Should Acton add a hotel?
Acton has 150 rooms between three hotels; every room was full over this year’s Patriots Day weekend.
This year’s Concord250 celebrations have residents and public officials alike paying extra attention to tourism.
Whether the town should add hotel space is an open question.
Tourism manager Beth Williams said Acton has 150 rooms between the Colonial Inn, the Residence Inn, and the North Bridge Inn. Every room was full over this year’s Patriots Day weekend.
As Acton eyes redevelopment at the former MCI-Acton prison, Select Board chair Mary Hartman has placed a new hotel near the top of her wishlist. The prospect was also a popular suggestion among members of the public at an April 30 redevelopment workshop.
In an interview, Williams said adding hotel capacity “would have a benefit to this community.”
She said she’s paying attention to the MCI-Acton site and other properties in town. Still, she’s wary of growing too fast.
“I would be doing a poor job if I, all of a sudden, wanted the gates to open and us to triple [or] quadruple our visitors,” Williams said.
Even after successful celebrations, Williams said, “I think it all has to be done very much thoughtfully and in unison with the rest of the community to make it be the right choice for us.”
— Dakota Antelman and Trace Salzbrenner
