The out-of-towners
st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; mso-ascii- mso-ascii-theme- mso-fareast- mso-fareast-theme- mso-hansi- mso-hansi-theme- mso-bidi- mso-bidi-theme-} The idea of a drive through bucolic scenery is a nice carrot for conventioneers to leave Manhattan, but the real payoff comes at the end of the road when the bill comes to about half the lettuce of the Big Apple.
The Holiday Inn in Fishkill is something of a local landmark located at the state Route 9 and Interstate 84 junction. Roughly five miles east is the Taconic Parkway leading directly from the Bronx, and roughly five miles west across the Beacon Newburgh bridge is I-87, which leaves Manhattan as the Major Deegan Expressway about 80 miles south.
The 157-room hotel with 10,000 square feet of conference space, the largest conference center in the area, is now attracting business that once went to Manhattan. Hotel owner Carol Davino said she is hosting two conferences that were once held in New York City because organizers wanted to save some money at a time when wallets are at best entering into safe modes.
“I”™ve been targeting Manhattan for a while and it”™s starting to pay off,” Davino said. “I think we”™re starting to draw from Manhattan now, because its cheaper to hold a conference in the Hudson Valley; its about half the cost,”Â
And besides the scenic drive up the Thruway or the Taconic, there is another attractive travel option, from Grand Central Station to the Beacon train station, which is about 10 minutes from the Holiday Inn. That train trip along the east bank of the Hudson River is among the most scenic rides anywhere and takes about 90 minutes, station to station.
Davino said that she is also on the short list for serving as host for the annual Governor”™s Conference next April but said that even if that event goes elsewhere this time, prospects for her Holiday Inn and conferences in the Hudson Valley look bright,
“The potential is really turning to actual business,” said Davino. “We have a location in the Hudson Valley that is unbelievable and we are looking to work with people”™s budgets, because we know how cautious people feel these days.”