FEATURED STORY FROM THE Best of BG – 2018 ISSUE
Falcon Plaza:
There’s No Place Like Home: Falcon Plaza Focuses on Family
At Todd McGee’s Best Western Falcon Plaza, you might find yourself feeling right at home instead of feeling like a visitor out of town. Located at 1450 E. Wooster St., Falcon Plaza is fond of helping guests and visitors discover why Bowling Green is such a great town.
“We kind of act as that concierge for the city. When these people come in from all over we get to feel all of them out and see what they like, and then suggest them places to eat or shop at in town based off what they like,” McGee says. “One of the biggest satisfactions you get is when they come back and tell you how great the recommendation was and how much they love it here in Bowling Green.”
In addition to being the general manager of the Best Western’s Falcon Plaza, McGee also works with the Bowling Green’s Convention of Visitor’s Bureau. The goal of the Visitor’s Bureau is to bring people from other area to experience Bowling Green, and the Falcon Plaza is McGee’s direct link to visitors in town. The hotel is one of the most well-known and enduring lodging places in Bowling Green. Best Western Falcon Plaza has been a familiar face for visiting guests for more than 50 years. However, it is not the same hotel McGee’s grandfather, Jacob Bishop, ran before 1966. That business had a dozen rooms priced from $4.50-$6 a night. When Bishop purchased the previous Woodburn Hotel in 1963, he had football players from BGSU help him tear down it down for the construction of Falcon Plaza in 1966.
“I think it brought the hotel back into 2018. But I also think that with what we’ve done, and the service scores, and Best Western elevating their requirements, I mean I think overall we’re right back in the market with the best hotels in town in my opinion,” said McGee. “The neat thing is
that we’ve kept the same family feel to this hotel throughout all the years. That was our goal behind the renovation—keep the feel of the university, keep the feel of the hometown.”
The Falcon Plaza now has 85 rooms, two meeting rooms, a breakfast room, lobby with 10-foot-tall water feature, and a gym, following the recent
renovations. In addition, McGee wanted to keep the feel of the university by using BGSU’s colors inside.