The Raphael Hotel takes small meetings, private dinners and receptions for up to 80 seated guests or 125 standing, plus bridal brunches and wedding weekends. It has two meeting rooms, a restaurant and lounge that can be booked in full or in part, and 126 rooms, at 325 Ward Parkway on the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City, Missouri.
Seminars and company events
The hotel is sized for focused groups rather than conventions. A leadership team can meet around a single table, a sales group can work for a day in a room with a view of the Plaza, and both can end the day with dinner downstairs. Meeting packages are offered to groups that stay overnight. Both meeting rooms have Wi-Fi and audiovisual equipment ready to plug in, and floor plans are published on the hotel's site. The catering team builds menus with the client, from breakfast to a plated dinner.
Weddings and receptions
The Raphael markets wedding weekends and hosts the events around a wedding: bridal showers, welcome receptions, rehearsal dinners, bridal brunches and smaller receptions. Chaz Restaurant & Lounge is the main room for these, with nightly live jazz and valet parking offered to event guests. Couples with a larger guest list can use the hotel for the welcome evening and the morning after, and keep their families in the rooms upstairs.
Rooms and capacities
The Plaza View Meeting Room covers 600 sq ft and looks over the Country Club Plaza. It seats 24 in classroom or conference layout, 40 for a banquet and 45 for a standing reception. The Blue Beacon Boardroom, 360 sq ft, has a conference table for 12 with leather executive chairs. Chaz Restaurant & Lounge takes up to 80 seated guests or 125 for a reception when booked as a whole, and its semi-private dining room seats 26.
Accommodation
The hotel has 126 rooms, a number of them one-bedroom suites such as the Premier King One Bedroom Suite and the Two Queen One Bedroom Suite, which suit speakers, executives or a wedding couple. Overnight groups can combine their room block with a meeting package.
Catering
All food comes from the in-house team at Chaz, which serves seasonal American cooking. For events the team designs custom menus with wine pairings: multi-course plated dinners, welcome receptions, brunches and cocktail hours.
History and setting
The building opened in the late 1920s as the Villa Serena Apartments (the hotel gives both 1927 and 1928) and became a hotel in 1975. Its Renaissance Revival facade is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and the hotel appears among the Historic Hotels of America. The Country Club Plaza around it is known for its Spanish-inspired architecture, shops and restaurants. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, the National WWI Museum and Memorial, Union Station and the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts are all in the city.
Getting there
The hotel stands at 325 Ward Parkway, at the edge of the Plaza. Kansas City International Airport serves domestic flights, and Amtrak trains stop at Kansas City Union Station, a short drive north.
