Always Good and Reliable Service
The staff is always helpful and flexible with all our last minute setup tweaks and changes. The food was excellent - the desserts particularly were well-liked at our most recent meeting. The space and room set up are ideal to our needs. Everything went seamlessly with no stress. Though we have to meet in Portland for many of our meetings, we always enjoy those times we can meet at the Salem Convention Center. Thanks very much to the entire staff for an excellent job.
Great place to have a convention ...
Great place to have a convention is not nothing like Oregon convention center definitely smaller but a lot better for walking distance. Very clean bathrooms are clean nice artwork. Friendly employees
Oregon National Guard Association
We have used the Salem Convention Center in the past and have always been pleased with their service. The positive attitude of those who work the conferences makes interactions pleasant and problems get solved with the minimum of fuss. The event staff makes preparation easy and those who come to the conference experience an open space that is clean and inviting. We will definitely be back.
Fantastic!
Very cooperative staff
Excellent Service!
I absolutely love the Salem Convention Center and the amazing staff that work there. Hard working, caring and always willing to help! it is the place to hold an event!
What a great experience!
From the gorgeous setting, to the downtown location, to the fabulous food, we had a wonderful experience at the Grand Hotel and the Salem Convention Center. The staff were very responsive as things came up, as they always do, and took care of us with courtesy and speed. We hope to come back again!
We love it here!
We love holding our annual conference at Salem Conference Center so much that we just signed our second 5 year contract. 2020 will be over 10 years that we will have met at Salem Conference Center. Professional staff and equipment. Friendly, accurate and quick to serve as needed. Everyone from the office staff to the set up crew are reliable, and willing to meet our needs. Thank you Theresa, Donna, Al, and all you others. We have 2 large rooms in use at once, as well as smaller break out session rooms. We also have an exhibit show that uses the hallway and landing on the second floor. Our vendors are always happy with the space. When changes have occurred last minute, the staff are on the spot making adjustments as needed. The location is central for our organization's members to travel to. The adjoining Grand Hotel makes it perfect. There is plenty of parking. Bentley's restaurant on site has excellent food and service.
Fantastic Service all around!
I was planning a birthday party from out of town for 90 people, and the event staff from beginning to end were all absolutely fantastic to work with! Merrissa was so pleasant from the beginning and very helpful explaining all the options, Sarah the Catering Manager for the event was amazing on accommodating our special buffet wishes, and then the event staff for the night were all absolutely fantastic (led by Kasha). Absolutely everyone had a Grand time at the party ~ Thank you SCC staff!
Absolutely fantastic!
I can't say enough great things about The Convention Center. I was married there and it was an absolutely amazing and perfect experience! Working with Sarah was an absolute pleasure. The entire staff went above and beyond consistently to make sure that my wedding was perfect. I kept waiting for something to be missed or messed up because that's how it usually goes with weddings. Not mine. Everything went off without a hitch and it was beyond my expectations. My family and I practically didn't have anything to do because the staff was so willing to do anything and everything for us. I honestly couldn't imagine how things could have gone better. The food was perfect and I was complimented all night and for many after about the great food, cake, decor, and amazing serving staff. My husband and I cannot stop talking about how amazing dealing with The Convention Center was. At first The Convention Center seemed like an expensive place to get married but after we looked at many other "less expensive"places and running the numbers of all the things we'd have to rent or purchase separately (food, drinks, cake, decorations, tables, linens, silverware, etc.) it actually ended up saving us a ton of money. It also was insanely easy to have one place take care of so many things because there was so much time, energy, meetings and emails saved. Again, I can't imagine a better experience. It was perfect and I can't say enough good things about my wonderful experience!!
Great Food; Overpriced and Sub-par Service
Starting with the positive, the food was excellent. My guests and I were quite pleased with our dinners.
As for everything else, I felt booking/conducting my meeting was frustrating and redundant. Once I received my final bill I felt gouged and taken advantage of.
A few of the issues I encountered:
-Dealing with Multiple Event Coordinators: while both were pleasant, there were several details missed in communication between each party. The Event Coordinator omitted several details including banquet menu prices, appetizer selections, etc. that I had to request again from her. The Catering Manager was excellent, but was set up to fail by the Event Coordinator leaving out certain details.
-Inexperienced Banquet Servers: The servers seemed like they had never served a medical presentation dinner before. The concept of having interrupted time to listen to the presenter while the food was prepared was lost on them, and they struggled with presenting the wine menu and allowing me to select the wine the night of the event. Instead of handing me a wine menu, they asked what kind of red wine my guests would like and then made the selection themselves.
-Exorbitant Post-Event Charges: In most other event venues around Oregon and Washington, if the food and beverage minimum is met, the room charge is waived. Also, A/V equipment rental often is $50-$100 TOTAL. In this case, not only did I greatly exceed the F&B minimums, I was also charged a total of almost $500 on top of the purchased food. The Catering Manager explained that since the room was set up by a 3rd party (for $300 dollars) and the A/V equipment was handled by a separate 3rd party (for $170 dollars) these fees are non-negotiable and unable to be waived. However, the banquet servers were given 15% gratuity on these NON-FOOD AND BEVERAGE charges, instead on just the food and beverage charges. I can understand tipping them on the work that they did, but NOT on the work that "other 3rd parties" did.
All in all, a highly disappointing experience. I would advise any PHARMACEUTICAL or MEDICAL representative to find another venue for your programs; this one is NOT worth the headache! Under this type of structure I can guarantee I won't be back!
First class service and location
We have had the pleasure of working with the Convention Center staff in the past, and they just keep getting better! From the outstanding food to the attentive, friendly staff, our experience couldn't have been better. As the coordinator for the event, it was such a benefit to me to be able to have a top notch event with experienced staff that worked with us at every level. I am so happy with the result, as were all our attendees. We will highly recommend the Conference and Convention Center for any event, large or small. Thank you!
Nice palce, decent food. If you ...
Nice palce, decent food. If you have to go to a convention you could do a lot worse.
Very hospitable and accomodating
I worked with Merrissa Burleigh, Sarah Utterback, and Kassa throughout the process of this event. All three women were incredibly friendly and willing to work with any issues and/or problems that arose throughout the planning process. The night went fairly smoothly; I only have a few concerns to bring up.<br />
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First, I had asked for some ticket takers to be available for the event. It appeared that there weren't any workers that were ready and prepared to take tickets - it seemed very thrown together and in the moment.<br />
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Second, I had requested for meal cards to be handed out to guests as they arrived to differentiate who had what meal. These were not printed out, so the ticket takers ended up handing out cheap raffle tickets with the dinner preference written out in ballpoint pen on the back.<br />
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Third, dinner took a bit longer than I anticipated. I had asked for it to be served at 6:30, but I didn't see anyone get served until about 6:37 or so. That is perhaps just some misunderstanding on my part about the logistics and behind-the-scenes work that goes into serving food, which I gained some perspective on after speaking with Kassa.<br />
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Other than these concerns, I felt very welcomed by the staff at the Convention Center and will definitely consider the venue for future events.<br />
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Kyle Boardman<br />
ASB Activities Coordinator<br />
Corban University
Always a pleasure to work with the Salem Convention Center
Not only is the convention center a premier physical location the customer service is excellent. From working with scheduling and contracts with Marrissa Burleigh to Sarah Utterback on the front end with the many details to the catering staff setting up, serving and cleaning up there is warm professionalism. Every staff member is availble and willing to work with us to make sure our guests have a pleasant experience. It is always a pleasure to have Corban events at the convention center!
Great customer service!
Our non-profit school has its annual auction at Salem Convention Center. In truth, the size of our group is too large for any other venue in Salem, but SCC does not behave as though it has the market cornered. The customer service and attention to detail are fantastic. During setup the day of our event we had about two dozen school parents helping and we needed "one more table" about six different times. Each time it appeared almost immediately along with anything else we asked for. Every request is always fulfilled and we are always happy to re-book again for the following year!
The meal was disappointing and servers offered dessert during the paddle raise portion of the event.
The pasta was very disappointing - cold and rubbery. Almost everyone who was asked said they couldn't even finish it because it was so bad. The servers also brought out dessert before our paddle raise was over, which could very well have resulted in a lower amount of overall bids. I specifically requested the wait staff to wait for that portion of the night to end (prior to dinner) before serving dessert. You all have enough fundraisers there that the wait staff should be used to that request and honor it.
AT Now Conference
We hosted a two-day, multi-session technology conference. The venue was beautiful, spacious and comfortable. The staff is one of the best we've seen. They are incredibly kind, friendly and responsive to any need. The food is delicious and there is ample servings. We would definitely return here as they exceeded all our needs.
NWACUHO 2015 (board meeting and conference)
I was always able to reach someone for special exhibitor requests and changes. The staff was friendly and helpful. The food was good and timely.
Always Good and Reliable Service
Everything was set up as requested. Set up people and servers are always helpful to do whatever you request. Food was excellent. It's so nice to have a quality venue right in the Salem area.
Outstanding service
After 37 years in the military my husband retired. The after party was the perfect finish. We had it in the Marion room which was decorated beautifully. The prime rib dinner catered by Bentleys was amazing. The wait staff was great and very accommodating even being ready to open the room a half an earlier than planned. Sarah Utterback was wonderful to work with and made the whole event easy to plan and lots less stress on me. We will definitlely be back.