Doubletree To Open Club Hotel At Bayside Center

<B> Doubletree To Open Club Hotel At Bayside Center</B>

By Frank Rosci

A new 197-room Club Hotel by Doubletree, adjacent to the Bayside Expo and Conference Center in Boston, is under construction and expected to open in spring 1999.

The hotel, owned by Corcoran Jennison Hospitality Company, Alexandria, Va., and managed by Doubletree Hotels of Memphis, Tenn., will provide Boston with a "terrific shot in the arm for our industry" and its first Club Hotel, said Patrick Moscaritolo, president and CEO of the Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau. "This is exactly what Boston needs to grow its tradeshow business and overall visitor base, and position the city as even more of a top national business destination," Moscaritolo said.

The hotel will serve three primary markets: show management and exhibitors at Bayside Expo, and corporate clients and leisure visitors in need of close proximity to downtown Boston, said Corcoran Jennison president Scott Stettner.

Doubletree's Club Hotel concept, meeting the needs of business travelers in the burgeoning midprice hotel segment, is an idea whose time has come, according to Doug McCorkle, senior director of brand marketing for Club Hotels by Doubletree, part of Promus Hotel Corp. of Memphis. "Business travelers surveyed told us what they really wanted and needed was an on-the-road office with the space, environment and technical support to stay connected to home base," he said.

Central to the concept is the Club Room, a 3,300-sq.-ft. space just off the main lobby that is equal parts den, office and Au Bon Pain Bakery Cafe, open daily from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. A self-service Office Max business center provides modem ports, laser printers, fax machines, photocopiers, office shipping supplies and FedEx shipping 24-hours a day.

There are private, quiet offices called Personal Harbors, furnished by Steelcase Inc. and equipped with office supplies, such as Post-It notes and reference books, to which calls can be transferred. Semi-private offices and activity tables, outfitted with electrical outlets and dataports, also are available.

Since research showed that 70 percent of business travelers wanted a place to hold meetings for groups of three to five people--space not previously available at any other hotels, McCorkle said--several mini-meeting rooms, available on a first-come, first-served basis, were incorporated into the design. Larger meeting and conference rooms, as well as banquet facilities, are available next door at Bayside.

Guest rooms are equipped with a work desk, two telephones with voicemail and dataports, iron and ironing board, cable TV, coffee maker with complimentary coffee and a hair dryer.

The immediate response has been overwhelmingly positive from small planners and exhibitors alike, who say that they have long needed a hotel at Bayside, according to Tom Ballantine, the center's general manager. "We expect that business travelers also will find the Club Room concept extremely useful as a virtual office away from home."

While it's a bit premature for rates to be fixed, McCorkle said rates at other Club Hotels nationally range from $75 to $115.