Seminars and company events
Ocean House hosts board meetings, executive retreats, corporate events and celebrations for groups of up to 250 guests, at 1 Bluff Avenue in Watch Hill, a village in Westerly, Rhode Island. The hotel offers 10,000 square feet of flexible function space on its ocean-front level, with windows in all of its function rooms.
The largest room is a ballroom that takes up to 250 people. For smaller sessions there are private, soundproof boardrooms, and specially designed conference rooms with private terraces overlooking Watch Hill Harbor, which the hotel suggests for executive meetings, board meetings and multi-day strategy sessions. A spacious pre-function area sits outside the rooms for registration and breaks. Complimentary high-speed internet and the hotel's technology are available throughout the function space.
A team of event services handles planning for meetings, weddings and celebrations, and catering is organized through that team rather than as a separate booking. The hotel also has a Center for Wine and Culinary Arts of 3,000 square feet, which runs cooking and wine classes and gives a group an activity away from the meeting room.
Weddings and receptions
Weddings at Ocean House can be planned as a weekend-long event, with the ballroom as the main room for up to 250 guests. The hotel describes a Victorian-inspired house with plush interiors, ocean views and a seaside setting. It publishes a wedding brochure, and the web page itself does not list spaces, catering or ceremony options.
Rooms and capacities
The hotel states a total of 10,000 square feet of function space and a ballroom for up to 250 people. The names, sizes and capacities of its other rooms are not detailed here. Ask for the floor plan, the boardroom capacities and the layout of the terraced conference rooms before fixing your numbers.
Accommodation
The hotel has 49 guest rooms and 20 Signature Suites, together with a Cottage Collection whose size is not given on the home page. That makes 69 rooms and suites before the cottages, so organizers of larger groups should ask how many people can sleep on site. The Ocean & Harvest Spa covers 12,000 square feet. Complimentary valet parking is included in the resort fee. Dogs of 50 pounds or less are accepted, with restrictions in the Signature Suites and cottages.
Catering
Catering is part of the event services team's planning. For meals outside the event program, the hotel's COAST restaurant is a fine dining room with menus that build on traditional New England flavours, and casual beach fare and private dining are also offered. Dining parties of up to 10 are accommodated depending on availability, and larger groups are directed to the Catering and Events team for a private space.
History and setting
Ocean House sits on the Rhode Island coast at Watch Hill. The hotel describes itself as the first and only AAA Five Diamond and Forbes Five-Star hotel in the state, and displays the Relais & Châteaux mark. Two sister properties, Weekapaug Inn and Watch Hill Inn, belong to the same collection.
Getting there
The hotel says it is about 3 hours from New York City, 2 hours from Greenwich, Connecticut, 1 hour 30 from Boston and 45 minutes from Newport and Providence and their airports.
