Member Profile: Maggie Conrad,
Best Western Agate Beach Inn
I moved to Oregon at the age of 16 years old and graduated from Siletz High School; moving from a high school in Minnesota with a graduating class of 1,000 students to a class of 19 students, talk about culture shock! But I loved it and I have lived in Lincoln County ever since, raising my two children here. I started in the hospitality business at 16 years old working for a well-known and loved restaurant in Newport called The 4J’s. My first job was a bus boy. I made bank! Or so I thought, for my age. They have since closed and the Shilo now owns the spot their restaurant was located. That experience “sealed the deal” for my hospitality career.
The Best Western Plus Agate Beach Inn Newport brings a professional meeting perspective to our charming coastal community with one of the largest conference facilities and incredible views of the Pacific Ocean, Agate Beach, and the Yaquina Head Lighthouse. Centrally located, we are only 91 miles from Eugene, 81 miles from Salem and only 118 miles from Portland.
The Best Western Plus Agate Beach Inn is a full-service facility offering over 5,000 square feet of flexible meeting and banquet space. Amenities include a heated indoor pool and Jacuzzi, 24-Hour exercise room, Ocean view dining, coin-op guest laundry, sundry shop and business center. Each of our 147 beautiful guest rooms feature spacious king or two queen beds, with an option of Ocean View or Hillside accommodations. They are all equipped with air conditioning, microwaves, refrigerators, complimentary coffee, hair dryers, iron and ironing boards, flat screen TV, and high-speed wireless internet access is available complimentary in all guest rooms. I encourage you to stop by for a tour!
I first started with OTTA when I was a Sales Manager at Salishan Spa & Golf Resort. I grew very fond of the members and loved the comradery. When I received the Director of Sales job at the Best Western Plus Agate Beach Inn, I knew I needed to sign us up! I have now been a member for 5 years.
I learned about OTTA at the first Governor’s Conference I attended in the early 2000’s. I was bidding on a wonderful basket that was donated by one of the Oregon regions when I started chatting with one of the OTTA members, one thing led to another, and I asked my boss if I could join, and it’s been a delight ever since.
The Tour and Travel leads that we receive have been a huge plus for our business. Also learning about how to work with tour operators and receptive tour companies has been enlightening! I would have not known how to sell to this market without OTTA.
Our trip to Astoria a few years ago was one of my favorites. I had not been to Astoria in many years, and I was pleasantly surprised at all the new offerings this city has! Maybe I just wasn’t looking in the correct place those many years ago, but OTTA made sure I knew how special Astoria is on this visit. Again, I bid on the wonderful basket for Astoria so my husband and I could return for a special vacation, and I knew where to take him.
I look forward to getting back on track. COVID destroyed the Sales Department at my place of business. For a while I was the last man standing and had a variety of hats in our Sales, Conference Planning and Banquet departments. Last summer we hired back a Remote Sales Manager to help weed through all the cancellations and rebooking’s. In the fall we hired back our Sales Coordinator who also handles all our group reservations. In December we hired the Director of Catering, and our Banquet Manager was hired in April. I can now sigh relief that we have good people to make things run smoothly.
Last summer saw a few bus groups back but this summer, oh my! They are full speed ahead. There have been a few COVID related hiccups, but we made changes to make things work for these groups. What we do different now is allow a person on a bus to quarantine in their room for up to 5 days, if tested positive while on the tour (additional restrictions apply). In the past quarantine was not allowed at our hotel.
