Convention hotels.

• Author: Anderson, Tasha
• Position: EAT: SHOP: PLAY: STAY

Alaska business takes place statewide, and it is often both cost effective and convenient for organizations to take advantage of hotels and lodges that feature banquet halls, catering, and other business services for professional conferences, conventions, and meetings. Here are some lodging locations across the state that the business community can utilize, keeping Alaska's local economies strong.

Alyeska Resort is located in Girdwood at 1000 Arlberg Avenue with more than 9,000 square feet of dedicated Alaska meeting space, not counting 15,000 square feet of special events space, offering meeting planners lots of flexibility in addition to all modern meeting amenities, alyeskaresort.com

Pike's Waterfront Lodge on the Chena River in Fairbanks has 180 rooms, 28 cabins. Several thousand square feet of meeting and event space is available in a variety of configurations. Full catering and AV services are available, pikeslodge.com

There are four Fountainhead properties in Fairbanks: Wedgewood Resort, Sophie Station Suites, Bridgewater Hotel, and Bear Lodge. Conveniently located minutes from downtown Fairbanks at 212 Wedgewood Drive, Wedgewood Resort is ideal for a business event and features state-of-the-art AV equipment, with a resort conference center offering more than 9,500 square feet of meeting space; the resort can accommodate up to 275 guests and offers professional catering. At 1717 University Avenue South, Sophie Station Suites also offers AV equipment in all of its conference and meeting spaces. Wedgewood Resort and Sophie Station Suites have more than 40,000 square feet of space between them with additional outdoor areas. fountainheadhotels.com

Westmark Hotels caters to business conventions and events statewide with properties in Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau, Sitka, and Skagway. The Westmark Anchorage, located at 720 West Fifth Avenue in downtown Anchorage, has seven meeting rooms that total more than 5,000 square feet. The Westmark Fairbanks Hotel and Conference Center (813 Noble Street) boasts thirteen function rooms totaling more than 17,000 square feet, including the Gold Room Ballroom, at 5,400 square feet, features 16-foot ceilings, making it ideal for AV presentations, and can be subdivided into smaller spaces. The Baranof Juneau is in the heart of downtown Juneau at 127 North Franklin Street, near the cruise ship docks, state Capitol, and government buildings. Seven meeting rooms total 5,684 square feet and a full service...