Annapolis Waterfront Hotel, Autograph Collection

Less than an hour's drive from Baltimore or Washington, D.C., the Annapolis Waterfront Hotel, Autograph Collection welcomes groups to the only waterside hotel in Annapolis, Maryland. Two 74-foot schooners dock just outside, ready for anything from team-building challenges to executive cruises on Chesapeake Bay. At the same time, the location centers the historic seaport city's downtown heart, home of the U.S. Naval Academy, Maryland State House, and cobblestone streets lined in the nation's largest collection of seventeenth through nineteenth century buildings.

Groups gather in a versatile ballroom seating up to 400 theater-style, three smaller multipurpose rooms, a boardroom, and on a tented rooftop terrace with breathtaking views of the bay and harbor. Similarly, the hotel's restaurant, Pusserâ's Caribbean Grill, celebrates the waterfront location with dockside tables both inside and out. A favorite with locals and visitors alike, the restaurant sports a nautical decor and showcases Painkillers made with Pusserâ's Rum and famous Maryland seafood dishes like crab cakes, oysters, and rock fish.

Historic ship models and photographs in the lobby, combined with colonial design touches throughout, create an atmosphere in keeping with three and a half centuries of maritime history on the doorstep. And yet the hotel offers the latest in modern comforts, everything from luxurious bedding and two-person whirlpool tubs to ergonomic desk chairs, wireless Internet access, flat-screen TVs with four-outlet technology even Wii-equipped guest rooms on request.