Smart Meetings | Latest Destinations

Los Angeles, California (L.A. GOES LIVE)

2010-03-19T22:52:37Z

In fact, the land of movie premieres and celebrity photo ops is awash in the plushest of red runners, rolled out for the seemingly endless array of posh events that go hand-in-hand with the city’s reputation, and nickname, as the Entertainment Capital of the World.

But then, red carpet is to L.A. as fresh powder is to Park City, Utah. According to LA Inc., The Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau (discoverlosangeles.com), nine out of 10 special events in the city are hosted on a red carpet, while the color red has always been known for its stimulating, welcoming quality. Even more, red confers a meaning of great authority and a warm style of reception, and is a preferred choice to create an added sense of importance to an honored guest.
Regardless of any perceived reputation, it’s more than just Hollywood A-listers who are able to enjoy the kind of red-carpet treatment that Los Angeles has to offer. Meeting groups often find themselves embraced by a place that is much more accessible and appreciating of meetings business than they imagined, despite any impressions planners may have that the city is too big to care. “For this summer, we’re doing our ‘L.A. Rolls out the Red Carpet’ [campaign],” says Carol Martinez, associate vice president of communications at LA Inc. “It’s about L.A. being very welcoming to groups and visitors. The red carpet is kind of the L.A. welcome mat.”
Before the red carpet is unfurled, any meeting or event in Los Angeles will likely require that your attendees bring a few extra essentials they may not normally have on their packing list, starting with a fresh tube of sunblock for daytime outdoor receptions (and the chance a free afternoon finds them near the beach). After all, L.A. enjoys an average of 320 days of sunshine per year with temperatures in the 60s and 70s. In fact, the city’s perpetually nice weather can be a problem for Hollywood movie productions, often forced to create their own rainy days.
Another must-have for the keyed-in attendee is a proper pair of sunglasses. And while they’re certainly important to keep the sun at bay when stepping out between meetings for lunch, a hot pair of shades is even more vital when the day ends and the bright lights of the big city come up. It’s all about the hip and happening in many sectors of L.A., and the importance of looking the part when living the fab nightlife, even if you’re just a meeting attendee passing through. It’s also an opportunity to see and be seen with Hollywood royalty at the many fashionable nightclubs, swanky lounges and chic restaurants throughout the city (so keep your camera handy).
But then, no city piques the imagination and beckons visitors (and meetings groups) to its borders quite like Los Angeles, conjuring up that old Hollywood magic with just the mention of its name, while for decades drawing wave after wave of dreamers and doers, creators and empire builders. Made up of a pastiche of neighborhoods and smaller cities, Greater Los Angeles sprawls for miles from the Santa Monica Mountains on its northern edge to the Palos Verdes Peninsula in the south, and from the Pacific Coast on its western border to the Chino Hills in the east. With residents from more than 140 countries speaking 224 different languages, you’ll find cultural and ethnic diversity in all corners of the city, from Chinatown and Little Ethiopia to Koreatown and Little Tokyo.
Downtown q
To the surprise of some, downtown Los Angeles is actually a lively destination well worthy of a visit, with the ability to not only host your meeting and citywide event, but also offering plenty of attractions and activities to keep attendees occupied and entertained for days (and nights). Gone are the times when shops shuttered their doors at 5 p.m. and tumbleweeds seemed to roll through the streets. Gone too are the words once used to describe the area, such as “promising” and “budding.” And while downtown is still growing, with more positive changes coming every month, the area has started to realize its potential as a rising star among L.A.’s many bright options.
Much of downtown’s renaissance, and gentrification, starts with L.A. Live (lalive.com)—the open-air entertainment complex adjacent to the convention center that features numerous restaurants, bars and live performance venues. With the complex now filled and in full operation, options for dining include Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill (wolfgangpuck.com), The Farm of Beverly Hills (thefarmofbeverlyhills.com), Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar (flemingssteakhouse.com) and ESPN Zone (espnzone.com), among others, and all of them accommodating to groups.
Meeting-goers will also get a welcome reception at the complex’s entertainment venues, starting with the Conga Room (congaroom.com), which specializes in Latin jazz and has hosted the Latin Grammy Awards. A larger option is the 59,000-square-foot Club Nokia (clubnokia.com), which can accommodate up to 2,300 and offers catering by Wolfgang Puck. Larger still is the 7,100-seat Nokia Theatre L.A. Live (nokiatheatrelalive.com), with a total of 235,000 sq. ft. and a full bar on each of its three levels. The largest entertainment venue downtown is the 20,000-seat Staples Center (staplescenter.com), host to major concerts and events, including the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers.
Easily the biggest news of all at L.A. Live, as well as for downtown, is the opening this past winter of the 54-story hotel tower that rises above the landscape like a beacon. Made up of the JW Marriott Los Angeles L.A. Live (marriott.com), with 878 guest rooms and 77,000 sq. ft. of meeting space, The Ritz-Carlton, Los Angeles (ritzcarlton.com), featuring 123 guest rooms, and The Ritz-Carlton Residences, the property is ideally located near the convention center and is also LEED certified. It stands like an exclamation point on the statement that yes, downtown L.A. can now accommodate just about any size and type of group.
“The bureau started selling hotels at L.A. Live four years ago, because we start selling meetings and conventions so far out. It’s just real exciting that the hotels are now open and groups are coming to town—Pulsar was the first group to come and stay at the JW Marriott,” says Martinez of LA Inc. “L.A. Live, with the JW Marriott and The Ritz, that’s the final piece in the puzzle. Having more properties downtown gives more selection for planners.” Martinez adds that while construction has slowed in downtown of late, new building projects are on the books.
Attractions
While the focal point of downtown’s resurgence has been the addition of L.A. Live and its related hotels, the surrounding area has long offered numerous attractions and unique venues for attendees to take advantage of. “One thing that’s interesting about downtown is they have an art walk [the Downtown Los Angeles Art Walk (downtownartwalk.org)], on Main and Spring streets, and there are a lot of art galleries and restaurants there,” Martinez says. “Another thing in downtown is the fashion district, where people go for bargains, to get textiles and all kinds of unique fabric and clothing.”
With new hotels and so much to do close at hand, downtown is more convenient than ever, offering a walkable alternative in a city famous for its cars and traffic. You can also hop on a DASH (ladottransit.com/dash) bus, which operates exclusively in downtown, or ride the Metro Rail (metro.net), offering service throughout the city, including direct lines to Hollywood, Pasadena and Long Beach.
Whether you ride or walk, a visit to downtown’s Olvera Street (olvera-street.com) is a glimpse into Los Angeles’ Mexican past (the city was founded near here in 1781). Designated as a California State Historic Landmark, the street offers a traditional Mexican-style plaza with shops and outdoor cafes and taquerias, while weekend visitors are entertained by strolling bollero musicians and Mariachi bands.
Downtown is also where you’ll find a number of L.A.’s museums and performing arts centers, starting with the Disney Concert Hall (musiccenter.org), an iconic structure designed by Frank Gehry and home to the L.A. Philharmonic. A short distance away on Wilshire Boulevard is the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (lacama.org) and its Broad Contemporary Art Museum, currently undergoing a transformation to its 20-acre art campus.
Another option for a free afternoon, as well as for hosting events, is the 30,000-square-foot GRAMMY Museum (grammymuseum.org) at L.A. Live, with a 200-seat theater and four floors of interactive exhibits. The museum, which opened at the beginning of 2009, can work with meeting groups to offer intimate performances from often-famous musicians who call L.A. home.
Meeting Venues
The largest venue in the city is the Los Angeles Convention Center (lacclink.com), with 720,000 sq. ft. of event space, including 64 meeting rooms and a 299-seat theater. The center is also LEED certified—no easy task for an existing building of its size—and is adjacent to the Staples Center and L.A. Live, in what is now referred to as the convention center campus. For a real film and TV studio experience (where the series Mad Men is filmed), one of the only working studios downtown is the Los Angeles Center Studios (lacenterstudios.com), which offers six 18,000-square-foot soundstages, a 400-seat theater and the Flix café, all available for private events.
Citywide attendees have a number of options when it comes to hotels in downtown, including the Wilshire Grand Los Angeles (wilshiregrand.com), with 900 guest rooms and 50,000 sq. ft. of meeting space, and the Omni Los Angeles Hotel at California Place (omnihotels.com), offering 453 guest rooms and 20,000 sq. ft. of meeting space. For eco-conscious groups, the Westin Bonaventure Hotel & Suites (thebonaventure.com), with 700 guest rooms and 110,000 sq. ft. of meeting space, was recently awarded the Green Seal for its efforts to conserve resources, prevent pollution and minimize waste.
Sports-minded groups, or those who wish to take advantage of top gym and fitness equipment, should check into the Hotel at The Los Angeles Athletic Club (laac.com). The hotel recently completed a renovation to its 72 guest rooms, and offers an 80,000-square-foot fitness center and event space for up to 700. One of the swankier options in downtown is The Standard, Downtown L.A. (standardhotels.com), which features 207 guest rooms, 17,000 sq. ft. of meeting space and a rooftop pool and bar ideal for cocktails and lounging the evening away. Coming in mid June, the Luxe City Center Hotel (luxehotels.com)—a former Holiday Inn currently undergoing a $10-million renovation—will be located directly across from the L.A. Live complex with 200 guest rooms.
Hollywood q
Just look for the famous Hollywood sign in the hills to the northwest of downtown, head toward it on the Metro Rail Red Line or on Highway 101, and you’ll soon arrive at the cultural heart of L.A. Less a city than a playground for adults, Hollywood is filled with stars: look down while standing at the corner of Hollywood and Vine streets and you’ll find sidewalks lined with stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2010.
The big news in Hollywood is the opening of the W Hollywood Hotel & Residences (whotels.com) this past January, offering 305 guest rooms and 25,000 sq. ft. of event space. A natural for Hollywood, the hotel also features a rooftop bar, 25-yard lap pool and a 6,075-square-foot spa, and is part of the $360-million Hollywood & Vine development project. Down the street at the other end of Hollywood Boulevard near the famed Grauman’s Chinese Theatre (manntheatres.com) is the Hollywood & Highland Center (hollywoodandhighland.com), an entertainment complex with a variety of shops and restaurants.
Adjacent to the center is the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel & Spa (renaissancehollywood.com), with 637 guest rooms and 65,000 sq. ft. of meeting space. Nearby is the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel (hollywoodroosevelt.com) featuring 300 guest rooms and 20,000 sq. ft. of meeting space, and the home of the original Academy Awards ceremony in 1929. The current home of the Academy Awards is the 3,332-seat Kodak Theatre (kodaktheatre.com) located down the street.
Universal City q
For a destination without any obvious tourist sites (no Empire State Building or Golden Gate Bridge), Universal City has become one of the most visited attractions in Los Angeles. For starters, there’s Universal Studios Hollywood (universalstudioshollywood.com), with the ever-popular tours of the film studio backlots, as well as rides such as The Simpsons Movie, Jurassic Park–The Ride and, opening this summer, King Kong, designed by director Peter Jackson. The park includes the 6,000-seat Gibson Amphitheatre and 9,600-square-foot Globe Theatre, both available for private events. There are also a number of studio lots available for events for groups up to 2,500, such as Spartacus Square and Wild West. Universal CityWalk (citywalkhollywood.com), an entertainment complex not unlike L.A. Live that offers shopping and restaurants, as well as AMC Theaters and an I-MAX theater, is located within the studio and near many of the attractions.
“What we do at Universal is a family Halloween carnival, and we usually have around 2,500 people and take up three areas on the lot,” says Marisa Materna, special events manager for Camp Ronald McDonald For Good Times. “It’s a great space for us because it’s all-encompassing, and because it comes with all the power and all the extra things we need. One year we had to do the event off-lot because of filming, so we went to another location and ended up spending twice as much because we had to bring in everything—toilets, generators, food. So doing it at Universal saves us money in the long run because it’s all inclusive.”
Even though Universal City is a mere 415 acres, it offers several top options for meetings, such as the Sheraton Universal Hotel (sheratonuniversal.com), which has 451 guest rooms and 30,000 sq. ft. of meeting space, and completed a $30-million renovation just over a year ago. Other options include the Hilton Los Angeles/Universal City (universalcity.hilton.com), with 483 guest rooms and 60,000 sq. ft. of meeting space, and Beverly Garland’s Holiday Inn at Universal Studios Hollywood (beverlygarland.com), offering 255 guest rooms and 12,000 sq. ft. of meeting space.

For more information on properties, venues and attractions in Greater L.A., visit smartmeetings.com/showcases/greater-los-angeles.

San Francisco, California (SAN FRANCISCO DREAMIN’)

2010-03-19T22:36:30Z

Anchored by its namesake city, the Bay Area also encompasses several other large cities, such as Oakland and San Jose, plus smaller urban and rural areas. They’re tethered by iconic bridges, ferries, railroads, highways and high-speed commuter rail—and served by three international airports. It’s easy to get there, and easy to get around.
For meeting professionals, the diversity extends also to a wealth of venue options for conferences, trade shows and conventions, in destinations as individual as the meeting groups. Here’s an overview of the possible choices.
SAN FRANCISCO q
A perennial favorite of travelers, San Francisco enjoys an enviable cachet. According to Leonard Hoops, executive vice president and chief customer officer for the San Francisco Convention & Visitiors Bureau (onlyinsanfrancisco.com), when attendees get that first e-mail or registration packet, and find that the location is San Francisco, the first thing they say is, “San Francisco—great!” And the facts back up this assertion: research has shown that attendance spikes when the city is chosen as the meetings destination. For example, Hoops says, the Cardiovascular Research Foundation, in its first time in San Francisco, set an all-time attendance record, with a 50% increase in international attendees.
And why not? The food and wine scene is legendary (“You can’t get a bad meal in this town,” says Emeril Lagasse, who obviously knows how to dine well). The views of the bay and ocean are spectacular. And the possibilities for attractions and entertainment are unlimited.
MAJOR MEETINGS VENUES
Regardless of your event size—whether small, mid-size, large or citywide—San Francisco has the space you need. Moscone Center (moscone.com) is the major meetings venue, with its three buildings (North, South and West), for a total of 700,000 sq. ft. of exhibit space, 256,225 sq. ft. of meeting space and nearly 123,000 sq. ft. of pre-function lobbies.
The economy has had an impact on visitor numbers and spending, but the city is still exploring the possibility of a significant expansion and renovation of the facility, Hoops says. One scenario is adding an East building that would include 180,000 sq. ft. of meeting space, a 100,000-square-foot underground convention structure and a parking facility. Another is expanding the center by widening the underground connection between Moscone North and Moscone South. Their feasibility is still to be determined, but the East expansion would be contiguous to the existing convention center (a much-requested feature by convention clients) and would be partially financed by
private investment.
Reacting to the current economic climate also, the CVB is “casting a wider net” for groups to fill open dates at Moscone. Some, like the California Travel Industry Association, historically have not met in San Francisco due to perceived cost challenges, but are meeting here this June. Others are groups with short-term meetings, such as Drupal Association’s Annual Conference, which is bringing 2,500 attendees this month.
With the opening of the sleek InterContinental San Francisco (intercontinentalsanfrancisco.com)in 2008, Moscone offers a wide variety of meetings hotels within walking distance or a short cab ride—many within steps of fashionable Union Square. They’re ideal for larger conferences tied into the convention center or, especially with a number of new renovations and upgrades, work well also for self-contained events. Among them are the InterContinental, with 550 guest rooms and 43,000 sq. ft. of meeting space; The Westin St. Francis (westinstfrancis.com), which recently completed a $40-million renovation and is located right on Union Square, with 1,195 guest rooms and 56,000 sq. ft.; and Parc55 (parc55hotel.com), featuring 1,010 guest rooms and 21,000 sq. ft. of function space.
Speaking of hotels, some labor issues have made headlines this past year. But, “At the end of the day, the greater issue is more perception than reality,” Hoops says. “Delegates aren’t having to cross picket lines, and meetings haven’t been disrupted.” Plus, he says, San Francisco hasn’t been singled out in this regard, as Unite Here is planning to align many cities, to create a national front.
A new entry on the meetings scene is the Mission Bay Conference Center at UCSF (ahl-missionbay.com). Located near AT&T ballpark, in one of the city’s newer neighborhoods (and on the UCSF teaching and research campus), this day-use facility has 12,500 sq. ft. of meeting space. It also features a large parking lot, convenient for drive-market conferences.
UNIQUE VENUES AND ACTIVITIES
Drawing meeting attendees as well as cultural travelers to the city is a stellar collection of new museums. Joining stalwarts such as SFMOMA and the Asian Art Musuem are the Contemporary Jewish Museum, close to Moscone; the Walt Disney Family Museum in the Presidio, near the Golden Gate Bridge; the de Young and the even- newer California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park. In addition to their world-class exhibits, they offer function space for group events.
An intriguing, hip option—right in Moscone’s neighborhood—is Supperclub (supperclub.com), a restaurant and performance venue with a dramatic ambience (think all-red bar and lounge hung with dozens of glittering disco balls, a two-level, all-white main dining room, and a black, mirrored private dining room for up to 70 guests). The entire venue, which can accommodate more than 400 guests, can be bought out for corporate events. Another is Infusion Lounge (infusionlounge.com), in Union Square, an Asian-inspired ultra lounge. Along with the lounge, its 6,000 sq. ft. include a private VIP room and a fully equipped dance floor.
On the Embarcadero waterfront are two truly one-of-a-kind shows, the long-running Teatro ZinZanni (love.zinanni.org), a cabaret self-described as “love, chaos and dinner.” Group events, with preferred seating, can be arranged. Debuting this month is Peter Pan (peterpantheshow.com), an adaptation of J.M. Barrie’s classic, in The Threesixty Theatre, a 1,350-seat theater-in-the-round tent featuring an interior with 15,000 sq. ft. of high-resolution video, so that when Peter and Wendy fly into Neverland, the audience
does, too.
NORTH BAY q
Just north over the Golden Gate Bridge is Marin County (visitmarin.org), an upscale collection of small towns and cities, plus bucolic dairy farms and ranches, that are tucked among vast acres of parkland and seashore (in fact, more than 70% of the county remains open space—which residents strongly prefer). Southern Marin has a clutch of meetings-worthy properties, and as an added benefit, they are easily accessible to San Francisco via shuttle, car or ferry.
Practically under the Golden Gate Bridge in Sausalito is Cavallo Point Lodge (cavallopoint.com), a former military base now restored and transformed into a hotel, with 142 historic and new accommodations, a spa and 29,000 sq. ft. of meeting space. Remodeled with sustainability in mind, the hotel was recently LEED-Gold certified, quite a feat for a property whose history goes back to the early 1900s.
Acqua Hotel (jdvhotels.com), in Mill Valley and fringing the shoreline of Richardson Bay (a meandering finger of San Francisco Bay), is a Joie de Vivre property with serene lines and ambience. Its 49 guest rooms are complemented by 1,600 sq. ft. of meeting space, with views of the water and the walking path that rings the area.
Only a half-hour ferry ride to San Francisco is The Lodge at Tiburon (thelodgeattiburon.com), a Larkspur Hotel in downtown Tiburon, a small peninsula with a charming, walkable downtown and ferry access also to Angel Island State Park (angelisland.org), which features numerous outdoor recreation possibilities.
EAST BAY q
San Francisco’s East Bay is a large, amorphous landmass that encompasses two counties, including the city of Oakland, with the fourth largest deep-water port in the U.S., the city (and university town) of Berkeley, and an increasingly well-known wine country. They’re linked from San Francisco by the Oakland San Francisco Bay Bridge, BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) and numerous highways.
OAKLAND
Big, brawny and diverse—an estimated 100 languages are spoken here—Oakland (oaklandcvb.com) has long been a magnet for groups looking for second-tier-city prices and availability. It has a business-centric downtown core; a bustling container shipping industry; the newly restored and reinvented Jack London Square on the estuary, with restaurants, entertainment and shops; scenic hills (and hillside estates); and vibrant, multicultural neighborhoods.
Managed by the Oakland Marriott City Center (marriott.com), with some services provided by the CVB, the Oakland Convention Center serves as the major venue here, with 64,000 sq. ft. of function space, plus the Marriott’s 25,000 sq. ft., for a contiguous total of 89,000 sq. ft. (the Marriott also provides 483 guest rooms). It’s a convenient 10 minutes from the Oakland Airport—a Southwest Airlines hub. The recently renovated Waterfront Hotel (jdvhotels.com), now a Joie de Vivre boutique property, is a hotspot at Jack London Square, partially because of its popular Miss Pearl’s Jam House restaurant. Actually, the whole city has become an outpost of gourmet dining, with chefs like Jeremy Umland, of the popular Ozumo, escaping the high costs of the restaurant business in San Francisco.
Adjacent to Oakland is the city (and, as some may be tempted to say, the country) of Berkeley (visitberkeley.com), noted for its university, its somewhat anti-establishment vibe, its fascinating, walkable downtown and its reputation as the birthplace of California cuisine, with Alice Waters’ Chez Panisse as the on-going epicenter. With a plethora of restaurants, you can dine in as many cuisines as there are languages spoken here.
New to Berkeley is the Hotel Shattuck Plaza (hotelshattuckplaza.com), a multimillion-dollar reincarnation of the 1910 landmark hotel, with 199 guest rooms and 8,000 sq. ft. of meeting rooms and banquet space. On the Berkeley Marina is the Doubletree Hotel & Executive Meeting Center (doubletree.com), an IACC-certified hotel and conference center with 378 guest rooms and 8,000 sq. ft. of meeting space.
TRI-VALLEY
Geographically speaking, the Tri-Valley region (trivalleycvb.com) is part of the East Bay, although in recent years it has been working to establish its own identity as a wine country destination. And, with 45 wineries, golf, and increasingly, fine dining, it’s succeeding. While it doesn’t have a bay waterfront—it’s east of the Caldecott Tunnel from Berkeley—its valleys benefit from their proximity to the bay, which tempers the climate with the warm days and cool nights that make good grape-growing terroir.
The Tri-Valley designation encompasses a picturesque group of small cities and towns: Danville (a new addition), Dublin, Pleasanton, Livermore and San Ramon. With a number of meetings properties, at various price points, they’re an affordable wine country choice, and easily accessible to San Francisco via BART. Among the hotels are the Marriott Pleasanton (marriott.com), with 242 guest rooms and 5,000 sq. ft. of meeting space, and the Hilton Pleasanton at The Club (hilton.com), which offers access to the trendy ClubSport along with its 292 rooms and 14,000 sq. ft. of meeting space. Also in Pleasanton is the Alameda County Fairgrounds (alamedacountyfair.com), a 270-acre park-like facility with 10 buildings for events, ideal for trade and consumer shows, conventions, team-building and more.
The largest of the wineries, Wente Vineyards (wentevineyards.com) can accommodate up to 150 guests indoors and up to 1,000 outdoors on the Terrace Lawn. It also features an 18-hole, Greg Norman-designed golf course. Other venues include the 20,000-square-foot Palm Event Center in the Vineyard (palmeventcenter.com), set on 120 acres and offering a variety of spaces for 40 to 700 guests, and Casa Real at Ruby Hill Winery (casarealevents.com), which can accommodate up to 550 guests in their 9,000-square-foot event room. Both have opened over the past few years, expanding the area’s attraction for group business.
A new addition also is the renovated Shannon Community Center (ci.dublin.ca.us), in Dublin, which features 19,700 sq. ft. meeting and function space for 400 theater-style and 300 classroom-style.
SOUTH BAY/SAN MATEO
COUNTY q
San Mateo County (sanmateocountycvb.com), in San Francisco’s South Bay, is well-known for its upscale bedroom communities and convenience to downtown San Francisco. But the county actually has a much broader reach than commuter rail and highways. First, this 741-square-mile area is bordered east and west by the Bay and the Pacific Ocean, creating two different coastlines. It’s also home to Palo Alto (and Stanford University), an integral part of Silicon Valley. (In fact, representing this major city is responsible for the CVB’s recent name change to San Mateo County/Silicon Valley Convention & Visitors Bureau). And last, but not least, it’s the gateway for San Francisco International Airport.
The inland cities offer a range of dedicated meetings venues, from the light-filled South San Francisco Convention Center (ssfconf.com), with 20,600 sq. ft. of function space, to the San Mateo County Event Center (sanmateoexpo.org), which has more than 200,000 sq. ft. of indoor space and a plethora of outdoor space.
The county’s hotels also offer a variety of options, many with renovations or upgrades just completed or on the books. Among them are the Crowne Plaza Cabana Palo Alto (crowneplaza.com), with completion of a major renovation of the overall hotel, including all sleeping rooms, expected this month; and the Garden Court Hotel – Palo Alto (gardencourt.com), with a multimillion-dollar renovation of its guest rooms and meeting space.
The Pacific coast is equally well represented, with The Ritz-Carlton, Half Moon Bay’s (ritzcarlton.com) $2.4-million soft goods renovation, transformation of the former library into a wine room, a facelift of the spa and the renovation of the Grand Ballroom, among other improvements. In 2009 the Beach House Hotel (beach-house.com/half-moon-bay) opened a luxurious massage room and renovated both the pool and outdoor Jacuzzi.
SAN JOSE q
The third-largest city in California—and the 10th largest in the country—San Jose (sanjose.org) has a lot to offer meetings groups, with easy access to airlift (Mineta San Jose Airport is minutes from downtown), numerous meetings hotels, a bustling restaurant and entertainment scene and, of course, the San Jose McEnery Convention Center. For planners on a budget, or even those just seeking convenience, the city features 5,000 hotel rooms downtown within walking distance of the convention center and cultural facilities or within a short light-rail ride. (The rail stops in front of the convention center, so no cars or shuttle transportation are needed.)
In spite of the economic challenges, 2009 was a very good year, according to Dan Fenton, CEO of Team San Jose, a community-driven partnership that acts as the CVB and works with local hoteliers, organized labor, arts and business leaders as a one-stop-shop for planners. Not only was 2009 the largest revenue-generating year for the city from the Team San Jose-managed properties, he says, but also, for the second year in a row, a customer service survey indicated that 97% would return in the future.
MAJOR MEETING VENUES
The flagship of the city’s meeting facilities, the convention center showcases 430,000 sq. ft. of meeting and function space, with 143,000 sq. ft. of column-free exhibit space, an additional 31 meeting rooms and 100,000 sq. ft. of pre-function space. It’s also on the way to being certified as a green business, with numerous recycling and energy conservation programs in place—including composting, one of the few centers on the West Coast to offer this service. The city’s cultural facilities, all under the Team San Jose umbrella, include the Center for the Performing Arts, California and Montgomery theaters, Parkside Hall and the Civic Auditorium, offering numerous configurations for your events.
Meetings hotels include the Hilton San Jose & Towers (hilton.com), which is adjacent to the convention center and recently completed an $11-million renovation; it features 354 guest rooms and 60,000 sq. ft. of meeting space. Another sizeable property is The Fairmont San Jose (fairmont.com), which has 805 guest rooms and 65,000 sq. ft. of meeting and function space.
SANTA CLARA q
Smaller in size than its neighbor San Jose, Santa Clara (santaclara.org) nevertheless packs a meetings punch. Home to such high-tech luminaries as Intel, Applied Materials and Sun Microsystems, it draws groups to its 302,000-square-foot convention center. A new 22,400-square-foot ballroom opened last year, expanding the city’s options for larger groups.
Santa Clara has more than 3,800 hotel rooms citywide. Among its full-service properties are the Santa Clara Marriott (marriott.com), which offers 759 guest rooms and 24,000 sq. ft. of meeting space, and the Hyatt Regency Santa Clara (santaclara.hyatt.com), featuring 501 newly renovated guest rooms and 60,000 sq. ft. of meeting space. By the way, under a new incentive program, if you hold your qualifying meeting at the Hyatt between now and September 30, 2010, you’ll receive up to a 10% rebate off your master bill.
Fun off-sites can be found at California’s Great America (pgathrills.com), a huge theme park with thrills, chills and excitement for your attendees of all ages. The Intel Museum (intel.com) is another option, offering hands-on opportunities to learn about Silicon Valley and its history. Or, if you’ve got a more active group, try Strike Cupertino (bowlmor.com), in nearby Cupertino, where your group can suit up in logo-ed T-shirts and bowl, dine and enjoy a little friendly, team-building rivalry.

For more information about properties, venues and attractions in Northern California, visit smartmeetings.com/showcases/northern-california.

Denver, Texas

2010-03-19T22:27:49Z

“Colorado’s been called the Munich of the West and the Napa Valley of beer,” says Julia Herz, craft beer program director of the Brewers Association, a national, membership-based brewers organization based in Boulder.
“Colorado beer is fresh and crisp and is wonderful because of the water—our water is first-use,” says John Branciforte, director of sales and marketing for Colorado Springs’ Cheyenne Mountain Resort. Rich Grant, vice president of communications for Visit Denver, agrees. “It’s the melting water tumbling down from the glaciers and snowcapped peaks of the Rocky Mountains that make Colorado such a brewing center,” he says.
According to the Brewers Association, Colorado ranks fifth in breweries per capita in the U.S. and second in the number of total breweries (behind California’s 221). Coloradans have been brewing beer since the 1800s (probably to quench the deep thirst of its early miners) and there are now 103 breweries throughout the state, ranging from heavy-weight hops wranglers such as Coors Brewing Company to smaller production breweries such as the Boulder Draft House.
And people are starting to take note. “Colorado has received a lot of notoriety around beer,” Herz says. Beer enthusiasts have been touring the state for coveted concoctions that are hard to find or not available beyond the tasting bar or city limits. “We are starting to see a fair bit of beer tourism,” says Kris Oyler, co-founder of Durango’s Steamworks Brewing Co. “Most likely visitors would not be able to get it elsewhere, unless they come from a regional area,” he says. Herz echoes this sentiment, saying that local brewmasters are known for experimentation. “Colorado brewers are really known for innovation and world-class beer—they often top the list for medal winners,” she says. They push the limits of the genre and continually create new flavors for imbibers to enjoy.
Beer-making closely follows the seasons with the appearance of pumpkin ales in the fall, spiced beer in the winter and light, crisp brews in the summer. This change in offerings mirrors the state’s four seasons. The perception is that Colorado only has one season—winter—which is like Colorado only having one type of beer all year long—preposterous! “We truly have four seasons,” says JoAnna Eisler, national sales manager for Aspen Chamber Resort Association. “If you aren’t a cold weather enthusiast or a big skier, spring, summer and fall are [just] beautiful.”
Just like its tantalizing array of beer, Colorado brings an overabundance of options to the table for meetings and groups. Each destination offers its own unique set of ingredients to flavor a meeting. Like the well-known tastes of beers like Coors, the state offers your tried-and-true big box hotel brands in addition to the hand-crafted aromas of craft beer in the form of boutique hotels and unique venues.
Adding to the state’s flavor profile are its stunning open spaces, mile-high vistas and abundant wildlife, which go hand in hand with outdoor recreation, from world-class skiing and snowboarding in the winter to hiking, biking, white-water rafting and fishing in the summer. The state ranks eighth in size at 104,094 square miles and 22nd in population (per 2008 U.S. Census), encompassing four national parks, and 42 state parks and more than 25 ski resorts. Coupled with 300 days of sunshine, they make Colorado a recreation enthusiast’s dream.
Plus, you can enjoy your custom-brewed experience even more when you know that your meeting or event has had less of an impact on the beautiful spaces that residents hold dear, as Colorado is on the forefront of sustainability on both the civic and the hotel level. As evidence of this commitment, Denver’s Colorado Convention Center recently hosted the Green Meetings Industry Council’s Sustainable Meetings Conference (sustainablemeetingsconference.com) and welcomed the industry’s top minds in sustainability from all over the world. And, following Denver’s lead, cities and towns across the state are launching their own green initiatives.
After all of the delicious ingredients are combined and brewed, the last stage of the process is consumption, and the selection of the proper glass is key. Drinking vessels are created specifically to complement the style of beer, and the size, shape and etching of the glass influence the taste and the diffusion of the bubbles. The glass, and in your case the city, holds it all together and gives your meeting blend a home. Enjoying a cold one is even better when coupled with great service—and Colorado is big on this. The warm Western hospitality here just keeps travelers coming back. “We have the friendliest people here,” says Rachel Benedick, vice president of sales and services at Visit Denver. “When we hosted the DNC in 2008, that is one thing you heard a lot of people comment on; it’s what we really pride ourselves on.”
So, let your selected destination in Colorado be your glass, bringing together its unique blend of flavors and adding the most to your meeting experience. And just like selecting the right beer, finding the perfect Colorado destination depends on your desired experience. That said, grab a glass, because in Colorado, the cup runneth over.
Denver’s Draft q
When most people think of Denver, they probably don’t visualize all that the city has to offer. The Mile-High City is packed with hotels, attractions, activities and more, most within walking distance. “Every time I have a site tour come in, they say, ‘I had no idea you had such great shopping and such great restaurants. I had no idea that it is such a cosmopolitan city,” says Benedick of Visit Denver’s (visitdenver.com).
If Denver were to be a beer, it would definitely be a tasting flight with a pour for every taste and an attraction for every group. Sports enthusiasts will appreciate Denver’s many home teams and their high-tech arenas that make excellent, state-of-the-art meeting sites. Games also offer the opportunity for an incentive or team-building activity. Culturephiles will get their fill at spots such as the large Denver Museum of Art (denverartmuseum.org), the intimate MCA Denver (mcadenver.org), the Denver Zoo (denverzoo.org), the Denver Museum of Nature and Science (dmns.org) and the Denver Performing Arts Complex (denvercenter.org ), the second largest in the nation, all of which provide out-of-the-box meeting space alongside their cultural attractions.
Every destination claims they have it all, but according to Nicki Clifford, sales and marketing events manager for MWI Veterinary Supply, who took her 200-person regional sales meeting to Denver this past winter, Denver actually does. “Our attendees loved downtown Denver as a location for a meeting,” Clifford says. “The group has a wide variety of sales reps, from the cowboy types to the hippie types, and there is a little something for everyone in Denver.”
And you don’t have to be a few glasses in to appreciate the beauty of this cultured and architecturally diverse city. It strikes you as soon as you enter and are surrounded by historic brick buildings, functioning artifacts of a bygone era, and large art sculptures, from dancing people to cattle adorning the streets.
Denver has the added allure of convenience. “Denver is centrally located for the three regions that needed to meet,” Clifford says. “The airport is certainly a distance, at approximately one hour to downtown, but well worth the trip [especially] if you plan to stay any longer than three days. Because if you are near 16th Street, everything is close enough for a walk or free trolley ride.”
Sampling Suds
Each fall, the Colorado Convention Center hosts the Great American Beer Festival (greatamericanbeerfestival.com) and welcomes brewers from all over the world for three days of sampling suds—last year’s event brought in 49,000 attendees to drink the 2,100 beers and 495 beer entries to be judged for awards.
Beer is so much a part of the way of life that the city’s first business was a saloon founded in 1858, and beer was the elixir that nursed the LoDo (Lower Downtown) district back to life. The city’s now-mayor John Hickenlooper opened his Wynkoop Brewing Company (wynkoop.com) in 1988, which then brought more business to the area, turning it into the warehouse-chic neighborhood it is today. Wynkoop has tours and six private event spaces, such as the Mercantile Room for up to 300 guests (Grant recommends sampling Monkey India Pale Ale or Patty’s Chili Beer, which packs a punch with real green chili).
Also in downtown, Great Divide Brewing (greatdivide.com) offers free tours and was ranked seventh in Beer Advocates’s 2009 All-Time Top Brewers on Planet Earth for its hoppy, big beers. Adjacent to Coors Field, Breckenridge Brewery (breckbrew.com/food/pubdenver.html) is a perfect stop, pre-Rockies games, and offers 10 signature beers (try the unfiltered Agave Wheat made with Salmiana Agave). Another popular brewery that has complimentary tours is the famous Coors Brewery (millercoors.com) just outside of Denver in Golden. It can brew up to 22 million barrels and package up to 16 million barrels annually, making it the biggest single-site brewer in the world.

Meeting Venues
If you are seeking meeting venues, there are many glasses in Denver’s flight. “Denver is generally a great meetings location for groups that need a variety of options in close proximity, and the hotel property choices run the full gamut,” Clifford says.
Denver is set up for citywides and the Colorado Convention Center (denverconvention.com) is the biggest brew in town. This glass structure is surrounded by public art (think enormous blue bear looking into the building). The 100,000-square-foot center features a total of 85,000 sq. ft. of ballroom space and the 5,000-seat Wells Fargo Theatre. Next door, the Hyatt Regency Denver at the Colorado Convention Center (denverregency.hyatt.com) is a state-of-the art property with everything a planner could ask for, from 1,100 guest rooms and 60,600 sq. ft. of function space to a top-floor restaurant, Altitude, with views of the Rockies, plus a 24-hour fitness center.
The 219-room Warwick Denver Hotel (warwickhotels.com) just wrapped up a renovation and offers 10,000 sq. ft. of meeting space. Just outside of downtown in the upscale shopping district Cherry Creek, the JW Marriott Cherry Creek (jwmarriottdenver.com) also went through a recent renovation with $2 million in upgrades to the hotel, which included the addition of the buzz-worthy Second Home restaurant. Located in Westminster (halfway between Boulder and Denver), the 369-room Westin Westminster Hotel (westindenverboulder.com) is a beautiful property with 30,000 sq. ft. of meeting space, including the separate 3,283-square-foot Lake House with picturesque outdoor views.
Boutique properties are also on tap. The 336-room Curtis Hotel (thecurtis.com) served as MWI Veterinary Supply’s Clifford’s headquarters. “We chose the property, first, because they had the right amount of meeting space (totaling 20,000 sq. ft.) and sleeping rooms, but then because the personality of the hotel was unique, to say the least,” she says. “The boutique, light-hearted fun-and-games theme seemed to fit our group. I mean, who is going to remember their experience at a same-old big-box hotel? The Curtis proved to be just what we were looking for—the almost child-like spirit of the place let everyone have whimsical discussions in between meetings.”
Inspired by the theater arts, and located next door to the performing arts complex, the 110-room Hotel Teatro (hotelteatro.com) is a perfect fit for small meetings and is embellished with original costumes from theater productions. On the other side of town in LoDo and across from Union Station, the historic 80-room Oxford Hotel (theoxfordhotel.com) opened in 1891 and recalls Denver’s past with antique furnishings, original décor and the famous Cruise martini bar.
Boulder’s Blend q
Located 30 miles northwest of Denver is the college town of Boulder (bouldercoloradousa.com). At 5,430 feet above sea level, the city is famous for the University of Colorado and a small-town, casual feel, but with the amenities of a big city, including lots of outdoor festivals, museums, nightlife and culture.
Boulder is bubbling with breweries and offers about a dozen options. The Boulder Brewing Company (boulderbeer.com) has been crafting microbrews since 1979 and offers tours in addition to hosting private events (Visit Denver’s Grant stands by their Hazed and Infused Ale). Asher Brewing Co. (asherbrewing.com) serves up certified organic beverages, and Twisted Pine Brewing (twistedpinebrewing.com) pours creative concoctions such as Espresso Stout and Raspberry Wheat, with seasonal debuts of Peppermint Stout and Chocolate Chili Beer.
For brews of another variety, the Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse (boulderteahouse.com) is a rare slice of Tajikistan in Colorado. This ornate teahouse was a gift to the city from its sister city, Dushhanbe, and is available for private events and tea tastings. Groups can also soak in the tea culture at Celestial Seasonings (celestialseasonings.com), which offers complimentary tours of their tea production plant.
Meetings in Boulder are a snap with more than 2,000 guest rooms in a variety of options, from the high-end, 201-room St. Julian Hotel & Spa (stjulien.com) to the 157-room Marriott Boulder (marriott.com). Other meeting-friendly hotels include the Millennium Harvest House Boulder (millenniumhotels.com/millenniumboulder), with 18,000 sq. ft. of function space and 269 guest rooms, and the 160-room Hotel Boulderado (boulderado.com), which has been a fixture in Boulder since it opened in 1909. The property features a famous stained-glass ceiling over the mezzanine and 10,000 sq. ft. of function space.

Pints under Pikes Peak q
At the foot of the Rocky Mountains and the beginning of the Great Plains, Colorado Springs (visitcos.com) and its environs quickly make a stunning first impression with the 14,117-foot Pikes Peak jutting into the skyline directly above the city’s wide-open spaces.
Colorado Springs has about a dozen breweries, some of them so under the radar that they don’t even have websites, so be sure to ask the CVB and locals for insider tips. Grab a pint and take your crew to the critically acclaimed Bristol Brewery (bristolbrewing.com) for hand-brewed ales with all-natural ingredients (Cheyenne Mountain Resort’s Branciforte recommends sampling the Compass IPA and the seasonal pumpkin ale).
New to the scene as of this past August, Trinity Brewing (trinitybrew.com) dreams up a host of seasonal beers (all whipped up by one brewer), serves healthy eats and can host private tastings in the living room area for up to 50. Built from the ground up, the Colorado Mountain Brewery (coloradomountainbrewery.com) is slated to open this spring as a brewpub and restaurant with 3,500 sq. ft. of outdoor space.
In addition to award-winning breweries, the city topped Outside magazine’s 2009 list for America’s Best Cities, citing its easy access to the wilderness of the Rockies (and world-class ski resorts), awesome, sunny weather and the high level of education as reasons.
Cheyenne Mountain’s Branciforte says it is a very healthy city, and people come here to get on the mend. “Everyone is a Lance Armstrong, including him—he trained here before the Tour de France,” he says. If they are not Lance, they might be other Olympians, as the city is also home to the Colorado Springs Olympic Training Center (teamusa.org/about-usoc/colorado-springs-olympic-training-ctr), the headquarters for the U.S. Olympic Committee administration and the Olympic Training Center programs. The massive facility is available for tours and off-sites with plenty of fitness-focused spaces and a 225-seat auditorium.
“If you are looking for a meeting to clear your [attendees’] minds, invigorate them and also have a refocus and a purpose—it’s Colorado Springs. We are on the natural side,” Branciforte says. Meeting venues range from ranches to Five-Diamond, full-service hotels. Branciforte’s 316-room Cheyenne Mountain Resort (cheyennemountain.com) can accommodate groups of up to 600 (ideal meeting size is 175 to 210) and offers 40,000 sq. ft. of IACC-certified meeting space, in addition to an 18-hole, Pete Dye-designed golf course. A luxury (and longtime) meeting staple, the Broadmoor Hotel (broadmoor.com) is located on 3,000 acres and houses 700 guest rooms and an event center complex with 185,000 sq. ft. of event space.
Unique venues are as prevalent as microbrews, and one such venue is the circa-1883 Lost Valley Ranch (lostvalleyranch.com). This Four-Diamond guest ranch offers a variety of Western-themed meeting spaces, 24 one-, two- and three-bedroom cabin suites, horseback riding and cattle runs.
Full-Bodied in Fort
Collins q
An hour outside of Denver, Fort Collins (ftcollins.org) is a friendly college town with a blossoming local art scene and a delightful downtown. It is also home to two of the state’s most prominent breweries, in addition to a handful of smaller breweries. Truly a household name, the Budweiser-producing Anheuser-Busch Brewery (budweisertours.com) is a popular attraction and has complimentary tours as well as a behind-the-scenes Brewmaster Tour complete with a visit with their Clydesdale horse, Hamlet.
Also in the area, the New Belgium Brewing Company (newbelgium.com) attracts a dedicated following for its award-winning, Belgian-style beverages. The brewery is known for its flagship beer, Fat Tire, and has been consistently recognized for its sustainability efforts (such as capturing steam released for energy reuse, green building design and on-site waste-water treatment).
Other more intimate options include the Fort Collins Brewery (fortcollinsbrewery.com), which offers tastings and complimentary tours, and the CooperSmith’s Pub & Brewing (coopersmithspub.com), a full-service restaurant and brewery with private event space for up to 200 people.
Amber Ales in Aspen and Snowmass q
The Rocky Mountains have long symbolized Colorado, and have been a huge draw for visitors to this region for snow sports in the winter or gorgeous weather and outdoor fun in the summer. These rugged peaks and corresponding valleys and communities are brimming with hotels, ski resorts and unique meeting venues. This iconic range has also become synonymous with beer, as Coors coined the tag line “Tap the Rockies” and placed a picture of the mountain range (which now turns blue when ready to consume) on each can.
However, when you think of ski resorts in Colorado, you are most likely picturing the scene at Aspen and Snowmass (aspensnowmass.com). And while the region is teaming with skiers and boarders in winter to take in the snow on Snowmass, Aspen, Aspen Highlands and Buttermilk mountains (one pass gets you access to all four), it is a compact, all-season destination. “Aspen is a historic mining town with no off-season. Music and wildflowers come in the spring, and the fall is beautiful with golden aspen leaves and rugby tournaments,” says JoAnna Eisler, national sales manager for Aspen Chamber Resort Association (aspenchamber.org).
Aspen is known for food and wine, and hosts their annual Aspen Food and Wine Classic (foodandwine.com/classic-in-aspen) from June 18–20. Earlier in the month, Snowmass hosts its Chili Pepper and Brew Fest (snowmasschiliandbrew.com), with two chili competitions and a summer ale contest in which more than 50 breweries participate. June is a fun time to bring a meeting to town for these events—but be sure to plan in advance. For regional drafts year-round, the relatively new Aspen Brewing Company (aspenbrewingcompany.com) creates small-batch brews that are only found in-state and features tours and tastings (Eisler recommends trying Ajax Pilsner).
Before the tastings begin, meetings of 20 to 200 attendees (sometimes up to 400) take place all over the two towns in everything from lodges to luxury hotels. The 257-room St. Regis Aspen Resort (stregisaspen.com) is one of the largest venues in the area and can host gatherings of up to 1,000 people in its more than 20,000 sq. ft. of meeting space. The Aspen Meadows Resort (dolce-aspen-hotel.com) features IACC-certified meeting space and the brand new LEED Gold-certified Doerr-Hosier Center, while the mountain chic Sky Hotel (theskyhotel.com) is known for its 39 Degrees restaurant and its signature cocktails, a great way to clear your palate for more tastings.
In Snowmass, the Snowmass Conference Center (snowmassgroups.com) is one of the largest conference centers in all of the Rocky Mountains, and can accommodate up to 2,000 people. The Viceroy Snowmass (viceroyhotelsandresorts.com/snowmass) offers 173 residentially appointed, ski-in/ski-out accommodations and features 9,000 sq. ft. of meeting space.
Wheat Beers in Western Colorado q
Wide-open spaces are what you will find in the beautiful wilderness of Western Colorado, with a few cities interspersed throughout national parks and forests. Telluride (visittelluride.com) and Durango (durango.org) are surrounded both by the San Juan Mountains and national forest, and evoke a rustic charm that is accentuated by the area’s strong mining roots. As you walk through these friendly locales it may be hard to believe that they were each boisterous mining communities, which in their heydays drew fortune seekers looking for silver, gold, zinc, lead and copper.
The area is full of microbreweries, enough to fill up these spaces and keep the thirst of modern-day miners at bay. Set up an event or an intimate brewery tour at the Steamworks Brewing Co. (steamworksbrewing.com), which specializes in wood barrel-aged beers and will host group meals, private food and beer pairings, tastings and more. Other options include Ska Brewing Company (skabrewing.com), which offers a craft beer in their new bi-level tasting room, (Carrie Whitley, group destination manager for Durango Tourism, recommends the Pinstripe Red Ale), and the beer veteran Durango Brewing Co. (durangobrewing.com), which has been hand-crafting brews since 1990 with fine ingredients—try the seasonal Blueberry Wheat. Alcohol-free suds are consumed at Zuperfizz (zuberfizz.com), which makes pure cane sugar sodas in old-time flavors such as root beer, cream soda and ginger ale. In Telluride, Smugglers Brewpub and Grille (smugglersbrew.com) serves up ales and lagers made in their basement brewery (available for tours) and is served alongside pub food in their full-service restaurant.
Victorian-era Durango has a lively, history-rich downtown. “It’s full of historic buildings with fabulous art galleries, museums and tons of award-winning restaurants,” Whitley says. Durango’s casual, intimate feel and welcoming community made the city an easy, safe place to plan an event.
While in town, don’t miss the Durango Silverton Narrow Gage Railroad (durangotrain.com), which transports passengers back in time to the mining town of Silverton, with saloons and other western venues for off-sites. The railroad also offers packages with ATV tours and ziplines whizzing through aspen trees, in addition to booking a reception train for up to 46 of your attendees. Hotels range in size to host a variety of groups (up to 200 in one property), with one of the most notable being The Historic Strater Hotel (strater.com). This landmark, with an imposing brick façade, features 93 Victorian rooms and 7,000 sq. ft. of function space.
The Financial Times described Telluride as a city that “remains deliciously unspoiled, still cocooned in a time capsule of sorts, with a main street positively reeking of 19th-century ambience.” Visitors can experience this first-hand by wandering the six-block-wide and 12-blocks-long National Historic District that showcases the city’s storied past.
Major meeting venues are located in Mountain Village, the next town over, and include the 22,000-square-foot Telluride Conference Center in Mountain Village, which has an additional 55,000 sq. ft. of outdoor event space with views of the 14,000-foot peaks. New to the area, the 100-room Capella Telluride (capellatelluride.com) has a full-service spa, 5,000-plus sq. ft. of meeting space and a plethora of on-site activities, from an ice skating rink to a golf course.
Also in the Western reaches of the state, Gateway Canyons (gatewaycanyons.com) is a scenic retreat located in the stunning red rock canyons of southwestern Colorado. It was “created by the founder of the Discovery Channel, John Hendricks, who envisioned a location that offers fulfillment to the mind and body,” says Marci Kurronen, regional director of sales. “Groups are awed by the beautiful surroundings and leave with a renewed sense of inspiration.” The 54-room property offers 8,778 sq. ft. of meeting space and is well-suited for groups of 25, with plenty to see and do including air tours of the canyon.
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BETTER BEER AND BETTER TASTINGS
Beer has long been perceived as being less sophisticated than wine, but the tide is about to change for this ubiquitous malt beverage. “Beer is every bit as high-end as wine. People will look down at beer, but it’s harder to make a good beer than a good wine, it’s much more involved with the process,” says Kris Oyler, food and beverage veteran and co-founder of Durango’s Steamworks Brewing Co. But thankfully for him and his counterparts, beer is slowly shedding its blue-collar image and the stereotype of being bland, yellow fizzy water for a more refined, artisan beverage.
And it is not just the buzz about beer proving that people are changing their view of beer, especially craft beer. Consumption of small-production beer is the on the rise according to a March report from the Brewers Association (brewersassociation.org); from 2008 to 2009 there was an increase of 7.2% in volume and 10.3% in sales—even in the down economy, when wine and big-box breweries took a huge hit. Some of your attendees have probably already caught the craft-beer bug and for those who haven’t (yet), incorporating a brewery tour and tasting is a great way to experience Colorado’s local culture.
To get you started on your tasting tour, the Brewers Association website lists every brewery that they know of, whether they are members or not, Herz says. So, plug in your meeting destination on their website (craftbeer.com/pages/get-local/find-a-us-brewery) and a list of breweries will be pulled up. It is key to call ahead to find the capacity of the brewery and to make sure they can accommodate your group on a given day, Herz says.
And if you have never experienced a beer tasting, Oyler says, “Tasting beer is very similar to tasting wine, but you have to swallow you it because you really don’t get the full flavor-spectrum unless you swallow.” Julia Herz, craft beer program director of the Brewers Association, agrees with Oyler and adds that “beer’s ingredients make it a more complex beverage [than wine] because of hops, malt and carbonation.” It is possible to get more layers of flavors from beer than wine.
So, throw caution (and your misconceptions of beer) to the wind and follow Oyler’s tips for getting the most out of a beer tasting:
See: You want to look at the color of the beer. What does the head look like from the carbonation?
Smell: Take a whiff. Do you smell fruit, hops, citrus, floral overtones, malt, sweet or smell tannins? You don’t want to smell butter (it’s good in chardonnary and bad in beer) or anything stale such as the smells of wet cardboard or paper—that means that it’s been oxidized.
Sip: Take a drink, if it tastes good, try some more and make sure you really like it.
Swallow: Pay attention to the different qualities as you swallow. Beer has a bitter quality depending on the style and you perceive that at the back of your mouth. You also perceive the carbonation toward the back of your palate.

Edmonton, Canada

2010-03-19T22:19:11Z

The city of Edmonton, with a metropolitan population of more than one million, is home to North America’s largest entertainment complex, the West Edmonton Mall, which encompasses a bingo hall, a miniature golf course and a five-acre waterpark, among other attractions. Edmonton is also the venue for more than 30 annual festivals—hence its reputation as Canada’s festival city. But if you took these “fun” things into account, you’d be missing out on a big part of what Edmonton is about—its meetings venues.
“When we invite U.S. meeting planners to visit us, they are very surprised by our size,” says Glenn Duncan, managing director of tourism development for Edmonton Tourism (edmonton.com). “Edmonton can [accommodate] anywhere from 50 to 5,000 [attendees], but ideally we are the type of city that holds about 2,000 really well.” And, not only does Edmonton know how to play host—they do it well. “Our CVB and industry partners work together as a team,” he says.
Located in western Canada, Edmonton is the capital of the province of Alberta, and is located on the North Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. Although the city is located “on the prairies” (as Duncan explains), when you get downtown you can really see that a lot of thought went into the way the city was structured. “We have an amazing river valley that dissects the city and when you arrive downtown, there are beautiful views,” Duncan says. “Plus, we have more sunlight than any other destination in Canada…it’s that big, blue sky.”
Furthering Edmonton’s appeal is the fact that Alberta is the only province in the country that doesn’t have a sales tax—providing added value for meetings. “It makes it [more] affordable, and you get a great product at a great value,” Duncan says.

MAJOR MEETING VENUES q
According to Duncan, “We really have an amazing infrastructure, and people are surprised that we have the major hotels that we do.”
Planners are often impressed with the major conference centers the city offers—the first of which is the award-winning Shaw Conference Centre (edmonton.com/shaw-conference-centre), in the heart of Edmonton’s downtown core. Managed by the Edmonton Economic Development Corporation, the center offers 82,000 sq. ft. of exhibit space on the Assembly Level, and with hundreds of events held there annually, it brings in an estimated $44 million per year of meetings and events business.
Another major (also newly opened) venue is the Edmonton Exposition and Conference Centre (edmontonexpocentre.com). As part of the major Northlands Park (which hosts 2,500 events in the city annually), the center provides 522,000 sq. ft. of meeting and exhibition space for as many as 25,000 guests.
As far as major meetings hotels go, Edmonton has a lot to offer. “There are three clusters,” Duncan says. “Downtown, south side and the west end…All have significant product; however, the venues that support the conference centers are the downtown hotels.” Edmonton Destination Hotels Downtown (edmontondowntownhotels.com) represents the major players here, including big names such as Westin and Fairmont, among others. The 416-room Westin Edmonton (starwoodhotels.com) provides 24,000 sq. ft. of meeting space, including a 9,429-square-foot ballroom, and the 199-room Fairmont Hotel Macdonald (fairmont.com/macdonald) has more than 13,000 sq. ft. Other downtown hotels of note are the 299-room Coast Edmonton Plaza Hotel, the 307-room Crowne Plaza Chateau Lacombe and the 313-room Sutton Place Hotel.

UNIQUE VENUES q
Discovering what makes Edmonton unique is also quite unexpected as it runs the gamut from a brand-new art gallery to the historic Fort Edmonton Park. Having just opened at the end of January, the Art Gallery of Alberta (youraga.ca) is expected to become a landmark for the city with its striking modern design by the LA-based Randall Stout Architects, Inc. Another plus, “It was built purposely giving thought to meetings,” Duncan says, as the building has a theater, hall and outdoor terrace for event rental, among others.
Unlike anything you’ve ever seen is the Muttart Conservatory (muttartconservatory.ca), with four distinctive pyramids, housing numerous plant types from all over the world. For groups, the conservatory’s Centre Courtyard can hold up to 200 guests with all buildings open for your attendees’ exploration.
Fort Edmonton Park (ftedmontonpark.com) is a wonderful way for your group to learn about the area. The park traces the history of Edmonton’s development from a fur trading post to a booming metropolitan center after the First World War. Meetings can be held here inside historic rooms, churches or outdoors for a picnic, with the ability to host up to 1,000 attendees when using the entire facility.

FUN ACTIVITES q
As you may have already guessed, Edmonton knows how to do fun. And the CVB makes it easy for groups coming to the area to participate in their local culture with year-round festivals and cultural activities. On the Edmonton Tourism website, meeting planners will find a program called Festival City in a Box, aimed at providing groups with just that. “We designed a program specific for meeting planners to integrate Edmonton’s flavor into their meeting,” Duncan says. The program includes everything from a full-blown festival show with local entertainment to décor and catering options, and gives planners the opportunity to leave the Edmonton stamp on their meeting
In addition, attendees can also spend time at the 5.3-million-square-foot (that’s 48 city blocks!) West Edmonton Mall (wem.ca), which encompasses 800 stores and services, 100 places to eat and nine parks and attractions. If nothing else, your attendees can say that they visited the “greatest indoor show on earth,” which holds several Guinness World Records, including the world’s largest indoor amusement park, the world’s tallest indoor permanent bungee tower and the world’s largest indoor lake.
If your group wants to use their golf clubs, Edmonton can also deliver, with more than 70 courses citywide. Edmonton Golf (edmontongolf.com) is a great resource for finding the perfect green for your crew, and if you’re lucky enough to meet in Edmonton’s summertime, you can also enjoy sunshine that lasts up to 17 hours per day (perfect for a tee time after a day of meetings).

GROUP DINING q
Finding a spot for your group to grab a bite in the city isn’t easy—only because there are so many choices. With more than 3,500 restaurants in the Edmonton region to choose from, options are on just about every corner.
Of note, however, is Old Strathcona (oldstrathcona.ca), which offers more than 100 restaurants in less than 30 square blocks—making it ideal for groups to spread out (without going too far). The ultra hip and trendy area dates back to 1891 providing a small-town atmosphere with unique shops, heritage buildings, brick sidewalks and several theaters.

San Antonio, Texas

2010-03-19T18:37:11Z

Piñatas and sombreros hang from the colorful shops within Market Square, the largest Mexican marketplace north of the Rio Grande. And reflecting the city’s dramatic history, the stoic stone-chiseled faces of Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie are memorialized alongside the city’s most powerful icon, The Alamo.
But the lure of San Antonio doesn’t stop within the city center. To the north and deep within the heart of Texas—to Bandera, Fredericksburg and beyond—is the rolling terrain of the Hill Country with its resorts, dude ranches, vineyards and lakes—scenic countryside hardly an hour or two’s drive away.
To the meeting planner, the region’s lure comes alive as a unique melding of ambience, location, culture and a large inventory of excellent meeting facilities, restaurants, resorts and hotels. They include San Antonio’s biggest facilities, such as the colossal Alamodome and the state-of-the-art Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, or smaller more atmospheric venues, including the historic La Villita or “little village,” part of the city’s original neighborhood. In all, San Antonio boasts more than 300 properties for accommodations, with 38,000 hotel and motel rooms, many of them dotting or near the scenic River Walk, with both indoor and shaded outdoor settings. Add to those attractions about 300 days of sunshine each year and the city’s central location (not only in Texas), but the U.S. as well, and the nation’s seventh largest city is high on the list for meeting professionals.
“There are tons of hotels and meeting rooms, and with that variety there’s a wide choice of room rates to meet everyone’s needs,” says Bitsy Burns, CMP, a meeting planner with Southwest Veterinary Symposium of Dallas, an organization that held its symposium last year in the Alamo City. “They have a great sales and service team. The CVB, Convention Center staff, and all support staff work together with you as a group,” she adds. “We had the smoothest running convention in seven years because everyone worked together to make it happen.”

SAN ANTONIO q
Towering cypress trees dangle their leafy branches along the River Walk (thesantonioriverwalk.com) or Paseo del Rio, shading stone bridges and the riverside pedestrian pathways that make a visit to the Alamo City so enjoyable. Winding 20 feet below downtown streets, this spirited walkway is also lush with beautiful landscaping and the sounds of trickling fountains. Strings of twinkling blue and red lights dot the outdoor tables of restaurants. On any given day, visitors pack slowly gliding tour boats for both sightseeing and dinner cruises. In the heart of the city, this three-mile stretch of the San Antonio River connects a Texas-sized sampling of restaurants, shops, museums, historic landmarks and hotels offering more than 5,400 guest rooms.
“The River Walk is affectionately called the largest hotel lobby,” says Ronnie Price, assistant executive director for the San Antonio Convention and Visitors Bureau (visitsanantonio.com). “After their meetings, it’s a place where attendees don’t need an itinerary and can get out and socialize in a safe downtown setting. What makes the River Walk so great is that it runs through downtown, connecting with the convention center, hotels, dining, entertainment and historical sites.”
In fact, the city’s premier meeting venue, the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center (sanantonio.gov/convfac) is located at one end of the River Walk. It sits conveniently near 12,500 downtown hotel rooms (9,700 of them within six blocks), and also within walking distance to some of the city’s main attractions and museums, including the colossal Rivercenter Mall (shoprivercenter.com). The Convention Center has 630,000 sq. ft. of total meeting space, with 440,000 of that as contiguous exhibition area. Three hotel-quality ballrooms total 90,000 sq. ft., including a 40,000-square-foot grand ballroom, and there are 63 breakout rooms. The 2,521-seat Lila Cockrell Theatre for the Performing Arts (sanantonio.gov/convfac/LCT/lcoverview.asp) is ideal for lectures, presentations and performances.
After meetings, delegates can ascend the adjacent 750-foot, free-standing Tower of the Americas (toweroftheamericas.com), its observation deck and revolving restaurant offering spectacular city views and beyond. Other attractions in the area known as HemisFair Park are the Mexican Cultural Institute (portal.sre.gob.mx/culturamexsa), showcasing San Antonio’s Mexican heritage, and the Institute of Texan Cultures (texancultures.utsa.edu), which highlights the state’s ethnic and cultural history through exhibitions, artifacts and more.
Also near the convention center are the city’s largest hotels, the 1,003-room Grand Hyatt San Antonio (hyatt.com) and the 1,001-room San Antonio Marriott Rivercenter (marriott.com). Recently opened, the Grand Hyatt is located next to the convention center and offers more than 115,000 sq. ft. of its own meeting space, which includes two ballrooms, 29 breakout rooms and balcony space. The Marriott Rivercenter, located on the River Walk and next to the Rivercenter Mall, has 60,000 sq. ft. within 36 meeting rooms.
Less than a half mile from the convention center, just east of I-37, is the colossal Alamodome (alamodome.com). Once home to the San Antonio Spurs basketball team, the arena has 30,000 sq. ft. of meeting space and can be configured to provide 160,000 sq. ft. of contiguous, column-free exhibit space. It’s ideal for conventions, trade shows and sporting events, and can seat up to 65,000 people. With dramatic views of the downtown, the Alamodome’s Sports Club/Top of the Dome has 5,000 sq. ft. for receptions, banquets and other events.
Centrally located, the restored Municipal Auditorium and Conference Center (sanantonio.gov/convfac) stems from the grandeur of the 1920s, when it was built as a memorial to World War I veterans. The auditorium’s lower level accommodates 23,000 sq. ft. of meeting and exhibit space and can hold up to 117 exhibit booths at 10 by 10 feet. There are six meeting rooms with removable walls that can accommodate 125 seats. Of particular interest is the Mediterranean-themed lobby, often used for small receptions or for registration for larger events. Two rooms on either side, the so-called Wing Rooms, have 1,900 sq. ft. each, and either can accommodate 100 seats in theater fashion.
San Antonio’s star attraction, The Alamo (alamo.org), is the city’s most iconic sight, located three blocks from one edge of the River Walk. Considered by many as the shrine for Texas independence, it’s where the momentous 1836 siege by 4,000 Mexican troops against the less than 200 Alamo defenders took place—a battle lasting 13 days. The Alamo heroes, including the likes of Davy Crockett and William Travis, were killed, enraging Texians led by General Sam Houston to soon thereafter defeat Mexico’s Santa Ana in the Battle of San Jacinto. The Alamo was originally a mission, one of the earliest of 38 in Texas to bring Christianity to the Indians of the Southwest. Today, there are four others on the south side of town that comprise San Antonio Missions National Historical Park (nps.gov/saan).
Across from Alamo Square is the Historic Menger Hotel (historicmenger.com), one of the city’s most notable properties. It’s part of the legacy left behind by the large number of German settlers, as seen today in the King William Historic District, where German business owners built many of the Victorian homes. One of them was brewery owner William Menger, who built the 1859 hotel to house his overnight business guests. Today the hotel has 316 guest rooms and 16 meeting rooms amounting to a total of 12,500 sq. ft. The ornately decorated and gold-trimmed Plaza Ballroom consists of 4,500 sq. ft., but can be divided into three smaller rooms. Pre-function space includes poolside meeting rooms and a terrace overlooking Menger Court, an area between the hotel and the Rivercenter Mall.
There are several River Walk hotels—some along quieter stretches—that offer significant meeting space and facilities. For example, chain hotels such as the 410-room Crowne Plaza River Walk (crowneplaza.com/sariverwalk) and 483-room Hilton Palacio del Rio (palaciodelrio.hilton.com) offer, respectively, more than 41,000 and 27,000 sq. ft. of meeting space. The 337-room Omni La Mansión Del Rio (omnihotels.com) features 18,780 sq. ft. in 16 rooms, while the 213-room Hotel Valencia River Walk (hotelvalencia-riverwalk.com), with its mix of Old World palazzo and modern luxury, has more than 7,000 sq. ft., including 975 in an open-air courtyard.
“The hotels, the restaurants, the shops, the history of the Alamo—they’re all within walking distance of the convention center and all connected with the famous River Walk,” says Burns, of the Southwest Veterinary Symposium. “The cruise rides with cocktails and dinners afloat make it extremely exciting and romantic.”
Hispanic and Mexican-American cultures come alive along the brick and tile-paved walkways of La Villita Historic Arts Village (lavillita.com). One of the city’s original settlements of Spanish soldiers, La Villita is now a quaint complex with art and crafts shops selling everything from stained glass to woven baskets. La Villita has several facilities available for groups including inside rooms, outdoor plazas, a church and the 800-seat outdoor Arneson River Theatre located along the River Walk, where audiences watch performances on the stage across the river. The Cos House, with a patio, accommodates up to 100 guests and is ideal for small events, while the expansive Mayor Maury Maverick Plaza accommodates up to 2,500 and 1,200 respectively, for a reception or seated event.
Another historic venue is Sunset Station at St. Paul Square (sunset-station.com), a former train depot area dating back to 1877 and the original home of Southern Pacific Railways that once connected San Antonio with New Orleans and San Francisco. Today, the area’s old train depot, hotel and church have been renovated for meetings and other functions, while the covered pavilion is ideal for banquets, concerts or large meetings. The venues are located on 10 acres comprising four city blocks with more than 100,000 sq. ft. of flexible meeting space. “There’s no shortage of unique venues here,” the CVB’s Price says. “We do a great job in repurposing our buildings.”
A few miles east of downtown is the AT&T Center (attcenter.com), another huge stadium and current home to the San Antonio Spurs. It has several meeting halls in addition to the 17,000-square-foot arena floor that’s ideal for company receptions, trade shows and reunions. With 50,000 sq. ft., the stadium’s Express-News Headlines/West Bud Light Courtyard can seat 2,400 or accommodate a reception of up to 5,500. The Terrace Club restaurant has 9,440 sq. ft. and seats 350 people for banquets. A half dozen or so other multipurpose meeting/banquet rooms range from 480 to more than 10,000 sq. ft.
Still other venues can be found inside the popular theme park SeaWorld San Antonio (seaworld.com), with an indoor and outside reception capacity of up to 1,000 and 15,000, respectively. Six Flags Fiesta Texas (sixflags.com) holds 500 indoors and up to 10,000 outdoors. Both can accommodate inside and outside banquet functions as well.
Between meetings, other attractions worth a visit include the San Antonio Museum of Art (samuseum.org), which offers one of the finest collections of Hispanic-influenced paintings and sculptures in the world within its Nelson A. Rockefeller Center for Latin American Arts. The lively outdoor and indoor markets at Market Square (marketsquaresa.com) comprise the largest Mexican marketplace outside of Mexico. Vendors’ stalls and shops include everything from piñatas to big siesta hats to cowboy hats, religious garden statues, fiesta dresses, Tejano T-shirts and Mexican puppets.
“San Antonio has such a unique culture that sets us apart from other cities. We’re defined by the good people that live and work here—hospitality runs through their blood,” Price says. “It’s the passion you see through the arts, culinary [scene] and education; the pride and who we are as Texans and San Antonians with the history and the culture; and it’s the promise that we make with all of our visitors for a unique and memorable stay.”
Burns agrees. “It’s a friendly city, a people city and a city with a heart for hospitality,” she says. “It’s been my experience that the people from San Antonio really care; they’re genuine and sincere when they share their hearts, and it touches
many lives.”

HILL COUNTRY q
It seems the Texas Hill Country (texashillcountry.com) first caught the national spotlight in the 1960s, during the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson, when the world took note of this area’s rugged beauty. Landscaped with limestone bluffs and granite outcropping, spring-fed streams and rivers run through grassy pastures dotted with seasonal bluebonnets and other wildflowers, all framed by the gently sloping hills that have become the region’s namesake. It’s where white-tail deer run freely; where cattle, sheep and goats graze on ranches scattered along verdant valleys.
The area sits in the heart of Texas, west of the I-35 Corridor; but more specifically, west, northwest and southwest of Austin, and north and northwest of San Antonio, stretching as far west as Edwards and Uvalde counties. In fact, the region spans all or parts of 15 counties, encompassing roughly 10,000 square miles.
The Hill Country is ideal for meeting planners looking for a more rural setting, where resorts, hotels and inns are nestled near golf courses and within areas with easy access to canoeing, kayaking and hiking adventures. Dude ranches are also options for small meetings and retreats. With more than 30 wineries, the growing wine industry and burgeoning vineyards add to the scenic beauty, helping make Texas the country’s fifth largest wine-producing state. And the area’s popular culture is accented by its unique ethnic mix: Tejano along with European influences from 19th-century settlers, including German, Swiss and Austrian.
“The Texas Hill Country is an undiscovered part of the United States that has a rich culture and local flavor,” says Terri Worthington, director of public relations for the brand-new JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa (jwsanantonio.com). “We opened January 22 and had a huge, warm welcome from the locals. Large groups have met in San Antonio by the River Walk and couldn’t meet in the Hill Country—until now.”
About 20 miles north of downtown and 12 miles from the airport, this resort is located on 600 acres of rolling hills, and features 1,002 guest rooms including 85 suites. Meeting planners will make note of the 140,000 sq. ft. of customizable exhibit and meeting space, including 40,000- and 21,000-square-foot ballrooms, a 20,000-square-foot exhibit hall and 20,000 sq. ft. of space in 19 breakout rooms. Other highlights include a 26,000-square-foot spa, a six-acre water park, seven restaurants and lounges, and two PGA Tour, 18-hole TPC golf courses.
The Horseshoe Bay Resort (hsbresort.com) is another of the larger luxury resorts that sit on the edges of the Hill Country, this one an hour’s drive west-northwest of Austin’s airport and adjacent to peaceful Lake LBJ. This complex is on 7,000 acres, with three championship golf courses, 50 luxury lakefront condominiums, 117 suites and villas and the 385-room Horseshoe Bay Resort Marriott Hotel (marriott.com). The hotel has 30,000 sq. ft. of meeting space including a 12,000-square-foot ballroom. In addition, the Yacht Club has more than 25,000 sq. ft. of multilevel outdoor deck space and 13,000 sq. ft. of indoor function space.
Closer to Austin is the Lakeway Resort and Spa (dolce-lakeway-hotel.com), overlooking scenic Lake Travis, with 173 rooms and 24,000 sq. ft. of IACC-approved conference space. It has 17 meeting rooms with 12 breakout rooms and four large ballrooms, one of them a 5,200-square-foot glass-enclosed ballroom suspended 150 feet above Lake Travis.
An hour’s drive northwest of San Antonio leads deep within the Hill Country to popular and quaint Fredericksburg (fredericksburg-texas.com), where Main Street is lined with antique shops, galleries, boutiques, restaurants and historic attractions. Founded in 1846 by 120 German settlers, the town maintains its strong German heritage today through traditional German restaurants and Oktoberfest—the town’s grand festival with food, drink, arts and crafts, and continuous oompah music—every fall. The area is also in the heart of the Texas Wine Country and is within the state’s largest peach-producing county.
“We specialize in groups up to about 130 people—the small to midsize meeting,” points out Laurie Hartz, sales manager for the Fredericksburg Convention and Visitor Bureau (fredtexmeetings.com). “We do have a handful of hotel properties that can accommodate that size group.” They include the 90-room Inn on Baron’s Creek Spa & Conference Center (innonbaronscreek.com), with 6,000 sq. ft. of meeting space. The one-of-a-kind Hangar Hotel & Airport Conference Center (hangarhotel.com) has 50 king rooms, 20,000 sq. ft. of meeting space and unique boutique features such as bomber-jacket leather seat covers, antique telephones and more. “It’s built to resemble a 1940s-style aircraft hangar,” Hartz says. “You’re stepping back to a whole new era.”
“We’re a strong German community; that’s our heritage,” she adds. “We have a truly authentic history. Our strength is bringing our authenticity into the meeting.” The Fredericksburg Brewing Company Bed & Brew (yourbrewery.com), for example, has 12 suites above the historic Main Street Brewery and 4,000 sq. ft. of meeting space for up to 200 people. A private dining room has Bavarian murals and is ideal for creating an impromptu Oktoberfest celebration with traditional German cuisine, beer and entertainment. “It’s like you’re walking into a little pub in Germany,” Hartz says.
Named after WWII Admiral Chester Nimitz, a hometown hero, the historic Nimitz Hotel Ballroom has 2,400 sq. ft. and a mezzanine that can accommodate up to 150 or more. It’s part of the National Museum of the Pacific War (nimitz-museum.org) on a six-acre campus, centered by the historic hotel that was once owned by the admiral’s grandfather. The National Museum of the Pacific War includes the Admiral Nimitz Museum and the newly opened George H.W. Bush Gallery that tells the story of the Pacific War.
Other highlights of the Fredericksburg area include nine of the region’s more than 30 wineries along the Highway 290 Wine Road (wineroad290.com). Wine making in Texas dates back to the early 1700s with Spanish missionaries and continued with German settlers. Another key attraction is the Lyndon Baines Johnson National Historical Park (nps.gov/lyjo), with tours of his ranch, the Texas White House, the former president’s birthplace and the cemetery where he is buried. The Pioneer Museum Complex (pioneermuseum.com) reflects the area’s heritage with early German items and artifacts.
Fifty miles northwest of San Antonio is Bandera (banderacowboycapital.com), nicknamed “The Cowboy Capital of the World.” For meeting planners, it’s particularly known for its area dude and guest ranches and is ideal for retreats with a Wild West feel—everything from horseback riding to skeet shooting to trail rides, and needless to say, Texas barbecues. The Purple Sage Ranch Corporate Conference Center Ranch (purplesageranch.com), with eight cabins and two lodges, is a 500-acre conference and meeting facility with more than 3,000 sq. ft. of meeting space for corporate outings of up to 100. The Mayan Dude Ranch (mayanranch.com) has a 3,000-square-foot meeting facility and 68 rooms in cottages or lodges, and the Flying L Guest Ranch (flyingl.com) has 44 suites plus small and large conference rooms as well.
“Networking time will not be around the coffee pot,” says Patricia Moore, executive director of the Bandera County CVB (banderacowboycapital.com). “You’ll be around the corral if you’re meeting in Bandera.”

Richard Varr is a Houston-based freelance writer and has traveled extensively throughout the state of Texas. He is a member of the Society of American Travel Writers.

For more information on properties, venues and attractions in San Antonio and the Hill Country, visit smartmeetings.com/showcases/san-antonio.

Fredericksburg CVB
fredtexmeetings.com

San Antonio CVB
visitsanantonio.com

Texas Tourism
traveltex.com

Seattle, Washington (As Green as it Gets)

2010-03-09T04:00:01Z

And they’re right: it’s not even in the top 10 of rainiest U.S. cities (Miami averages 55.91 inches of rain per year, versus Seattle at 37.07), which means you may need to rethink your view of this northwestern gem of a destination.
But whether or not you choose to pack extra raingear in preparation for your Seattle meeting, there’s far more to the destination than precipitation. The Pacific Rim city has a long and active history with its Asian neighbors, and a prolific trading partnership with China, Japan and Korea through the Ports of Seattle and Tacoma. It’s also a city with an eye toward the future, with a host of high-tech companies calling the area home, including heavyweights like Microsoft, Nintendo, RealNetworks and Amazon.com. Boeing has long had a huge presence in the region, while the city has made a strong effort to foster a burgeoning biotech industry.
Of course, one thing Seattle has become famous for over the last 20 years is the ubiquitous coffee outlets that you’ll find on every corner of the city. The leader of the pack is, of course, Starbucks, which opened its first store here in 1971 and almost singlehandedly spurred a coffee revolution—complete with fancy lattes and mochas—throughout the country and beyond. The Fortune 500 company is a major player on the Seattle scene, and is just one of the many options for attendees to duck into before a morning meeting or during an afternoon break.
While caffeine may help fuel the local tech economy, as well as your meeting, it also may give you that second wind after your event to check out the many cultural offerings the city provides. Besides numerous museums and performing arts venues, music has long been associated with Seattle, especially of the modern variety. From Jimi Hendrix to the many grunge bands that grew out of the music scene here, including Nirvana and Pearl Jam, the city has offered fertile ground for creativity while embracing its local heroes.
This musical legacy is celebrated at the Experience Music Project and Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame (empsfm.org), which is dedicated to the history and exploration of both music and science fiction, with rock memorabilia displays, technology-intensive multimedia programs and regular exhibits, such as the current Jimi Hendrix: An Evolution of Sound. The unique Frank Gehry-designed center is the brain-child of Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft, and was opened in 2000. It also has a number of spaces available for events, including the state-of-the-art JBL Theater with seating for 191, Learning Labs for up to 70, or access to the entire center for groups up to 3,000.
Besides the city’s cultural offerings, attendees will no doubt have the urge to put away their agendas and head for the hills and mountains seen from their windows in nearly any direction. Seattle and the area’s towns are surrounded by the waters of Puget Sound to the west and Lake Washington to the east, with regular ferry service to Bainbridge Island and even Victoria on Vancouver Island, B.C. Open the curtains of your hotel room and you might be facing a spectacular view of the Cascade Range and Mount Rainier, or the Olympic Mountains on the Olympic Peninsula to the west. These mountains are ideal for biking, hiking and other outdoor activities, which are popular pastimes for locals and visitors alike, with easy access to many nature areas surrounding the city.
The outdoors are also ideal for group adventures and team-building activities through organizations such as EverGreen Escapes (evergreenescapes.com), which have a number of options for groups such as sea kayaking, white-water rafting and flora and fauna interpretation. The company combines concepts on sustainability and eco-friendly practices with challenging adventure and wilderness skills, including adventure races, orienteering and team survival.
Despite the many opportunities for outdoor adventure, your attendees won’t need to step out into the surrounding nature to notice just how green Seattle is, one benefit to its rainfall and a reason for another of its nicknames—the Emerald City—in reference to the lush evergreen forests of the area. You can enjoy some of this green in several large city parks, or drive just over 30 miles to the east and be surrounded by the tall trees of the Wenatchee National Forest and Snoqualmie National Forest, while across Puget Sound to the west is the expansive Olympic National Forest.
Green is Gold
Once back in your hotel or meeting venue, you’ll discover just how green Seattle really is. The city is a leader in the sustainability movement, with eco-friendly practices incorporated into a number of properties. Forbes named it one of the cleanest cities in the country, while the Brookings Institution ranked it as one of the best U.S. cities for the small size of its carbon footprint.
Seattle’s Convention & Visitors Bureau’s (visitseattle.org) website has a section dedicated to green practices for meeting planner (as well as for locals and visitors) with a checklist and tips to greener meetings. The CVB has also partnered with the environmental firm Meetings Strategies Worldwide for the latest technologies and resources to achieve its green mandate. You’ll find green practices incorporated into the Washington State Convention & Trade Center (wsctc.com), which is the first convention center in the country to offer 100% compostable water bottles, and every year recycles 174 tons of cardboard, 186 tons of mixed paper, plastic and glass, 2,460 pounds of aluminum cans and 12 tons of scrap metal.
Another way to green a meeting or event is for your attendees to take the Link Light Rail (seattle.gov), which opened its first of two stages in July 2009 and includes 13.9 miles from downtown Seattle to Tukwila, as well as a 1.7-mile extension to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (portseattle.org/seatac). They can also hop on one of King County Metro Transit’s 236 hybrid buses or 150 electric trolleys.
Downtown Seattle q
Set on the eastern shores of Puget Sound, downtown Seattle is roughly two miles in length and a mile wide, starting from Pioneer Square on the south end to the Seattle Center (seattlecenter.com) on the north. This relatively small size makes it easy for attendees to get around, either on foot or via the Seattle Center Monorail (seattlemonorail.com), which runs from the Seattle Center (and through the Experience Music Project building) south along Fifth Avenue to Westlake Center Mall.
“Seattle stands out because of the quality of our convention center, and the walkability and vibrancy of our downtown—the restaurants, shopping, everything is in one compact area,” says Jerri Lane, senior vice president, sales and marketing, Seattle CVB. “There’s a lot of credit given to the infrastructure of our downtown. San Francisco and Seattle are the two shining stars for having a walkable, dynamic, vibrant experience downtown.
“Pre- and post-meeting is hugely popular in Seattle,” Lane says. “We are still a unique destination, and there are many people who haven’t been here yet. And I think a lot of people are like ‘Wow, I’d like to go to Seattle.’ Scheduling meetings here gives people a compelling reason to come,” and take advantage of the city’s many attractions.
According to Lane, the largest market segment for meetings in Seattle is medical groups and associations, followed by trade associations, business groups and scientific meetings. One such medical group is the American Epilepsy Society, which held its annual conference in Seattle in 2008 with an attendance of around 4,000.
“This particular association definitely likes a progressive city,” says Elizabeth Kunsey, CMP, meeting planner for the association, on why they like Seattle. “The convenience of hotels in regard to the convention center is great, and the availability of restaurants. Typically we use three hotels if not four, so the walking distance is important. We have 30–35% of international attendance, and they get together with their colleagues to dine. Just the hub of downtown Seattle fits that well. Some cities don’t work as cohesively, so Seattle really works well as a group [with hotels] and not just as individual entities.”
Seattle’s CVB also took a proactive approach this past year in getting the word out to local residents on the importance of meetings. “We are very proud of our meetings mean business and tourism advocacy,” Lane says. “We’re the 4th largest industry in Washington State, accounting for 150,000 state jobs and over a billion dollars generated in state and local taxes; the trickle down is pretty amazing. I think Roger Dow is doing a great job in D.C., letting them know what we do and the impact we have. We see that as our mission to tell that story as well.”
Meeting Venues
First and foremost in Seattle meeting venues is the Washington State Convention & Trade Center in downtown, and a walkable distance to 30 hotels and 8,805 guest rooms. The center offers 205,700 sq. ft. of exhibit space, as well as 61 meeting rooms and ballrooms totaling 105,000 sq. ft., and includes on-site amenities such as coffee shops, restaurants and business services. Groups can also take advantage of the CVB’s Citywide Concierge Center, a full-service concierge desk where attendees can make dinner reservations, buy theater tickets, arrange transportation and book personal services.
Coming in July, the convention center will add an additional 50,000 sq. ft. of meeting and exhibit space with The Conference Center, after acquiring and renovating an adjacent building on Pike St. The new center will have 17 meeting rooms and is expected to receive LEED Silver certification.
For a classic waterfront meeting, with panoramic views of the Olympic Mountains, Mt. Rainier and Puget Sound, the Bell Harbor International Conference Center (bellharbor.com) offers 100,000 sq. ft. of meeting space and 18 meeting rooms. Ideal for the tech set, the center features state-of-the-art A/V, webcasting and videoconferencing, high-speed Internet, touch-screen control systems and an on-site technology team.
Large citywide groups may well take advantage of the 1,258-room Sheraton Seattle Hotel (sheraton.com/seattle). With 75,000 sq. ft. of meeting space and located one block from the convention center, the Sheraton is the largest hotel in the city. The Westin Seattle (westin.com/seattle) is another option, offering 891 guest rooms and 38,000 sq. ft. of meeting space.
There are two relatively new hotels on the scene in downtown, starting with the Four Seasons Hotel Seattle (fourseasons.com/seattle), featuring 147 guest rooms and 10,570 sq. ft. of meeting space. The other is Hyatt at Olive 8 (olive8.hyatt.com), with 346 guest rooms and 11,000 sq. ft. of meeting space. It’s the first LEED-certified hotel in Seattle, and includes low-flow plumbing fixtures and a landscaping irrigation system that saves up to 24,000 gallons of water per year.

Unique Venues and Attractions
The most iconic fixture on Seattle’s skyline is the Space Needle (spaceneedle.com), built for the 1962 World’s Fair and located at the Seattle Center adjacent to the Experience Music Project. Besides offering amazing views of downtown and the surrounding mountains, the Space Needle features the rotating SkyCity restaurant and the SkyLine level, available for groups up to 360. Also located at the Seattle Center is the Key Arena (keyarena.com), available for groups with a flexible seating configuration from 5,500 to 15,500 seats.
Another option for groups is the Seattle Aquarium (seattleaquarium.org), located on the downtown waterfront. Featuring the 120,000-gallon Windows on Washington Waters exhibit, with local sea life from Puget Sound, the aquarium is available for events for groups up to 1,000.
No visit to Seattle would be complete without strolling through the stalls of flowers, fresh produce, T-shirts, local crafts and artwork at Pike Place Market (pikeplacemarket.org). While it may be the most visited attraction in the city, the market is a fun and lively place to experience the local scene, which includes the famous “flying fish” seen careening through the air from one fishmonger to another at Pike Place Fish Market. You can also enjoy a latte at the original Starbucks coffeehouse, the only chain store allowed in the market.
Bellevue q
Just across Lake Washington from Seattle is the community of Bellevue. Quiet by Seattle’s big-city standards, Bellevue provides groups with a little more elbow room without sacrificing the kinds of options and amenities found in larger destinations, including high-end shops, restaurants and art galleries. A close car or bus ride from Seattle, you’ll find plenty of top meeting space here, including the Hyatt Regency Bellevue (bellevue.hyatt.com), which now has 733 guest rooms and 70,000 sq. ft. of meeting space after a $185-million expansion project completed in July 2009.
The Westin Bellevue (westin.com) is another option, with 337 guest rooms and 25,510 sq. ft. of meeting space, and is located in the Bellevue Collection, which includes upscale shops and restaurants such as Tiffany and Nordstrom. New on the meeting scene is the Meydenbauer Center (meydenbauer.com), which opened last July and offers 54,000 sq. ft. of meeting space, including nine meeting rooms and a 410-seat theater.
Greater Seattle q
While downtown Seattle is a mere 15 miles north from Sea-Tac airport, head south for 23 miles and you’ll soon arrive at the city of Tacoma at the southern end of Puget Sound. An excellent option for meetings here is the Greater Tacoma Convention & Trade Center (tacomaconventioncenter.com), with 136,000 sq. ft. of meeting and event space. A block away is the glass art-themed Hotel Murano (hotelmuranotacoma.com), offering 319 guest rooms and 30,000 sq. ft. of meeting space. Glass art is a theme you’ll find throughout Tacoma, which is the home of famed glass artist Dale Chihuly and the Museum of Glass (museumofglass.org), offering 6,900 sq. ft. of space for events.
“Tacoma is truly inspired by glass art, which can be found around pretty much every corner in the downtown,” says Shauna Lunde, CASE, director of sales and marketing at the Tacoma Regional Convention & Visitor Bureau (traveltacoma.com). “The city is a great fit for small and mid-sized meetings. While Tacoma has all the urban amenities of a larger city, its smaller size allows it to focus on hospitality and service. Our meeting planners and conventioneers feel like a big deal when they meet in Tacoma,” she says.
Going in the other direction from Seattle, the towns of Lynnwood, Everett and Marysville to the north are represented by the Snohomish County Tourism Bureau (snohomish.org). For meetings and events, the Lynnwood Convention Center (lynnwoodcc.com) has 53,000 sq. ft. of meeting and event space, and Tulalip Resort Casino (tulalipcasino.com) in Marysville offers 370 guest rooms and 30,000 sq. ft. of meeting space. While meeting in the area, be sure to sample some classic Washington State wines at the award-winning Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery (st-michelle.com) in Woodinville.

Anaheim, California (Orange County’s Secret Ingredient )

2010-03-05T23:42:28Z

Orange County is sometimes overshadowed by its neighbors, sprawling Los Angeles and splashy San Diego, but the 34 cities here are every bit as stimulating and sophisticated. The destination occupies nearly 800 square miles of prime real estate that includes views of the Pacific Ocean and the Santa Ana Mountains. Plentiful sunshine and a mild Mediterranean climate—temperatures average around 70 degrees year-round—mean outdoor adventure and alfresco events are standard. And, with the John Wayne Airport in the center of it all, plus the Long Beach and Los Angeles International Airports close by, Orange County boasts all the ingredients necessary for an ideal conference.

Frances Laven has planned the Council of Academic Programs in Communication Sciences and Disorders’ annual meeting for nearly 20 years. The group typically takes its events to venues in the southwestern United States; last April, attendees met at the Newport Beach Marriott (marriott.com).

Because delegates arrived from throughout the United States, Canada and New Zealand, airport-hotel proximity was a priority. Attendees came from educational institutions, so keeping costs down was also essential.

The Newport Beach Marriott provided a budget-friendly venue without that low-budget feeling, Laven explains. “It was one of our best venues ever,” she says. “Their service was beyond belief. The menu options, the way the food was displayed and the refreshments were all top notch. We could not have asked for more.”

She calls the hotel’s public spaces “very conducive to sitting and having a drink and talking with colleagues during off times,” and praises the variety of restaurants within walking distance. Although her conference schedule included no major off-site functions, many attendees explored the neighborhood around the hotel or went shopping at nearby Fashion Island. The property is well situated for delegates interested in extending their journey, as well. “It’s a great place if you can stay longer, because you’re so close to the water and you’re so close to Highway 1,” Laven says.

And the feedback from attendees?

“They loved it,” Laven says. “We booked a multi-year contract, and we’ll be going back in 2012 and 2015. That’s how much we liked it.”

Seeing Stars: Newport Beach and Laguna Beach

Newport Beach’s place in pop culture was sealed when TV shows such as The O.C. and The Real Housewives of Orange County started spotlighting the community’s personalities, posh homes and picture-perfect scenery. But in “reality,” the destination’s celebrity appeal traces back to a 13-year-old Shirley Temple winning the first Miss Newport pageant and Humphrey Bogart giving a Newport Beach house to his young bride, Lauren Bacall.

Of course, the coastal Orange County city also makes headlines for its bustling small-craft harbor, nine miles of stunningly beautiful beaches and districts like charming Balboa Island and salty Mariner’s Mile. Visiting conference groups find golf courses, spa resorts and shopping aplenty—the venerable Fashion Island is working on exterior upgrades slated for 2011 completion—plus, more than 300 restaurants that make dine-arounds and group dinners a snap.

Montage Laguna Beach.

The average meeting size here is about 200, says Kim Severini, marketing vice president for Newport Beach Conference and Visitors Bureau. “We don’t have a convention center, so we’re not after the really huge conferences,” she says. “We’re after someone who wants that more intimate setting and that more unique fit.”

Newport’s out-of-the-ordinary meeting venues include the Marconi Museum, an automotive showplace with a 15,000-square-foot main hall and two smaller spaces packed with classic cars and memorabilia. For a less revved-up affair, the facilities at Sherman Library & Gardens are lovely and well landscaped.

Nine resort properties and a scattering of smaller inns also provide function space, and many are recently renovated. Hyatt Regency Newport Beach completed a $23-million refurbishment of its 26,000 sq. ft. of meeting space in 2009. The Island Hotel Newport Beach refreshed its 6,000-square-foot ballroom and 10 other meetings venues, as well. The Newport Beach Marriott Bayview recently spent $8 million on its guest rooms, and the luxurious Resort at Pelican Hill began welcoming guests in 2008. For a lively reception option, the resort sets up an Italian street festival scene and welcomes attendees to their own private block party.

The only waterfront resort in Newport Beach, The Balboa Bay Club & Resort offers 23,000 sq. ft. of indoor and outdoor space, including a 7,000-square-foot Grand Ballroom.

For intriguing off-site alternatives, Newport At Your Feet leads art walks, history treks, eco-excursions and other customized tours for groups.

Still seduced by Newport’s Hollywood glamour? Hornblower Cruises & Events hosts outings on the Wild Goose, a retired U.S. Navy minesweeper that actor John Wayne renovated and sailed for years.

Ten miles down the coast, Laguna Beach claims star power of its own—from the eponymous MTV reality show to celebrity sightings at the 250-room Montage Laguna Beach. Bette Davis, Judy Garland and Charlie Chaplain once maintained homes here, and artists have influenced the town’s ambience since the late 1800s.

Just steps from the sand, Surf & Sand Resort features a conference center that provides 10,000 sq. ft. of meeting and banquet space for 10–400 attendees.

The Laguna Art Museum has more than 3,500 permanent pieces in its collection and focuses on California art. The museum’s California Gallery, with bamboo floors, high ceilings and an adjacent kitchen, accommodates 120 for strolling receptions and 80 for seated dinners. Team building at Laguna Culinary Arts attracts corporate groups looking for a taste of something new, while Laguna Canyon Winery opens its cellar and introduces its winemaker for private events.

Groups looking for fresh air head to Heisler Park for coastal cliffs, walking trails, picnic areas and public art. The European-inspired Tivoli Terrace, Tivoli Too and The Hacienda provide prime banquet venues. The Pacific Marine Mammal Center, a nonprofit that rescues and rehabilitates stranded marine mammals, offers tours and programming. A short drive south in Dana Point, Dana Wharf Sportfishing & Whale Watching charters whale-watching, fishing and sunset cruises.

Marriott’s Four-Diamond Laguna Cliffs Resort & Spa, also in Dana Point, is nearing completion on a multimillion-dollar renovation. The project includes updates to all 377 guest rooms and 20,000 sq. ft. of meeting and banquet space. In Laguna Beach, the Pacific Edge Hotel recently refinished its 130 rooms in vintage beach style. The property welcomes small meetings and retreats on-site and in its 4,000-square-foot beachfront Pacific Edge Villa; in addition, its partnership with the Ocean Institute provides off-site space for up to 240 guests. The 65-room Hotel Laguna accommodates up to 200 in an outdoor rose garden, and seats 10 in an intimate wine cellar.

Planners can explore other accommodations and activities, and view a virtual visitors guide, on the Laguna Beach Visitors & Conference Bureau’s website.

Guest room at The Resort at Pelican Hill.

Surf’s Up: Huntington Beach

It’s no secret that the sea shapes Huntington Beach. After all, it trademarked the title “Surf City USA.” Dean Torrence of Jan and Dean, the musical duo that took “Surf City” to number one in 1963, is a local resident and former Huntington Beach Marketing and Visitors Bureau board member. The community hosts some 30 surfing competitions annually, and it’s home to the International Surfing Museum, Surfers’ Hall of Fame and Surfing Walk of Fame.

Groups gathering in Huntington Beach enjoy more than just winning waves, however. Located 35 miles south of Los Angeles and 95 north of San Diego, this coastal community offers an array of outdoor activities well suited to team building and networking events. OEX Sunset Beach rents stand-up paddle equipment and kayaks on Huntington Harbor; Duffy Electric Boat Co. rents 18-foot electric boats for cruising. An outdoor amphitheater and picnic shelters are available in Huntington Central Park. The iconic Huntington Beach Pier is worth a stroll, as is the farmer’s market held there each Friday afternoon.

Several Huntington Beach properties capitalize on the community’s golden sunshine and celebrated sands. The newest is Joie de Vivre’s Shorebreak Hotel, a hip, 157-room inn that’s part of a mixed-use downtown development dubbed The Strand. A 3,000-square-foot ballroom and the Mediterranean-inspired Zimzala restaurant are part of the property’s 8,000 sq. ft. of event space.

Bicycle rides, surf lessons and beach bonfires are the norm at Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort and Spa. Unique function space here includes three ocean-view ballrooms, classic boardrooms and chic fountain courtyards. The hideaway also has a 20,000-square-foot spa with three grottos and 517 rooms decorated in Andalusian style. Over at the Hilton Waterfront Beach Resort, the ocean-view Cielo Mare Ballroom accommodates 220 for banquets. Smaller meetings might choose the 224-room Hotel Huntington Beach.

Attendees looking to work between events will find a handy list of the city’s Wi-Fi locations on the Huntington Beach bureau’s website, which also outlines single- and multiday itineraries. In addition, the bureau has teamed with those from Laguna Beach, Newport Beach, Dana Point and Anaheim/Orange County to form The OCeanfront, an alliance that provides information on 42 miles of O.C. coastline and the communities located there.

Central and Convenient: Costa Mesa and Irvine

Set 7 miles inland from Huntington Beach, Costa Mesa boasts some 101,000 sq. ft. of event space and more than 2,225 guest rooms concentrated in 10 convention hotels. Shaun Robinson, president of the Costa Mesa Conference and Visitor Bureau and Hilton Orange County/Costa Mesa general manager, says the short distance between those hotels and John Wayne Airport makes meeting more affordable. Costa Mesa’s proximity to the Pacific Ocean also helps.

“We’re not right on the beach, so we can provide a great package for meeting planners who can’t pay those beach prices,” he says, adding that bigger deals are dished up during the slower summer months. “The quieter times for meetings here are definitely in the summer, but we feel we’ve got a great price point throughout the year. It’s a buyer’s market.”

Event set-up at Marconi Museum.

With 50,000 sq. ft. for meetings, including the 12,160-square-foot Pacific Ballroom and the 240-seat, floor-to-ceiling, windowed Fountain Terrace room, the Hilton holds the largest groups in Costa Mesa. Next in line is The Westin South Coast Plaza, a 393-room property that recently finished a $20-million renovation, followed by Marriott, Best Western and other big-brand properties.

Shopping is central to the Costa Mesa experience. South Coast Plaza’s 280 retailers and 30 restaurants often grab the spotlight, but Robinson lists the “earthy, organic, urban and hip” LAB and CAMP centers among the city’s must-see destinations. (Think lots of artsy goods, outdoor gear, indie clothing and organic fare.)

Costa Mesa’s theater and arts district is another major draw, with the South Coast Repertory and Orange County Performing Arts Center campus clustered off Bristol Avenue. Groups can hold private events in the center’s lobby and terrace spaces, plazas and concert halls. Several restaurants surround the arts center, shopping venues and hotel districts, making the community a pedestrian-friendly option for groups.

Three miles away, the OC Fair & Event Center offers expansive exhibition halls, an amphitheater and grandstand, lawn space, an on-site campground and catering services.

Just east of the John Wayne Airport, the city of Irvine sits along Interstates 405 and 5. Linksys, Toshiba and Mazda are among corporations maintaining offices here, in a city that’s big on business and convenient for conventions. “We are very budget friendly on the weekends. That definitely sets us apart from the surrounding cities,” says Jennifer McLaughlin, director of tourism for the Irvine Chamber Visitors Bureau. She cites weekend rates under $100 per night as a draw for attendees who bring their families along to visit Disneyland, Knott’s Berry Farm and local beaches.

These days, Irvine is abuzz about the 1,300-acre Orange County Great Park, a $65.5-million project opening in stages throughout 2011. Carved out of the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, the park eventually will include recreation trails, sports fields, an organic orchard, exhibition space and a military museum. Open now is the 27-acre Preview Park: It includes the Great Park Balloon, which carries visitors 500 feet up above the park for free, and a 175,000-square-foot picnic lawn available for events.

An eight-story I-MAX theater, antique carousel and 108-foot Ferris wheel entertain visitors at the Irvine Spectrum Center, a vast shopping and dining complex near the I-405/I-5 junction. Dave & Busters provides a playful venue for off-site functions. And, in nearby Tustin, another entertainment possibility is Strike bowling lanes, offering team-building opportunities and meeting space as well as glow-in-the-dark lanes.

In December 2009, Marriott opened a 132-suite SpringHill Suites in Irvine, close to the airport and the Irvine Business Complex. Amenities include an indoor pool, Zen garden, putting green and outdoor patio with a fire pit. The Atrium Hotel accommodates 850 for receptions in its Garden Ballroom, while the Embassy Suites Irvine serves smaller groups with four boardrooms that seat 10 to 70 people.

Serious Fun: Anaheim and Santa Ana

Anaheim packs a lot of action into 50 square miles, starting with the Anaheim Convention Center. The West Coast’s largest, it tops 813,000 sq. ft. with a 15,000-capacity theater, 28,000-square-foot arena, naturally-lit lobby and a 190-foot spire, making it the go-to venue for conferences, trade shows and events of all sizes. The center sits adjacent to Disneyland, Disney’s California Adventure and the Downtown Disney shopping, dining and entertainment district, providing seemingly limitless options for off-site functions, including ESPN Zone, a mega-sports bar and restaurant with fun opportunities for groups. Also nearby is Anaheim GardenWalk, a palm tree-lined promenade with boutiques, bowling, dining, nightclubs and an I-MAX theater.

Garden Walk, Anaheim.

Elaine Cali, vice president of communications for the Anaheim/Orange County Visitor & Convention Bureau recommends the region’s lesser-known gems, as well. The Grove of Anaheim theater accommodates 50–4,000 attendees. Nearby Angel Stadium of Anaheim will host Major League Baseball’s 2010 All-Star Game in July, and it welcomes private parties on nongame days.

Downtown Anaheim’s Muzeo celebrates local culture and the area’s natural heritage. Six miles south in Santa Ana, the Bowers Museum charms guests with art exhibits and 15,000 sq. ft. of indoor facilities and outdoor courtyards. Also in Santa Ana is the Discovery Science Center where hands-on exhibits and live demonstrations create exciting team-building and after-hours alternatives.

Cali touts the walkability of Anaheim’s 20,000 hotel rooms, including the 1,572-room Hilton Anaheim (hilton.com) and 1,030-room Anaheim Marriott, which are just a “stone’s throw from the convention center.”

Plus, she says, “There are a variety of other hotels and different price points, so we meet the needs of many different groups.”

The Disneyland Hotel features 52 meeting rooms. Its guest rooms and exterior are undergoing a facelift with phased completion dates scheduled between this June and 2012. A 203-room and 50-villa addition recently wrapped up at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa, as well. At the Hyatt Regency Orange County, a $25-million renovation is slated for completion this spring. The project includes updates to the property’s 65,000 sq. ft. of meeting space, along with improvements to the guest rooms, restaurant and lounge areas, fitness facilities and lobby.

Renee Brincks is a freelance journalist who covers travel, culinary and lifestyle topics.
For more information about properties, venues and attractions in Orange County, visit smartmeetings.com/showcases/anaheim-orange-county.

Los Cabos, Mexico (Los Cabos, Mexico March 2010)

2010-02-25T01:18:00Z

On any given day, the water temperature in Los Cabos is an ideal 72 degrees, while the air, even in the winter, rarely falls below 60 degrees. And although Los Cabos is commonly misconstrued as a spring-breakers-only getaway, it’s actually a great location for meetings—and for all the same reasons.

Located south of San Diego, Los Cabos actually refers to two different towns: the ultra-popular Cabo San Lucas (often referred to as just “Cabo”) and the lesser-known, but equally picturesque, San José del Cabo. Cabo San Lucas is what most people picture when they think of the area, as it’s where the Sea of Cortez meets the Pacific Ocean at Land’s End, which is the tip of the almost 1,000-mile long Baja Peninsula. Altogether, Los Cabos offers attendees 30 miles of beaches, which only adds to the city’s carefree attitude—something the city markets well.

Keeping in tune with relaxation, the Los Cabos Convention & Visitors Bureau (loscaboscvb.com; visitloscabos.travel) attracts visitors with the slogan “leave it all behind,” which has been their motto since 2008. “It is an inspirational destination, offering pristine stretches of beaches and a dramatic desert landscape. [It creates] the perfect setting for visitors to forget the demands of everyday life,” says Renato Mendoca, vice president of marketing for the Los Cabos Convention & Visitors Bureau. “And, of course, our incredible weather year-round ensures a worry-free experience for any planner.”

In addition to sunshine and its naturally beautiful locale, Los Cabos has something other destinations do not: 0% tax for groups, which began this past year amid the economic downturn. “The 0% tax for meetings has made everything more attractive,” Mendoca says. Another plus is the numerous all-inclusive properties in Los Cabos. (For more all-inclusive options see our feature on page 40.) “All-inclusive hotels offer new options for groups that in the past have not considered us.” With all of these advantages, there really is no better time for planners to get their attendees away from it all.

MAJOR MEETING VENUES

Los Cabos offers groups several options, segueing from the historic town of San José del Cabo to the east all the way to Cabo San Lucas to the west. Groups can meet in either town, or anywhere in the 20-mile tourist corridor in between.

Porte Cochere at Esperanza Resort.

IN SAN JOSÉ DEL CABO

If there’s one thing that San José del Cabo does well, it’s all-inclusives. The following are just a taste of these all-encompassing meeting options. The 390-room Presidente InterContinental Los Cabos Resort has four meeting venues, the largest of which can accommodate up to 500 guests for a reception. On-site, groups can bond over a game of tennis or a round of golf, with horseback riding nearby. In addition, there are six restaurants on-site to ensure that everyone is satisfied.

Also playing the all-inclusive game is the Crowne Plaza Los Cabos Grand Resort, with 333 guest rooms, an 11,700-square-foot grand ballroom and 10 meeting rooms. Recreation at the resort includes bicycle tours, tennis, racquetball, tennis and volleyball, among other outdoor activities.

IN CABO SAN LUCAS

Steps from the sand, the Marquis Los Cabos offers meeting attendees 237 rooms, including suites that feature private balconies facing the Sea of Cortez. Meeting space doesn’t disappoint either, as groups can choose between two ballrooms (one with an ocean view), or any number of the property’s terraces.

Another major meeting hotel is The Westin Resort & Spa Los Cabos, which was designed to reflect the very famous Arch at Land’s End. The dramatic property offers 243 guest rooms and more than 11,900 sq. ft. of meeting space as it overlooks stunning blue waters.

Guest room at The Westin Resort & Spa Los Cabos.

For attendees who want to hit the greens, try the Hilton Los Cabos Beach & Golf Resort, located on a wide-open stretch of beach on the southern tip of the peninsula. The 375-room property offers its El Dorado Ballroom, which can accommodate up to 800 guests, as well as multiple world-class golf courses.

Lastly, the Sheraton Hacienda del Mar Resort & Spa has space for up to 1,600 attendees and provides 270 guest rooms. Designed in authentic Mexican style, guests will be able to walk along its cobblestone paths and enjoy the hacienda’s peaceful Cactus Spa.

UNIQUE VENUES

If you’re in Mexico, visiting the beach is a must-do. And groups can do it one better by holding their event on the beach. Planners can work with the CVB to host an event on the sand, or work with one of the hotels for a seaside selection. Some resorts even have their own private beach, such as the Marquis Los Cabos, which opens up their sand to meetings of all kinds. If you’re feeling really adventurous, charter the Marquis’ schooner, Tu Enamorado, and take your event to the seas.

In Cabo San Lucas, your group can say “arghhh” in true pirate fashion aboard the Buccaneer Queen, a 96-foot-long tall ship that has been used as a movie set. The ship offers multiple tours (some that even include pirate props).

If you’d rather keep your peg leg a secret, you can also show your group the ocean aboard a yacht. Charter de Los Cabos is one such company offering room for as many as 50 people. Also of note, part of the company’s fleet features on-board chefs—perfect for hosting a reception.

Poolside at the Sheraton Hacienda del Mar Resort & Spa.

FUN ACTIVITES

Once you’ve anchored, there is plenty to do under the sea in Los Cabos, including snorkeling and fishing. Several companies offer group tours; one nearby is Baja’s Activities, which can take 16 guests at a time to enjoy the deep blue—through the lens of those attractive goggles, of course.

On land, Wide Open Adventures specializes in ATV tours across Baja. Groups can ride for multiple-day tours (talk about team building!) or experience the beauty on one of their shorter corporate excursions.

For another kind of racing, take your team for the ultimate boost on an America’s Cup yacht race with Cabo Adventures. Chartering the yacht encompasses three hours and up to three races, along with a victory celebration. Dolphins are often spotted during these races, but if you want to be sure you interact with them, the company also offers private group dolphin encounters.

Las Vegas, Nevada (Why Vegas? Why Now? Why Not!)

2010-02-25T18:40:35Z

Originally home to the Southern Paiute tribe, in the early 1900s Las Vegas was a small oasis in the middle of the Nevada desert. In the 1930s, the legalization of gambling and the construction of the Hoover Dam put it on the map, followed in 1941 by the first Vegas Strip hotel, El Rancho. Next came the Flamingo—the first resort to combine a luxury hotel, name entertainment and gambling—launched by mobster Bugsy Siegel and similar compatriots. In the 1960s, when eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes bought the Desert Inn, it was the end of mob influence and the beginning of corporate ownership.

Another watershed era began in 1989, when entrepreneur Steve Wynn opened the 3,300-room Mirage Resort on The Strip, boasting a volcano attraction in front and triggering a flurry of themed resorts that offered a trip around the world—from Paris to New York to Egypt.

In the mid-1990s, the city launched its new persona as the country’s culinary and retail mecca, becoming a high-end dining and shopping destination that matched the luxury of its resort guest rooms and spas. But, between the proposed construction in 2005 of CityCenter, MGM Mirage’s huge, $8.5-billion city-within-a-city complex, and its opening last December, there dawned an entirely new and different type of era, one defined by a deep economic recession and the perception of Vegas as a frivolous destination for meetings, which have accounted for a huge percentage of its 40-plus million annual visitors.

As a result, Las Vegas was faced with the necessity of “reinventing” itself once again—this time in both the public’s perception and the perception of organization decision-makers—as a practical, serious, affordable destination for meeting groups, conventions and incentives.

Perhaps, however, it’s more accurate to say “reinforce” rather than “reinvent.” The meetings infrastructure has been in place at least since 1959, when the original convention center was built (it has been expanded many times). And since the late 1980s, the hospitality industry has given more than a nod to meeting and event space and services, allowing the city to compete with other first-tier cities for group business.

Hospitality suite at Aria Resort & Casino.

Education has been key in this new era, from the national Meetings Mean Business campaign to concerted efforts by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and its hotel partners to demonstrate the fact that there’s no better place to meet than Vegas.

The smart money says it’s working. Visitation numbers are up, according to the LVCVA. Although the total was expectedly lower overall in 2009, the city hosted more than 2.9 million visitors last November (the latest figures available), an increase of 2.9% compared to the same period in 2008. November also marked the third consecutive year-over-year increase in monthly visitation. (As a new attraction, CityCenter is expected to raise the annual total by 2% to 5% this year.)

Convention business is also on the rise. For example, the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society recently booked its 2012 Annual HIMSS Conference & Exhibition at the Sands Expo—beating out Chicago in the process. “We made the selection based on specific input from our members and exhibitors and our lengthy discussions with both cities,” said H. Stephen Lieber, CAE, HIMSS president and CEO. “Las Vegas demonstrated and committed to the unified cooperation of the Sands Expo Convention Center, the hotels and the city, so that HIMSS can provide our members and attendees with a productive and economical experience.”

And the Professional Convention Management Association is returning in 2011 after an absence of more than three decades. “Having PCMA bring its annual meeting back to [Las Vegas] is another great opportunity for us to show planners and association executives exactly what Las Vegas has to offer,” says Michael Goldsmith, senior director of convention sales for the LVCVA.

That is not to say there’s unbridled optimism about 2010. According to Michael Massari, vice president of meeting sales and operations, Las Vegas Meetings by Harrah’s Entertainment, “2010 is likely to be another challenging year, with modest improvements. The big improvements won’t come until 2011 for us, and 2012 looks really good. All of our metrics are moving positive.”

But, he says, “that optimism comes from the realization that we know what’s coming and we’re ready for it. In 2009, we were like a little kid in the surf for the first time—the waves kept coming and knocking us over, and we didn’t know what was happening. Now we’re getting up and looking at them and diving right into them. We’re ready for them.”

In other words, Las Vegas is on the upswing. And here are 10 great reasons to book your group in Las Vegas—now.

#1 VARIETY OF ACCOMMODATIONS

Las Vegas offers a staggering 150,000 guest rooms, according to the LVCVA, both on and off The Strip, in a variety of gaming and nongaming, smoking and nonsmoking properties. Plus, there’s a range of price points to suit your budget—and plenty of ways to stretch it.

On The Strip

Las Vegas Boulevard, aka “The Strip,” is resort-central. Located between Bellagio and Monte Carlo is CityCenter, the splashy, sophisticated new entry. Its centerpiece is Aria Resort & Casino (arialasvegas.com), a 61-story, 4,004-room gaming resort (the hotel is nonsmoking). Its luxury nongaming hotels include the Mandarin Oriental, Las Vegas, with 392 guest rooms, and Vdara Hotel & Spa, with 1,495. (Veer Towers are solely residential, and The Harmon, its 400-room boutique hotel, is scheduled to open in late 2010).

Under the Harrah’s umbrella are seven major resorts (soon to be eight, see news below): Bally’s Las Vegas, Caesars Palace, Flamingo Las Vegas, Harrah’s Las Vegas, Imperial Palace, Paris Las Vegas and Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino.

Guest room at the Mandarin Oriental, Las Vegas.

A major player in Vegas, Steve Wynn has his eponymous Wynn Las Vegas, with 2,716 guest rooms, plus 2,034 suites at Encore at Wynn Las Vegas, its sister property next door, where we’re hosting our Smart Meeting this month.

Among other meetings resorts are the freshly renovated Tropicana Las Vegas, with 1,876 guest rooms; The Venetian, which features 3,036 guest rooms; The Riviera, with 2,100 rooms; and New York-New York Hotel Casino, with 2,023.

Off The Strip

Off The Strip doesn’t mean off in the boonies. Numerous properties are just a block or two from the boulevard’s bustle, and offer their own attractions and amenities. The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino features 1,525 guest rooms, including its new HRH tower; Palms Place Hotel & Spa offers 599 guest rooms; and The Westin Casuarina has 826. A little farther south on The Strip is the M Resort, which opened in 2009 and has 390 guest rooms.

#2 PLENTY OF MEETING SPACE

You’d expect Vegas to have a wealth of meeting space, and you’d be right. Citywide, there are approximately 10 million sq. ft. of meeting and function space, including three of the country’s largest convention venues, plus a full complement of function space within its hotels, some with dedicated conference spaces. They draw associations, trade shows, consumer shows and corporate functions to their varied facilities; in fact, the city hosts more than 22,000 meetings, conventions and incentives a year, with anywhere from 10 to 100,000 attendees.

The largest venue is the Las Vegas Convention Center, a 3.2-million-square-foot facility. It features approximately 2 million sq. ft. of exhibit space and 144 meeting rooms (more than 241,000 sq. ft.), among its multiple options, and can handle groups from 20 to 2,500.

Sands Expo & Convention Center, adjacent to The Venetian, weighs in with 1.8 million sq. ft. of combined meeting and event space (together with the Venetian Congress facility). It can accommodate the 10 largest conventions in the country, including portions of the Consumer Electronics Show.

Blush nightclub, Encore at Wynn Las Vegas.

Mandalay Bay Convention Center, owned by MGM Mirage, offers 1.7 million sq. ft., with nearly 1 million sq. ft. of flexible exhibit space on two levels, and the largest pillarless hotel ballroom in the country (a 100,000-square-foot mega ballroom).

A lesser-known option is the Thomas & Mack Center, on the campus of the University of Nevada. Originally built as a stadium for its basketball team, the center now also serves as a venue for industrial shows, rodeos and other events, with 20,000 sq. ft. of function space (with the bleachers retracted).

The newcomer on the meetings block is Aria, at CityCenter, with 300,000 sq. ft. of function space in a dedicated conference center with ample natural light and a sleek, desert-hued design.

Set to open this month is Meet Las Vegas, a 30,000-square-foot, three-story venue and outdoor pavilion located downtown, near the Fremont Street Experience. The first two floors of the facility—which can accommodate up to 2,000 attendees—are essentially a blank canvas, with a fixed rigging and technology infrastructure. The third floor is an executive concierge lounge and a state-of-the-art multimedia training center for corporate training and VIP events.

#3 CONVENIENCE

How convenient can you get? McCarran International Airport is only one mile from The Strip and 3.5 miles from the convention center. It is served by 20 U.S. carriers (including Southwest and JetBlue), as well as numerous international airlines. Work on the new Terminal 3—a $2.4 billion, 14-gate construction project—is nearly 50% complete. Scheduled to open in mid-2012, it will allow significant increases in air service from both domestic and international cities.

#4 FINE DINING

It seems like eons ago that Wolfgang Puck opened a branch of his highly touted Spago at the Forum Shops at Caesars—a huge gamble, as this was the first celebrity chef venture into an arena previously known for all-you-can-eat buffets. That was in 1992, a true eon in the restaurant business. Puck has since been joined by an entire constellation of nationally and internationally renowned chefs: Emeril Lagasse, Thomas Keller, Paul Bartolotta, Joel Robuchon and Guy Savoy, to name just a few. Las Vegas has become “the place to be” for the world’s überchefs and, consequently, for diners (see Chef’s Table for the scoop on Aria’s must-dines). Evidence of the caliber comes from Forbes Travel, which named Vegas the top restaurant city in the U.S., an accolade that has been echoed by epicurious.com.

Event set-up at Palms Place Hotel & Spa.

Just as food and wine have a symbiotic affinity, the city also pairs fine wine (and wine expertise) with all that culinary talent. It’s home to 15 Master Sommeliers and other experts, such as Jaime Smith, the new director of wine for Caesars Palace, who has been voted the Best Sommelier in America by Food & Wine magazine.

#5 ENTERTAINMENT AND ATTRACTIONS

You name it, Las Vegas has it—from hot, hot clubs and headliner entertainment to grand-scale attractions and recreational opportunities.

Think nightclubs with a capital “N”: Pure at Caesars, Tao at The Venetian, Blush at Wynn and Wasted Space at the Hard Rock come to mind immediately. Here’s all the glitz and glamour your group can want—and you can arrange private events for a taste of A-list exclusivity.

Headliner entertainment? Country favorite Garth Brooks has launched a concert run at Encore, Carlos Santana has dates at The Joint, a new concert hall at the Hard Rock and—just announced—is Celine Dion’s return to Vegas for a three-year residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace beginning March 2011.

Cirque du Soleil plays the town—showcasing seven “worlds” in seven venues. Choose among Mystère at Treasure Island, Zumanity at New York-New York, KÀ at MGM Grand, The Beatles Love at The Mirage, Criss Angel Believe at Luxor and the innovative company’s newest production, Viva Elvis, at Aria. The latter is a tribute to The King, featuring film clips and his legendary music, performed in Cirque du Soleil’s inimitable fashion.

Cirque du Soleil’s Viva Elvis at Aria Resort & Casino.

If your attendees have a free night—or some free time post-meeting—just have them download Harrah’s new iPhone app, which will follow their movements throughout all of its Vegas properties with a GPS locator. This high-tech application then sends out messages with offers for discounts or deals at the company’s nearby restaurants, showrooms and other attractions—for instance, tickets for a show that has a few last-minute seats available.

Maybe you’ve got a group of sports fans, or just thrill-seekers looking for an adrenaline rush. There’s plenty for them as well. ESPN Zone—consistently named best sports bar in Las Vegas—specializes in team building, customer entertaining and networking possibilities. X-Scream, Stratosphere’s giant teeter-totter, towering 866 feet above the ground, is a guaranteed rush.

With the Grand Canyon only about 100 miles away (as the crow—or in this case—as the helicopter flies), you can tie in a visit. Papillon Airways has a new add-on menu of tours that are easy to book. Once you choose the way you’d like to travel—by helicopter or the longer, scenic bus trip—you select other components such as ATVs, kayaking, pontoon tours or walking on the Grand Skywalk, the transparent walkway suspended 4,000 feet above the canyon floor.

Got golfers? Walters Golf offers three challenging courses, all within nine miles of The Strip (one, the tropical-themed Bali Hai Golf Club, is actually right on it). Their full-time event services coordinator can arrange tournaments, lessons and clinics, and equipment rental—plus transportation and dining—with one phone call.

#6 INCREASED ATTENDANCE

If your attendance has been lagging the past few years and you really need a boost—count Las Vegas in. According to the LVCVA, on average, attendance increases 14% when conventions rotate into Las Vegas. Research shows, too, that trade show delegates spend more time on the show floor here (11.5 hours vs. 5.8–9.5 hours) than in other cities. And there’s the fact that all of the city’s attractions are available when you walk out of your meeting at 5 p.m.—no need for your attendees to skip out on a session to have some fun.

#7 WARM WEATHER

Las Vegas averages 320 days of sunshine a year, with an average temperature of 66.3 degrees and an annual rainfall of 4.13 inches. Winters can be quite cool, as can evenings. Summer is hot—no getting around the fact (that’s why they invented air conditioning). But some groups prefer to meet in summer, due to more favorable rates in value season—just keep in mind the temperature when you’re planning outdoor events.

#8 IT’S GREEN

While mentioning green and Las Vegas in the same sentence may seem like an oxymoron, nothing could be further than the truth, as the city’s resorts have made a concerted effort toward conservation and sustainability. For example, as our View from Vegas columnist Chuck Kapelke reported last October, the entire resort industry consumes only 3% of the water in Las Vegas. Individual properties have made water usage reduction part of their overall environmental program, such as Harrah’s company-wide initiative, CodeGreen. This is nothing new for Harrah’s, however, as over the past five years, implementation of 74 different energy conservation projects has reduced their carbon emissions by the equivalent of 164,440 barrels of oil.

Perhaps surprising, too, given the scope of the project, CityCenter’s Aria and Vdara have received three LEED-Gold certifications: Aria for both its hotel tower and its convention center and theater, and the third for Vdara Hotel. CityCenter also anticipates Gold or Silver LEED certification for its remaining developments, including the Mandarin Oriental, Crystals (its 500,000-square-foot retail and entertainment district), Veer Towers and The Harmon.

#9 NEW(S) AND RENOVATED

Something new and larger-than-life is always happening in Vegas—you can bet on it (it’s that reinvention thing). Which means that there’s always a buzz, and also that returning visitors can always find something fresh to see and experience.

Of course, there’s CityCenter. But there’s plenty more. In early February, Harrah’s Entertainment received preliminary state approval to acquire Planet Hollywood—making the celebrity-themed property the eighth in its Las Vegas portfolio. At press time, the Nevada Gaming Commission was meeting to give final approval of the deal; if approved, Harrah’s will assume full control, not just management, on February 19 (see smartmeetings.com for future updates). Planet Hollywood earlier launched its 52-story, 1,201-room PH Towers, and will offer the same Harrah’s one-stop, multiple-venues, one master account options.

Speaking of reinventions, Tropicana’s $125-million renovation is giving the property a beach-club resort feel, according to President Thomas J. McCartney. Under new ownership since last summer, both the resort’s Paradise and Island towers are being renovated: the Paradise is anticipated to finish up this month, and the Island starts directly after.

The hotel’s conference space was one of the first areas to be addressed, and 50,000 sq. ft. has already been renovated, with new carpeting, wall coverings, enhanced lighting, accessories and artwork among the refurbishments. “We’re investing a significant amount of capital to make the transformation meaningful,” he says. “We’re also taking the same initiatives to make sure our service standards meet or exceed expectations.”

Other renovation components include new restaurants, a new casino and a new nightclub, plus a redesigned pool, which will open in late April or early May, sporting a brand-new look. “It will have a very tropical environment with lush landscaping,” he says.

Pools, apparently, are still pretty cool. This month, Caesars Palace unveils five new multi-layer pools, joining three existing pools, increasing the “Garden of the Gods” area to five acres.

Hard Rock Hotel & Casino also recently opened its HRH Tower, an all-suite tower that is part of its $750-million expansion. The project, which adds 860 guest rooms, also includes the Paradise Tower (a new 17-story guest wing) and approximately 60,000 sq. ft. of meeting and convention space, and more than 40,000 sq. ft. of casino space.
Delayed earlier due to financing, the opening of the $3.9-billion Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, just south of Bellagio, is now scheduled for late 2010. It will feature 800 hotel rooms, 2,200 condominium-hotel units, an 1,800-seat theater and 150,000 sq. ft. of meeting and convention space.

And stay tuned for updates on the much-anticipated, but also delayed, Fontainebleau, a 3,800-room casino resort located toward the northern end of The Strip. The unfinished property was recently purchased by billionaire Carl Icahn.

#10 DEALS, DEALS, DEALS

Lower rates and added value are still on the table—for now. “If you’re looking for a meeting in 2010, Las Vegas has some great values, ones we haven’t seen in years,” Harrah’s Massari says. “If you’re looking for 2011, you’d better sign up now—as the pace is moving fast.”

Given that value—plus the sheer number of guest rooms, amount of meeting space, dining and all of the city’s other amenities, “Bringing an event to Las Vegas right now is simply a good business decision,” the LVCVA’s Goldsmith says.

CASE STUDY: THE ULTIMATE TASTING RUN

Looking for a special event with a foodie twist? The Snowden Group, a new Las Vegas-based DMC, recently coordinated an evening event dubbed The Ultimate Tasting Run for Navistar Inc.’s Diamond Club, working through Legacy Marketing Partners, during the IBS show at the Sands Convention Center.

The tasting “run”—one of The Snowden Group’s customizable packages—featured some of the top culinary talent in Vegas. It was hosted at the Palazzo and Venetian hotels and started at Palazzo’s Sushi Samba, where guests had an opportunity to watch, roll and eat sushi, led by a sushi master and followed by a sake tasting.

The next stop was Enoteca San Marco in St. Marks Square, at The Venetian, where attendees sampled the chef’s Antipasti “Italian Formaggi, Carne and Wine Tasting.”

And, of course, there was dessert. The final stop was the award-winning David Burke’s, also at The Venetian, where the bartenders first mixed up their signature chocolate martinis. For the grand finale, the executive pastry chef gave a demonstration in the art of chocolate dipping and molding, followed by a chocolate tasting. Yum!

For more information on properties, venues and attractions in Las Vegas, visit smartmeetings.com/showcases/las-vegas.

Phoenix, Arizona (Cactus Flowers)

2010-02-25T00:58:45Z

Found nowhere else in the U.S., it’s a sure sign that you’re now in Arizona (the saguaro blossom is the state flower), a vast place with wide-open spaces and wholly unique attractions.

For groups holding their meeting in Arizona, they’ll find a state with an impressive array of stunning scenery and unrivaled natural wonders, from its deserts in the south (with a surprising variety of plant life) to the pine forests and mountain ranges in the north. With numerous national and state parks, Arizona is both a perfect playground for the outdoor enthusiast and an ideal backdrop for a meeting or event. These include Coronado National Forest in the south, Catalina State Park just outside Tucson, the Petrified Forest National Park within the painted desert east of Flagstaff and the grandest site of all—the Grand Canyon in the northwest of the state. Due in large part to the Grand Canyon, for decades Arizona has been the quintessential American destination, equal parts Old West of cowboys and gunslingers and the new west of seemingly endless possibilities.

If sunshine is at all a factor for your group, there’s a strong chance you’ll get it—yearly averages of possible sunshine range from 86% to 92%, according to climatologists. And for warm winter weather, snowbirds have migrated for years to the cities of Phoenix, Scottsdale, Mesa and Tempe, which are clustered together in the south central part of the state, with Tucson farther south. If you think Arizona is too hot to handle in the summer months, just travel to the northern half of the state for cool mountain forests in places like Flagstaff, which has nearly the most days below freezing (in winter) as anywhere in the lower 48 states.

Phoenix Convention Center.

Regardless of the temperature outside, Arizona offers much more than just great weather and scenery. The cultural diversity and attractions of the state run the gamut from the whimsical to the prehistoric. A trip to Lake Havasu will no doubt include a visit to the London Bridge, the actual bridge built in London in 1831, which was sold, shipped and rebuilt in the Arizona desert in the late 1960s—and is the second most visited site in the state after the Grand Canyon.

Even older than the London Bridge, you’ll find ancient Native American petroglyphs at several sites around the state, including the Painted Rock Petroglyph Site near the Painted Rock Mountains southwest of Phoenix. For more modern cultural experiences, museums abound in all of Arizona’s major cities, from Phoenix’s Heard Museum, the Scottsdale Art District and the city’s 125 art galleries and studios, to the Center for Creative Photography on the campus of the University of Arizona in Tucson featuring works by Ansel Adams and Edward Weston.

Whatever your reason to hold a meeting in Arizona, you’ll have plenty of options when it comes to impressive venues, attractions and activities. But be warned: you may have trouble explaining that winter tan to colleagues back home in Chicago.

Phoenix

There’s no mistaking Phoenix from an airplane on your descent—it’s vast, covering nearly 2,000 square miles of land in the Salt River Valley on the northeastern edge of the Sonoran Desert, a flat expanse located within several mountain ranges. The largest city in the Southwest, its location partly accounts for its nickname: Valley of the Sun. The “Sun” part of the moniker is due to the 300 days of sunshine the city gets every year, partly accounting for its high summer temperatures—the hottest climate of any major city in the U.S.—and warm winter days.

It’s these balmy days that prove so popular with groups, especially when attendees are coming from the cold in snowier climes to the north. And whether or not your group uses the Phoenix Convention Center, expanded in 2008 to 900,000 sq. ft. of meeting and event space, the convenience of the downtown core offers plenty of built-in attractions including restaurants, nightlife and shopping. The center added another high-end meeting option in January 2009 with the addition of its Executive Conference Center, which offers 21,000 sq. ft. of IACC-certified meeting space.

“We went [to Phoenix] because it was going to be warm, nobody needed to rent cars and all of our nightlife was reachable on foot or inexpensive by cabs. Everything was good, and it was cheap,” says Mike McKenna, who plans meetings for the National Fire Protection Association. He also adds that airlift to Phoenix, which is the hub city for US Airways and a major focus city for Southwest Airlines, is popular for the group’s East Coast attendees who appreciate the nonstop flight options.

The group held its meeting during the soft opening of the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown Hotel in the fall of 2008, and returned just over a year later. With 1,000 guest rooms and 80,000 sq. ft. of meeting space, the Sheraton is owned by the city of Phoenix and was part of an initiative to reinvigorate downtown while bringing in more meeting business to the convention center. The hotel features the 11,500-square-foot District restaurant and has extensive green initiatives throughout its operations.

“Our convention center went from being unknown to having about 900,000 sq. ft., competing on a level we’ve never been able to compete on before. So we badly needed the addition of 1,000 rooms [with the Sheraton],” says Kevin Kamenzind, CMP, senior vice president, sales and marketing, with the Greater Phoenix Convention & Visitors Bureau. “We’re seeing a lot of interest from planners.”

Two other major downtown hotels are the Hyatt Regency Phoenix, which has 693 guest rooms and 48,000 sq. ft. of meeting space, and the Wyndham Phoenix, with 532 guest rooms and 60,000 sq. ft. of meeting space. Both are close to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport and within walking distance to the convention center. The hotels are also near the Metro Light Rail, which opened in December 2008—a 20-mile-long system that connects to Mesa, Tempe and the airport.

Meeting Venues and Activities

With the expansion of the convention center and addition of the Sheraton, downtown Phoenix has suddenly become capable of larger citywide events. But the area is more than just hotels and meeting space. Attendees will find plenty of restaurants, shops and nightclubs, as well as a number of museums and theaters that double as unique venues. The 1,364-seat Orpheum Theatre, for instance, has been carefully restored to its 1929 original splendor while upgrading its ability to handle modern productions. Similar in grandeur, the Phoenix Symphony Hall has 2,312 seats and offers state-of-the-art facilities.

Besides hosting the performing arts, downtown Phoenix is a sports fan’s paradise, with the US Airways Center, home of the NBA’s Phoenix Suns, featuring the 14,000-square-foot Casino Arizona Pavilion. Nearby is Chase Field, where Major League Baseball’s Arizona Diamondbacks play, which can host groups up to 74 in one of six luxury suites, or up to 12,000 for events on the field itself.

Other attractions and venues include the Heard Museum, one of the top museums in the country for showcasing American Indian arts and cultures, highlighting the state’s 21 federally recognized tribes. The 145-acre Desert Botanical Garden features desert plants from across the globe, especially from the Southwest, and can accommodate groups up to 400 in one of six venues.

InterContinental Montelucia.

Scottsdale

West of Phoenix and part of the greater metro area, Scottsdale has long enjoyed a reputation as an upscale neighborhood filled with high-end resorts, tony shops and a happening nightlife, which makes it a natural as the new home of the first W Scottsdale in Arizona. The famously hip hotel has 224 guest rooms, 10,000 sq. ft. of meeting space and its signature Bliss Spa.

“I think one of the great things about us is accessibility—there are so many direct flights. And the proximity to the properties—generally there’s a long transfer to get to resort properties, but we’re only 15–25 minutes to Sky Harbor Airport,” says Kelli Blubaum, CMP, senior national sales manager with the Scottsdale Convention & Visitors Bureau. “Sixty percent of our business to Scottsdale is repeat business, because there are so many different things to experience here.”

With 330 days of sunshine a year, Blubaum says groups can count on the weather for spectacular outdoor events, with unique settings in the desert, on golf courses and poolside, “events you couldn’t do in Chicago in January,” she says. And while Scottsdale doesn’t have its own convention center, there is such a large number and wide variety of resorts that most any group up to 250 will find ample opportunity to have a successful meeting.

Besides the W Scottsdale, which opened in 2008, the InterContinental Montelucia Resort & Spa, which will be hosting the upcoming Smart Meeting, debuted around the same time, and features 285 guest rooms and suites and 27,000 sq. ft. of meeting space, all at the foot of stunning Camelback Mountain. Opening its doors this spring is the Talking Stick Resort, which will offer 497 guest rooms, 100,000 sq. ft. of meeting space, eight restaurants and 240,000 sq. ft. of gaming.

The Boulders Resort & Golden Door Spa, a desert hideaway named for the massive boulders piled up (by nature) near the resort, is celebrating its 25-year anniversary, and features 160 guest casitas, 60 villas and 12,000 sq. ft. of meeting space. Other options include the Hyatt Regency Scottsdale Resort and Spa at Gainey Ranch, with 490 guest rooms and 70,000 sq. ft. of meeting space, and The Phoenician, offering 647 guest rooms and 64,000 sq. ft. of meeting space.

The Boulders Resort & Golden Door Spa.

Tempe

Bordering Scottsdale to the south is the city of Tempe, known largely as the home to Arizona State University and where you can enjoy the shops and restaurants of the Mill Avenue District. The university has a number of venues available for meeting and events, including the 14,000-seat Wells Fargo Arena, the Memorial Union for groups up to 575, and the 3,000-seat Grady Gammage Memorial Union, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

For hotels, The Buttes, A Marriott Resort is the largest in town, with 353 guest rooms and 40,000 sq. ft. of meeting space, followed by the Aloft Tempe, the newest property in the city with 136 guest rooms and an executive boardroom for meetings. For outdoor recreation, Tempe Town Lake offers everything from boating and fishing to biking and rowing.

Mesa

Directly east of Tempe is Mesa, a short rail-link ride from the airport (and Tempe and Phoenix) and offering a number of affordable options for groups. For meetings and events, the Mesa Convention Center has a total of 38,000 sq. ft. of space, and is adjacent to the 275-room Phoenix Marriott Mesa, offering 56,000 sq. ft. of its own meeting space. The future of meetings in Mesa may include a massive 1,200-room Gaylord resort, which got approval for the project in 2008. But due to the economy, the company has yet to begin development, and has until the end of 2011 to break ground.

Tucson

One of the most western of towns in Arizona, and the entire Southwest for the matter, is the southern Arizona city of Tucson. Surrounded by craggy mountains, as well as the cactus-filled Saguaro National Park, the city has a rich cultural history from its mix of Native Americans, early Spanish settlers and American frontiersmen.

“Tucson is the authentic Arizona where we have a lot of premium open space. The emphasis is on the natural beauty of the Sonoran Desert—it’s a little more rugged and picturesque—and the vegetation a little lusher,” says Graeme Hughes, CTA, director of convention sales for the Metropolitan Tucson Convention & Visitors Bureau.

“Wherever you are in the community, you’re 20 minutes from a national park or national forest. The outdoors and natural elements of the destination are the showcase. All the other amenities are here, but they’re in such a dramatic desert setting that when people get here it really stands out to them,” Hughes says. “The other thing that’s really unique is the cultural experience. There’s a heavy influence of Native American, Mexican American and Western American cultures—a blending of those three cultures. They’re all authentic and unique, and people really respond to that.”

Hughes says the CVB is still offering its popular meeting planner incentive package through June 30, where groups can get as much as a $30,000 credit to their hotel master account. “It’s been a huge driver for us; it’s driven well over 200 leads and close to 100 definite bookings,” he says.

Tucson is home to the University of Arizona, which has a number of museums and venues for group meetings and events, such as the 340-seat Gallagher Theater. Otherwise, the largest venue in the city is the Tucson Convention Center with 205,000 sq. ft. of function space. Other options include the Omni Tucson National Reserve, featuring 279 guest rooms and 22,000 sq. ft. of meeting space, and the JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort & Spa, with 575 guest rooms, 88,000 sq. ft. of meeting space and a 27-hole Arnold Palmer-designed golf course.

The biggest news for Tucson is the December 2009 opening of The Ritz-Carlton, Dove Mountain on the northwestern outskirts of the city near the Tortolita Mountains. The resort has 209 guest rooms, 44 individual casitas and 44,000 sq. ft. of indoor/outdoor function space, and is located adjacent to the 27-hole golf course that is home to the PGA’s Accenture Match Play Championship.

Mii amo spa at Enchantment Resort.

Sedona

Surrounded by the stunning Red Rocks, Sedona is a popular destination for an eclectic mix of artists and New Age luminaries, as well as groups interested in the beautiful setting and numerous outdoor activities. A two-hour drive north of Phoenix, the city has strong Native American influences, while offering a host of art galleries and spiritual and personal enrichment programs (which includes the area’s many spas). For meetings, the Hilton Sedona Resort and Spa has 219 guest rooms and 20,000 sq. ft. of meeting facilities. Another popular option is the Enchantment Resort, located on 70 acres in Boynton Canyon, with 236 guest rooms, 12,000 sq. ft. of meeting space and the acclaimed Mii Amo spa.

Flagstaff

Just north of Sedona and at 7,000 feet elevation, Flagstaff is a cool summer alternative to the hotter regions of the state. In winter, the area gets plenty of snow, enough to support downhill and cross-country skiing at the nearby Arizona Snowbowl. For many attendees, Flagstaff’s close proximity to the Grand Canyon 80 miles to the north is one of its main attractions, with numerous organized tours available to shuttle groups to the canyon’s southern rim. For meetings venues, the High Country Conference Center, which opened in 2008, has 25,000 sq. ft. of total meeting space, while the Little America Hotel, Flagstaff offers 247 guest rooms and 10,000 sq. ft. of meeting space.

Lake Havasu

One of the more curious destinations in Arizona is Lake Havasu City on the state’s border with California. A planned community established in 1964, the surrounding landscape is dry desert yet the city is popular with the boating and fishing crowd on the nearly 20,000 acres of Lake Havasu. Another popular attraction is the London Bridge, the original English span that was brought to the city and opened in 1971. The London Bridge Resort takes its name from the attraction, and offers 122 guest rooms and 12,000 sq. ft. of meeting space.

For more information about properties, venues and attractions in Arizona, visit smartmeetings.com/showcases/arizona.