What's New

The Big Dig's tunnels and underground highways are essentially finished and tucked out of sight. The bulldozers, cranes, and hard hats are gone, and Boston is decking the city in the greenery that was promised years ago as an offshoot of this massive urban roadway project. The gardens and parks of the milelong Rose Kennedy Greenway are in progress from the Chinatown Gateway to the Charles River.

At the same time, Boston's South End, Waterfront, and Financial districts are blazing with the lights of new hotels, restaurants, and attractions built to serve the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, which opened in June 2004, as well as the John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center in Boston's Back Bay.

When the city built the huge BCEC in South Boston, one stipulation was that it would not take away the Boat Show and other consumer events that have been mainstays of Boston's Bayside Convention Center and the World Trade Center. But competition among convention centers is rising in New England, and this year the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority went back to the legislature for permission to compete for the largest consumer shows. The BCEC, however, continues to focus on Boston's primary business sources: the medical, technology, and academic industries, a focus that paid off in capturing the Biotechnology Industry Organization's 2007 BIO International Conference, which drew a record 22,366 attendees in May.

The Hynes Convention Center continues to host many Back Bay meetings with its complement of three fine hotels. In April, MCCA announced an $18 million renovation plan, the center's first major upgrade since it opened in 1988. The project will create retail and restaurant space and update the facility's security and technology features.

Competition among New England's convention centers is not just Boston-based. The Springfield (Mass.) Civic Center is at work on a major renovation and expansion. A 540,000-square-foot convention center opened in Hartford in 2005. The state of Rhode Island last year bought the Dunkin' Donuts Center in Providence for a project that will connect it to the Rhode Island Convention Center and create a 220,000-square-foot meeting complex. In addition, both Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods casinos in Connecticut have started large additions that will make them more of a factor when they compete for conventions.

Facilities Update

Massachusetts

• The BOSTON WESTIN WATERFRONT, the anxiously awaited convention headquarters hotel attached to the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, opened in June 2006 with 790 rooms. Although only a year old, the hotel will be adding a 25,000-square-foot exhibit hall, an 8,500-square-foot ballroom, and five breakout rooms for a total of 85,000 square feet of meeting space. Three restaurants will also be added by March 2008.

• Renaissance Hotels & Resorts will open the new, 438-room RENAISSANCE BOSTON WATERFRONT HOTEL in December. The sleek convention hotel will be one block from the BCEC and across the harbor from Logan International Airport. A total of 20,736 square feet of meeting space will include 21 meeting rooms.

• The new, waterfront INTERCONTINENTAL BOSTON opened this spring with 424 luxury rooms on Atlantic Avenue in the Financial District. There is 32,000 square feet of meeting and private event space, including downtown Boston's largest ballroom and a 6,600-square-foot spa and health club.

• The old Charles Street Jail, aptly renamed the LIBERTY HOTEL, plans to open this summer with 300 guest rooms (some in the jail, most in a new attached tower), three restaurants and lounges, and 6,000 square feet of meeting space.

• The MANDARIN ORIENTAL HOTEL in Boston's Back Bay will be a luxurious 149-room hotel on Boylston Street adjacent to the Prudential Center. It is anticipated to open in mid-2008.

• THE REGENT BOSTON AT BATTERY WHARF HOTEL AND RESIDENCES will feature a 150-room full-service hotel, 103 luxury residential condominiums, an 18,000-square-foot spa, approximately 33,000 square feet of retail space, and a marina, as well as 6,200 square feet of meeting space. The hotel is set to open this fall.

• The BOSTON MARRIOTT COPLEY PLACE has completed a major event-space renovation, including upgrades to its grand ballroom and the Back Bay Conference and Exhibit Hall.

• In April, the HYATT HARBORSIDE at Boston's Logan International Airport completed a $6 million renovation of its 270 guest rooms, Skyline Ballroom, and Harborside Grill and Patio.

• The former Renaissance Bedford Hotel has upgraded and been reflagged the BEDFORD GLEN HOTEL since Dolce International took over management of the 284-room property outside Boston last July. Dolce will add 25,000 square feet of meeting space to the existing 13,000 square feet.

• Hilton Hotels announced recently that Woburn's largest hotel has been re-christened the 344-room HILTON BOSTON/WOBURN. It has more than 10,000 square feet of meeting and banquet rooms.

• Worcester is ready to begin the $7 million, glass-enclosed, elevated walkway to connect the HILTON GARDEN HOTEL with the DCU CENTER and a municipal parking garage.

• New York-based Capital Properties purchased the CHATHAM BARS INN on Cape Cod last June to transform the property into a premier, five-star resort. Accommodations include 217 guest rooms, 34 cottages, and seven meeting rooms.

Connecticut

• FOXWOODS RESORT CASINO, in Mashantucket, in March “topped off” its new $700 million MGM GRAND AT FOXWOODS, scheduled for completion in spring 2008. The Grand will have an 824-room hotel tower; 115,000 square feet of meeting space, including a 50,000-square-foot ballroom; a 4,000-seat theater; two nightclubs; three lounges; four restaurants; and 50,000 square feet of gaming space. Foxwoods currently has 5,000 square feet of meeting space.

• MOHEGAN SUN, Uncasville, is about to raise the stakes again with a $740 million expansion that adds more than 1.4 million square feet of space. The project, to begin this summer, will incorporate a new 1,000-room hotel, featuring 300 House of Blues-themed rooms, 115,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, and a new 64,000-square-foot casino.

Maine

• The 25-room luxury WHITE BARN INN in Kennebunkport has private dining and meeting space for an executive conference of up to 14 people. In addition to touring bikes, the inn has a unique way for guests to get around town. A new DaimlerChrysler GEM (Global Electric Motorcar) is available for nearby appointments, shopping, and dining.

New Hampshire

• The 245-room Nashua Marriott reopened after a renovation and transition from a full-service Marriott to the NASHUA COURTYARD MARRIOTT. The hotel has 5,000 square feet of function space.

• WATERVILLE VALLEY GOLF CLUB is nearing completion of a golf course renovation that redesigned three holes and added a pro shop and a half-acre pond.

• Final zoning approvals have been given for a new 200-room WESTIN hotel in Portsmouth with a 19,000-square-foot conference center. The proposed facility will seat 750 people banquet-style.

Rhode Island

• The new RENAISSANCE PROVIDENCE HOTEL opened in February with 272 guest rooms and 10,000 square feet of meeting space.

• Renovations at the 209-room historic HOTEL VIKING in downtown Newport wrapped up in April. The project reduced the 79 rooms in the Viking Wing to 66, as space was dedicated to 12 suites themed after Newport mansions, replete with Oriental rugs and hand-carved headboards. The 11,000 square feet of meeting space includes 13 event rooms and a 4,840-square-foot ballroom.

Vermont

• The 180-room EQUINOX RESORT & SPA is scheduled for renovations this year. Situated between the Green and Taconic mountains, the Equinox Resort has been a luxury retreat for more than 200 years and features six architectural styles in 17 buildings. It includes the Gleneagles golf course, three restaurants, the 1769 Marsh Tavern, and the historic Equinox Hotel.

• STOWE MOUNTAIN LODGE in Stowe will offer 132 rooms at the base of Mount Mansfield, Vermont's highest peak, when it opens this fall. It will have an 18-hole mountain course, winding along the lower reaches of Mount Mansfield and Spruce Peak, to an elevation of more than 1,800 feet. The resort will include approximately 10,000 square feet of meeting and function space.

• The 127-room MARRIOTT COURTYARD BURLINGTON HARBOR opened in April, the first new hotel in Burlington in 30 years.

Ask the CVB

Connecticut

GREATER HARTFORD CONVENTION &VISITORS BUREAU
(860) 728-6789, (800) 446-7811
www.enjoyhartford.com
Total Hotel Tax: 12%

THE NORTHWEST CT CVB
(860) 567-4506
www.litchfieldhills.com
Total Hotel Tax: Varies by town

Maine

CVB OF GREATER PORTLAND
(207) 772-4994
www.visitportland.com
Total Hotel Tax: 12%

Massachusetts

CENTRAL MASSACHUSETTS CVB
(508) 755-7400, (800) 231-7557
www.worcester.org
Total Hotel Tax: Varies by town

GREATER BOSTON CVB
(888) SEE BOSTON
www.bostonusa.com
Total Hotel Tax: 12.4%

GREATER SPRINGFIELD CVB
(413) 787-1548; (800) 723-1548
www.valleyvisitor.com
Total Hotel Tax: 12.45%

New Hampshire

MANCHESTER AREA CVB
(603) 666-6600
www.manchestercvb.com
Total Hotel Tax: 8%

Rhode Island

NEWPORT COUNTY CVB
(401) 849-8048, (800) 326-6030
www.gonewport.com
Total Hotel Tax: 13%

PROVIDENCE/WARWICK CVB
(401) 456-0200, (800) 233-1636
www.goprovidence.com
Total Hotel Tax: 12%

Vermont

VERMONT CONVENTION BUREAU
(802) 863-3489, (877) 686-5253
www.VermontMeetings.org
Total Hotel Tax: 9%

Phantom Planner

• The Greater Boston CVB's free BostonUSA Specials Card offers discounts at museums, theaters, restaurants, and other venues through September 30. Save at Huntington Theatre, the JFK Museum, Gardner Museum, and the new Institute of Contem-porary Art. (888) SEE BOSTON; www.bostonusa.com

• While the elegant Hartford Club's tax status precludes it from soliciting outside its membership for private-event business, private dining and meeting space is available for groups associated with members or with payment of a reasonable rental fee. For information on events at the historic 1904 Georgian Revival building in Hartford, Conn., contact Anna Fite, catering sales manager, (860) 522-1271, ext. 299.

• Black flies are the unofficial Maine state bird. According to Maine Nature News, black fly season lasts, on average, from Memorial Day to the Fourth of July. While the other New England states also have the pests, they are most populous and virulent in Maine. Bug repellents with DEET will help to discourage them.

Pop-Up Meetings

Boston's venerable Fenway Park, home of the Red Sox, has a variety of spaces available year-round for corporate events, from the EMC Club to luxury suites to the right-field roof deck. (617) 226-6791; www.redsox.com/events

Special Venues

• Hosting small meetings is a specialty of BLAIR HILL innkeepers Dan and Ruth McLaughlin. A getaway overlooking Moosehead Lake in GREENVILLE, MAINE, will provide your group with a private setting for meetings of up to 35 people, great dining, and full concierge services for fly fishing, whitewater rafting, moose safaris, golf outings, lake cruises, kayaking, canoeing, and private excursions on the old-time steamship Katahdin. (207) 695-0224; info@blairhill.com

• EDGERTON CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS in FAIRFIELD, CONN., has hosted corporate celebrations, academic lectures, and retreats. Part of Sacred Heart University, it is a newly remodeled, air-conditioned theater for a stage presentation or product introduction. The theater seats 790 people, and there is plenty of room in the lobby, backstage, and in attached classrooms for receptions or breakouts. (203) 371-7909; www.edgertoncenter.org/the_rental.html

• How about an elegant meeting 20 miles off the coast of RHODE ISLAND at the 154-year-old SPRING HOUSE hotel on Block Island? Accessible only by air or water, the hotel, with its wraparound veranda, mansard roof, and fancy cupola, is surrounded by a 15-acre promontory overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. It has 50 rooms and suites, and a sunroom comfortably accommodates 25 to 30 guests. A banquet facility hosts up to 300 guests. (800) 234-9263; www.springhousehotel.com/tradition.html

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