Difference between revisions of "Westin Boston Waterfront"

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(5-minute passing periods don't work for cons even slightly larger than Boskone; Galleria is not what it seems)
(Audio-Visual: cable TV system drops)
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PSAV (Presentation Services) is the 3rd party "in-house" AV vendor.  House sound tie-in panels have jacks marked "Assistive Listening Feed".
 
PSAV (Presentation Services) is the 3rd party "in-house" AV vendor.  House sound tie-in panels have jacks marked "Assistive Listening Feed".
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There are drops from the hotel's cable TV system in Grand A, Grand D, Grand E, Revere, Quincy, and Executive Boardroom.
  
 
There is automated signage ([http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/jBIbxjbGm_U3368_eV3XYQ?feat=directlink pictures]) available for use by events.
 
There is automated signage ([http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/jBIbxjbGm_U3368_eV3XYQ?feat=directlink pictures]) available for use by events.

Revision as of 10:30, 26 April 2010

The Westin Boston Waterfront is the only hotel so far attached to the new Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. The hotel has been host to Boskone since 2007 (shortly after its opening) and will also host Arisia beginning in 2011.

Function Space

78,000 +/- square feet of function space are located on five levels: first and third floor levels on either side of a street, and a second floor level bridging the street. Access between Lobby and any other level is primarily by escalator. A pair of high speed elevators serves the Galleria, Lobby, and Conference levels. The Mezzanine and Lobby levels are served by the guest room elevators, which form the fastest accessible path between those levels. A single low speed elevator serves the Concourse and Lobby levels, and also travels to the Mezzanine level. Travel between any two levels requires transiting the second-floor Lobby level. The hotel is large enough that, except for some room pairs on Lobby and Mezzanine, no breakout room can be reached from any breakout room on a different level via an accessible path within five minutes, and some breakout room pairs are more than ten minutes apart by accessibly routes.

Physical Description

Galleria has had a large chunk taken out of the near left corner for the taproom for the Irish pub on the lobby level. This is not shown on any of the maps of the hotel.

Ceiling heights listed on the Westin's web site are generally to the highest point in the ceiling. Actual clear ceiling heights are 120" on the Conference level, 121" on the Mezzanine level, and 149" on the Lobby level. The listed maximum height is typically for a center section; in Otis, for instance, a screen 167" high can be erected 51" away from the southwest wall.

Lobby level rooms on the perimeter of the hotel have windows.

Access Control

One set of the double crash doors leading to Galleria is installed with the crashbars on the outside of the room (so that the room cannot be locked -- as if the route were part of an emergency egress). The locks on the Galleria doors are hard keys.

Power

Room on the Lobby level generally have one 30A single phase straight blade ("dryer") outlet plus an assortment of ordinary house power on two 20A circuits including one quad box near that dryer outlet that has power from both 20A circuits.

Electrical rates are as follows:

20A 120V $ 105.00
30A 120V 3phase $ 325.00
60A 208V 3phase $ 525.00
100A 208V 3phase $ 850.00
200A 208V 3phase $1050.00

3-phase power is available in the Harbor prefunction.

Power in Harbor is through pass-throughs to the service area; the pass-throughs for Harbor II and III are located such that cabling can run around the airwall between the two rooms without crossing any doorways in the service area.

Lighting

House lighting is by Lutron. Each room and possible airwall configuration has four scenes available. System binding between sections in Harbor is by buttons in the airwall pockets. House lights cannot be remoted, nor can the wall controllers be disabled (though there are locking covers in Grand). There is no per-channel manual control. Chandeliers in Harbor do not dim as of March 2010, though the hotel is said to be working on it.

Audio-Visual

PSAV (Presentation Services) is the 3rd party "in-house" AV vendor. House sound tie-in panels have jacks marked "Assistive Listening Feed".

There are drops from the hotel's cable TV system in Grand A, Grand D, Grand E, Revere, Quincy, and Executive Boardroom.

There is automated signage (pictures) available for use by events.

Guest Rooms

The hotel has three large suites. Presidential and Ambassador (pictures) are very similar.

Parking

The hotel has a small, expensive garage. There is metered on-street parking in the area which is free in the evenings (starting variously at 6 or 8) and on Sunday. There are various non-hotel surface lots in the area, with prices starting as low as $5/day.