Newark is Building an Events Presence
Newark is developing a reputation for working well with mid sized event organizers. The City and University are attracting more events every year. The Bob Carpenter Center and the Clayton Hall Conference Center are abuzz this year.
While Newark lacks a large central convention center it makes up for it by providing coordinating services between the hotels and attractions in the area. This is a new service and it involves a dozen hotels in Newark. Between them they can accommodate almost any size gathering. They can also help groups arrange transportation and even get coupons and discounts to lure attendees to Main Street Restaurants and clubs. If groups want to make excursions to nearby attractions this group can help with that too.
The Downtown Newark Partnership Hotel Partners encourages planners to contact Polly Weir at 302-831-3714 or by email at pweir@udel.edu.
Bill Sullivan, manager at Courtyard by Marriott UD said the partnership is an attempt to …
share the load and respond as a community of hotels. We can mobilize the resources of the Downtown Newark Partnership, the State Convention Bureau and other resources. We have 126 rooms and if we fill up with an event, all the hotels in the area benefit from the unrelated bookings that would have been at our hotel. So it is a win-win for the hotels in the partnership.
The Courtyard by Marriott UD is a teaching hotel, similar in concept to a teaching hospital, which is 100% owned by the University of Delaware.
One group that is taking advantage of all that Newark has to offer is the American Water Resource Association Mid-Atlantic Conference that is coming to Clayton Hall in September. They will be using the conference and hotel facilities as well as hosting outings to Brandywine Creek State Park, Russell W. Peterson Urban Wildlife Refuge and other area attractions.