Grand dame of local large-scale events
Lakeway Inn caters to meetings, weddings

Text and photos by Seth Tower

The sweeping staircase in the Lakeway Inn and
Conference Center’s lobby leads to the grand
ballroom and other meeting space on the hotel’s
second floor.

Catering specifically to large event functions, the Lakeway Inn & Conference Center is the definitive conference center in Whatcom County. The conference center is easily the largest facility of its kind in the area with 11,000 square feet of meeting space alone. In addition to the massive conference center, the Lakeway Inn also boasts one of Best Western’s largest hotels: at 132 rooms, it is three times the size of the average Best Western.
The Lakeway Inn & Conference Center was opened in 1978, originally affiliated with the Holiday Inn franchise. It was not until the early 1990s that it joined the Best Western franchise. With consistent year-to-year growth, why the franchise affiliation? Steve Brenk, general manager of the Inn, explains: “Best Western affords us reservations through a central reservation system, it has an 800 number available and they have a worldwide presence.” They are also the largest hotel chain in the world (4,500 locations), thus the potential for guest room leads is huge.
Compared to their business-geared competitors like Hilton and Marriott, Best Western’s clientele is quite different: “Our average guest is someone that is leisure traveling, a family traveling, seniors; that sort of thing,” notes Brenk. “[The guests are] typically not your corporate customer. We’re not known as your corporate hotel.”
That is not to say that the business traveler is out of luck; all the guest rooms have high-speed Internet access free of charge; meeting services and a full service business center also cater to business travelers. In addition, the Lakeway Inn is undergoing a renovation of all the guest rooms. Every room is being upgraded with a 32-inch flat-screen television, all new furniture, carpet and window treatments, better lighting, and a luxurious bedding package that includes higher thread count sheets and more pillows. A personal refrigerator completes the upgrade.
Complimenting the beautiful hotel is the sizable conference center located just down the hall. With a number of meeting rooms and a massive ballroom, the options for hosting events are endless. To ease the sense of intimidation, the staff at the Inn works constantly with the event coordinator. “First of all, we would secure the space and work with them to determine their budget, theme, type of event etc.,” says Brenk. “If it is a group or organization, we will ask for references for where they have been before; then we can contact that particular venue and do a little research.”

Come with budget in hand
Being the largest conference center in the area, space is in high demand. For that reason, it is crucial that the client has a budget in mind when considering the Inn: “Once you determine what someone’s budget is, you can build them a package and determine whether it will work or not,” says Brenk. “We know that in the peak association meeting months space is at a premium. We really look carefully before we place someone in the space.”
The prudence is mandatory because there may be a potential for other business on a larger scale that may also consume hotel rooms. Unfortunately, sometimes there is demand for the space, but the group simply does not have enough to bring to the table. At that point, other options are explored.
After the budget is determined and the date booked, the planning starts. Most large-scale events already have a planner working with them. In Washington, it is often the Washington Association of Society Executives (WASE). “They have professionals that may represent five or 10 large groups and they go out and investigate the venues and talk to the sales managers and negotiate the deals for the groups,” says Brenk.
It is important to leave a distinct impression on those representatives. “The last thing you want is for someone who represents a large group feeling intimidated or feeling uncomfortable by the hotel. They have to have that feeling of being welcomed and feel comfortable from the get go.” This is a valuable insight and one that the Inn employs with every potential client
Groups rarely request a space at the Inn without already having a plan for the event. However, for the “newbies,” the Inn helps guide them through the process by sitting down with them and investigating what their group is, if they have any event history and what worked and what didn’t work.
“We will do a tour of the facility and we may even do a menu tasting where the chef prepares a few dishes so they can see what we can do,” says Brenk. “These are all tools that we use to help somebody through the process.”
Offering full event services, catering is often recommended for all-day events. “If the group needs catering, we get the chef involved,” says Brenk. “He comes in and designs a menu around a theme or budget.” Having an on-location chef is advantageous because it ensures hot food and affords easy contact between the chef and clients.
Depending on the size of the event and time of the year, most large events are booked at least a year in advance. “In fact, many large groups and associations that we deal with are bidding two or three years in advance to secure the space,” says Brenk.
Ten years ago, there was not nearly the amount of meeting space in the state that there is today; thus, competition was at a minimum. “[However] we’ve gone through this huge growth and expansion phase where conference centers, convention centers, hotels with convention centers were added in the last 10 years. Casinos have come in to play now with meeting space and hotels; this has dramatically changed the landscape. Now the meeting planner has many more options.”

Wedded bliss
In addition to conferences and large-scale events, the Lakeway Inn and Conference Center also hosts a number of weddings. Brenk notes: “We do a fair amount of weddings. In the summer months when the group business typically wanes, we’ve got the wedding business to pick up the slack.” The Inn works well for weddings as they have everything necessary on site, including an on-site salon.
“What we’re finding is that more and more people want to have the reception where they have the ceremony,” says Brenk. “With our ballroom upstairs, we can offer that.” Weddings typically take place on a Saturday, and often out of town guests arrive as early as Wednesday or Thursday and stay through the weekend. This works out to be an ideal situation for the Inn because the wedding group consumes guest rooms and conference space (with food and beverages) at one time.

Making the most of marketing
As with every business, marketing and advertising is vital for the Lakeway Inn and Conference Center. Having both a hotel and conference center would seemingly make this a challenge. However, because of the Best Western connection and the ease of hotel reservations, the Lakeway Inn focuses more of their marketing on the conference center than the hotel: “Most of our marketing is done on the local front,” says Brenk. “Our local marketing addresses primarily the meeting space and food and beverage. We’ll advertise in Seattle somewhat, too.” Because of the prevalence of the Internet, the Lakeway Inn directs much of its marketing toward the Net. In fact 40 percent of their hotel guests are from the Net: “We have a strong Internet presence,” says Brenk. “We spend a lot of money marketing toward the Internet travel business. We do keyword purchases on the search engines; that sort of thing.
“It pays to have a presence.”

Steve Brenk, general manager of the Lakeway Inn and Conference Center, says Internet presence is a valuable marketing tool.



For clients requiring food and beverage service, the staff at the Lakeway Inn can provide guidance from on-staff professionals.