Big Little Party, with dinner and dancing for employees whose companies don’t host holiday gatherings or groups of friends who want to celebrate in a setting outside home. In addition, the hotel’s food and beverage director hosts seasonal wine dinners that are open to the public.
Over its 21-year history, the hotel has developed relationships with several trade associations and convention groups. The trade center hosts the National Gem and Jewelry Show three times a year. Last year, another repeat customer, Paradise City, a national art fair, was voted best indoor show nationwide and the best arts events east of the Rockies by readers of AmericanStyle Magazine.
For the past two years, the annual convention for the National Guild of Hypnotists has filled the hotel to capacity during its three-day convention featuring 200 seminars and workshops, the largest convention of its kind.
"We grow our business by building good relationships with our customers," Kelly says. "We offer excellent service, great value and a consistent product."
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