Cranwell Resort, Spa and Golf Club has launched a nifty app for iPhone and Android. The Cranwell app offers a guide to the hotel's amenities, recommendations and special offers. Plus it features a map of activities in the Berkshires.

"The way that our customers search for and book their vacation experience is shifting," said Norma Probst, director of marketing for the resort. "This new feature will enable us to connect with our guests and prospective visitors before, during and after their stays."

The app, one of 20 hotel and resort apps developed by DeCare Systems Ireland Ltd., offers quick access to real-time reservations and Cranwell phone and email contacts and images of the historic resort. App users can explore all the facilities of the resort in a few easy taps — from information on wining and dining at the hotel's restaurants and bar, to room and suite accommodations.

Users can access sections on the Spa at Cranwell, golfing or skiing, as well as a profile of their conference and wedding facilities. Then they can shoot off an e-mail to tell their friends all about it.
 
The app also offers an area guide (notably clustered mostly in South County along Route 7) for taverns, dining, shopping, outdoor and cultural activities, hospitals and transportation, along with a Google map to show you how to get there. We're not sure where they're drawing the information, but the North County section is pretty skimpy. The locations do, however, get you not only a location but access to contacts and Web pages.

The "news" section is also sparse, consisting of mainly tweets and retweets from Cranwell. But then it is designed to promote Cranwell and areas of interest to its patrons, not the local or national media.

Cranwell Resort says it partnered with O'Rourke Hospitality's Smart Stay App to provide "a highly specialized service solution for mobile travelers to the Berkshires."

We downloaded the app to try it out and found it very easy to use. If you're coming to the Berkshires and don't know your way around, this is a nice littlemobile concierge. The free app can be downloaded for iPhone, iPad and Android systems.

Looks like Cranwell is out front with offering the area's first mobile application — at least we can't find anyone else who's doing it.

LENOX, Mass.  If you're meeting on the East Coast, Cranwell's the place to go.

That's according to Meetings East Magazine, a leading conference planners publication, which gave Cranwell Resort, Spa and Golf Club its Best of the East Award, the fourth time the resort has been honored with this distinction.
 
Readers of Meetings East vote annually for their favorite meeting properties on the East Coast based on the following criteria: quality of the meeting space; guest rooms; guest services and amenities; food and beverage service; high-tech services and equipment; recreational facilities and activities; the efficiency and helpfulness of staff; and overall value and experience.
 
Cranwell has long been a favorite destination for a wide variety of meetings and events for up 200 guests; it recently hosted the annual meeting of the Massachusetts Governors Association and is also used for such social events as proms and weddings.

We can attest to the to lovely atmosphere and dining at the resort, having attended our share of (but not enough) weddings, meetings and dinners in its beautifully appointed dining rooms.

The resort features 15,000 square feet of event space including a spacious ballroom with panoramic hilltop views and a board room in an historic Gilded Age mansion. The property offers complimentary wireless Internet access throughout the resort.

For more information, call 800-272-6935 or visit www.cranwell.com.