Meeting News - September 22, 2008 - (Page 34) Destination Insider: New England Edited by William Ng william.ng@nielsen.com Providence Links Convention Center to Arena, Adds Rooms City says Dunkin’ Donuts Center-Rhode Island CC tandem and bulked-up hotel inventory give it citywide ability The Loft restaurant (left) inside the new Nylo hotel sports a contemporary design. (Above) Dunkin’ Donuts Center has a new skybridge that connects with the Rhode Island Convention Center, conveniently combining the facilities for big events. By Bob Curley A just-completed $80 million renovation of Providence’s 13,000-seat Dunkin’ Donuts Center that included a new indoor skywalk connecting the arena to the Rhode Island Convention Center (RICC) has opened the door to large citywide and congress-style meetings, according to local officials. The three-year renovation project, completed in August, fully integrates the arena’s 31,000 sf of meeting and event space with the 137,000-sf convention center and adds luxury suites for concerts, sports, and other events, augmenting the city’s mix of facilities available to groups. Providence also boosted its room inventory to over 2,200 with the recent opening of the 272room Renaissance Providence and the addition of a second condo-hotel tower at the landmark 564-room Westin Providence. The additional capacity has helped Providence win events such as the 6,000-room-night GovEnergy conference scheduled for August 2009 and—in a unique use of both the Dunkin’ 34 MeetingNews September 22, 2008 Donuts Center and RICC—an October trade show for tattoo artists at the convention center called Rock the Ink in combination with a concert at the arena by hard rockers Godsmack. “Connecting the ‘Dunk’ with the convention center enables us to offer a larger facility with more flexibility for larger meetings,” said Neil Schriever, vice president of sales and services for the Providence Warwick Convention and Visitors Bureau. Providence officials expect the city will add another 500 to 600 hotel rooms in the next two years. Opening Dec. 1 is a 110-room Hampton Inn downtown. A proposed 142-room aloft hotel would open in February 2010 in the dynamo house of a former power plant slated to become a new museum. The Hampton Inn will add mid-market rooms to a downtown currently dominated by brands like Westin and Hilton; sales director Elaine Murphy said the hotel will be an “overflow location for any large meeting,” but it will have 2,000 sf of meeting space, including an ornate executive ballroom and a 10th-floor function space with windows on four sides overlooking the city and Riverwalk. Aloft—Starwood’s low-cost, high-style brand—won’t be the first cutting-edge hotel in Rhode Island. The emerging Nylo chain of affordable urban-chic hotels opened its second location nationally in Warwick in September, with 153 loft-style rooms and midweek rates starting at $119 per night. The hotel has 1,450 sf of meeting space and is less than 10 minutes from T.F. Green Airport. Alongside Providence’s facility renovations and new hotels, Southwest Airlines’ extensive service to T.F. Green is an important factor in attracting groups to the city, especially as other airlines cut service and rising airfares make regional destinations more attractive, according to Greg Stafford, GM of the 80-room Hotel Providence. “After [going] through a bit of a slump. . .I’m feeling pretty positive,” said Stafford. “This market has some wonderful assets, and it’s an affordable alternative to New York and Boston.” www.meetingnews.com http://www.meetingnews.com
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