The Hotel Captain Cook: this luxury hotel offers guests service above the ordinary.

• Author: Santi, Behlor

In Alaska, oil, gas and seafood mean business. The tourism industry also is vital to the economy. In 2003, tourists to Anchorage alone spent about $153 million.

In a New York Times travel article, Jo Ferreira, a FedEx executive from Memphis, Tenn., states that Anchorage is "a very business-friendly city, "where hotel clerks and other workers display a "positive can-do attitude" toward bust ness travelers. This article is about the Hotel Captain Cook, located on West Fourth Avenue at K Street in downtown Anchorage. The Hotel Captain Cook is Alaska's only preferred hotel, a member of an elite group of hotels and inns throughout the world.

"We already come with the title of being the only luxury hotel in Anchorage," says Darren Hubbard, corporate sales manager. Hubbard received double degrees in management and marketing from the University" of Alaska Anchorage in 1997, but began working for the Hotel Captain Cook in 1991.

The Hotel Captain Cook experience begins with frequent flyer miles. "We offer 500 air miles on Alaska, United or Delta Airlines," says Hubbard. Since the Hotel Captain Cook is centrally located, guests can patronize nearby museums, parks, shops and restaurants.

The Hotel Captain Cook contains 547 rooms, 96 of which are suites. Rooms offer views of Knik Arm and Sleeping Lady or a city view with the Chugach Mountains.

"For the business traveler," says Hubbard, "we have several aspects that suit the needs." The hotel offers complimentary use of the separate men's and women's athletic club and spa where guests can put on complimentary workout clothing as they weight train, play racquetball, dance aerobic and more. Afterward, they can cod down in the private showers or relax in the steam room, sauna or hot tubs.

Each bed has 250-thread-count sheets and a goose-down comforter and oversized goose-down pillows for those winter nights. Room attendants make up the rooms twice a day, and each room and suite contain wireless Web TV service, dual data-port phones with speakers, in-room movies and 24-hour in-room dining service. There are also luxury robes in each room.

If you prefer to eat out, the Hotel...