Preferred Location

Location, location, location. It’s the real estate maxim, but it just as surely applies to finding sites for meetings. To make a sales meeting hum, the location has to be prime. No offense, but who is going to get excited about an event in Newark, NJ, in January? But say San Diego in January, or Miami, and, hold on, most folks already have their bags packed.

The good news is that the beat goes on in the major meetings locations as hotel and conference center operators renovate, upgrade, and improve themselves. They try to put on a new face for groups that have visited before and stand out against competitors who are also upgrading. Don’t think you know a top town because, quite probably, so much is new there.

Even so, when planners are asked to name their preferred locales there is no hesitation. The names that roll off their lips are: Arizona, California, Chicago, Dallas Fort Worth, Florida, and – for the adventurous – Colorado. Colorado, with its mountain towns, is emerging as the place where many want to meet (even when budgets and a preference for the tried-and-true lead them elsewhere). Exactly what is new and different in these leading meetings destinations? Planners, hotel executives, and CVB officials readily share their tips on what’s hot in their towns. Read on.

Arizona
“I just love bringing groups to Arizona,” says Andrea Strauss, president of Classic Conferences in Hackensack, NJ. Strauss specializes in big conferences (800 attendees is not an unusually large group for her) put on by big pharmaceutical companies and, she says, “50 percent of the meetings I coordinate are in Arizona.” What’s to like about Arizona? Terrific weather – local boosters claim 300+ sunny days annually. Freezing days are exceptionally rare, even in the depths of winter. Extraordinary golf courses are plentiful, and the state also is home to many of the world’s top spas (such as Mi Amo in Sedona, Miraval in Catalina, and Canyon Ranch in Tucson). Add in strong airlift – Sky Harbor Airport is the nation’s sixth busiest airport and connections to just about anywhere are plentiful and cheap – and Phoenix has the ingredients to perennially rank among the busiest meetings sites.

Strauss’ personal pick for the top Arizona meeting location: The J.W. Marriott Desert Ridge Resort in Phoenix, which is Arizona’s largest luxury resort (with 950 guestrooms) and which has the state’s two largest ballrooms. It boasts 200,000 sq ft of indoor and outdoor meeting space. Luxurious without the “too expensive” stigma some groups associate with Marriott’s premier brand Ritz Carlton (or competitor Four Seasons for that matter), all J.W. Marriotts – including the Phoenix property – offer upscale dining, first-rate spas, and, at least in Phoenix, extremely sophisticated meeting technologies.

Also high on any list of meetings locations: Pointe South Mountain Resort in Phoenix, with 640 suites, 117,000 sq ft of meetings space, and a six-acre water park for non-golfers who want fun in the Valley of the Sun. Notably, the resort’s new ownership – Grossman Company Properties of Phoenix – has announced a $50 million renovation that will refurbish all suites and brighten many other aspects of the property. Director of sales Troy Batt, who says this is a resort that very much wants sales meetings (“Meetings are over 65 percent of our revenues”), indicates that Pointe South’s pricing is fairly aggressive by the sometimes lofty standards of the region (where $400 rooms in neighboring Scottsdale are no longer an anomaly). “Our rate in high season is $275 to $300 per night for a group, and our accommodations are the biggest in the area.” That is because Pointe South suites are a spacious 540 sq ft (bigger than many Manhattan apartments!).

Want a different Arizona location? Many planners rave about the new J.W. Marriott in Tucson – with 575 rooms (plus 35 suites) and 88,000 sq ft of flexible meetings space. With a first-rate spa and a restaurant operated by the celebrated chef Melissa Kelly, the J.W. Marriott Starr Pass Resort & Spa has the trappings of a top property, but because it is Tucson, pricing is friendlier. The only drawback: Tucson airport is small, direct flights are few, and most travelers wind up landing in Phoenix and doing a 90-minute drive south to Tucson. For groups that have the time and who want to experience a different Arizona, this J.W. Marriott – say many planners – is the ideal base.

Florida
It used to only be Orlando, but now many Florida cities are on the hunt for big meetings business, including Miami, Tampa, and Palm Beach. Florida just is “in,” with good weather, a cosmopolitan appeal, and a culture that screams “fun.” For their part, Florida hotels that are after meetings also are getting innovative. These aren’t just Arizona carbon copies.
Case in point: The Mandarin Oriental, Miami, which has launched its “Meeting Sense” program. Ron Rogers, director of conference management at the hotel, says the aim of Meeting Sense is “stimulating the senses, creating an alert and focused mind.” He adds, “Studies show that the five senses have a significant impact on mood, alertness, energy levels, and creativity, so our program is designed to invigorate the senses to help achieve more effective meetings.” How does the Mandarin try to light up our senses? The hotel uses, for instance, Tibetan chimes to signal the end of breaks; it pumps in citrus scents to meeting rooms; and it passes out chilled towels at the end of lunch “to increase energy for the afternoon.” For the right group such differences just might help produce a meeting to remember.
There’s news in Orlando, too, where Rosen Shingle Creek opened a 1,500 room resort in early September. The focus is strongly on meetings. A telling design feature: The hotel claims one of the country’s largest column-free ballrooms, at 95,000 sq ft, about the size of a regulation football field. Located on 230 acres, this hotel offers a total of 445,000 sq ft of dedicated, state-of-the-art meeting space. Word among planners is that this is a venue well worth including on any short list of Orlando hotels.

California
Go to the Fairmont Newport Beach (perhaps 50 miles south of LAX and only a few miles from John Wayne Airport) and Carol Vail, director of sales and marketing, promises, “You are going to enjoy the weather,” even though you may be in meetings all day. That’s because nearly all of the hotel’s meetings rooms provide open air patios, “which truly epitomize the Southern California experience,” says Vail. After a $32 million renovation, this Fairmont wants planners to know it is in business for meetings and, with 22,000 sq ft of function space, it also provides all the desired high-tech bells and whistles. A bigger message: California is back on the meetings scene and Newport Beach in particular (in hot Orange County) is snagging its share of events.

But keep heading south to discover California’s newly “in” destination: San Diego, which is starting to rival traditional powerhouse San Francisco. “We have no off-season, and we have hotels in every price point,” says Steve Schell, associate vice president for the San Diego CVB. San Diego’s hotel stock includes the upscale (such as KSL’s La Costa), the classic (the 679-room Hotel del Coronado, which is a designated National Historic Landmark), and the well-located (the 1,625-room Manchester Grand Hyatt is the biggest waterfront hotel on the West Coast). When all are counted, San Diego claims 120 hotels suited for meetings, and that number is growing (the Hilton San Diego Convention Center Hotel, with 1,190 rooms, is slated to open late in 2008). San Diego’s big message to planners: Its weather is better than San Francisco’s and, certainly, planners who are looking for a new West Coast locale are beginning to zero in on California’s second biggest city.

Texas
Centrally located Dallas Fort Worth Airport continues to score high with planners (an American Airlines hub, it offers easy access from just about anywhere) and, in addition to its convenience, Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) wins points for its generally mild weather and pricing that won’t break the budget. DFW also offers something few airports can claim: a first-rate business hotel right in the airport. That’s the Grand Hyatt DFW with 298 guest rooms and 34,000 sq ft of function space. This is a hotel designed for business travelers (for instance, the in-room safe will hold a laptop) and sales director Bryan Davis says the hotel works hard to keep meetings coming back, not just because of the location, but also for the amenities. As a case in point, diners (even in groups of 200) can be offered four choices of entree and a trio of desserts.

Also winning notice is Benchmark Hospitality’s new San Antonio conference center, the Hotel Contessa, which offers 265 guest suites (every room has a bedroom and a separate parlor). Located on the famed Riverwalk just three blocks from the Alamo, the hotel offers 12,000 sq ft of meeting space. For planners willing to venture away from DFW, San Antonio has always loomed as an attractive Texas choice, and Benchmark’s conviction is that groups that are serious about meetings will recognize the benefits of its new facility.

Colorado
You’ve met everywhere? Don’t get jaded, instead head to Keystone Conferences, high up in Colorado. All the Colorado differences are abundantly present – breathtaking scenery, lovely summer weather, great winter skiing – but what makes Keystone so compelling is that it is a fully equipped, state-of-the-art conference facility and, sweetening the deal, accommodations are available in the nearby Keystone Lodge, a four-diamond Rock Resort. About a 90-minute drive from Denver International Airport, the real plus of Keystone is that this is a location that is perfect for a head-changing meeting, an event that aims to give attendees new, bold perspectives on achieving new heights.

Another head-changer of a Colorado locale is the St. Regis Resort, Aspen, with 20,000 sq ft of meeting space and guest room rates that start as low as $175 (admittedly, that is not the peak season rate). The bragging rights are certain: “We met in Aspen.” At these prices it becomes highly affordable.

Chicago
O’Hare Airport. That is the not-so-secret sauce that makes Chicago work as a meeting destination, because no matter where you are coming from, there is probably an easy way to get to O’Hare. Add in a vibrant restaurant and bar scene, plentiful museums and a sampling of Fortune 500 companies (State Farm, Sears, Walgreen’s, Allstate, Archer-Daniels-Midland, Motorola, Caterpillar – all call Illinois home) and the mix is right for a strong meetings locale.

A Chicago plus is that its hotel infrastructure keeps reinventing itself. As a case in point, the new, pointedly hip James Hotel (said by Travel & Leisure to be one of “the coolest hotels on earth”) opened in mid-2006 and, says director of sales Vicki Poplin, this hotel has taken aim at meetings. About 40 percent of revenues come from groups and the hotel features 7,000 sq ft of meetings space (“conveniently all on one floor,” says Poplin). What does hip cost? Less than you might think. Poplin pegs the average group rate at $269 nightly and, she says, the hotel already is winning substantial business from pharmaceutical companies in particular.

Bowling anyone? Meeting attendees at Eaglewood – a Benchmark Hospitality conference center just 12 miles west of O’Hare – can indeed bowl in the six-lane alleys, says Eaglewood’s director of sales and marketing, Julie Berry. Set on 106 bucolic acres, but just 35 miles from downtown Chicago, Eaglewood gives meeting planners the convenience of an O’Hare location, but it also lets a planner construct a meeting with the assurance that attendees will indeed be in attendance. The 295-guest-room facility came under Benchmark Hospitality management about two years ago, says Berry, and in keeping with that pedigree, the facility features a range of state-of-the-art, meetings-related technologies in its 37,000 sq ft of meeting space. – Robert McGarvey

Tips and Trends

Cruising
“We see a steady growth in meetings at sea,” says David Brams, president of Worldwide Cruises, a Ft. Lauderdale-based travel
services company. The draws of meeting at sea are plentiful and a top factor is security – it’s become very, very easy to secure a ship and to always know exactly who is on board. Want a venue for
discussing top secret strategies? It’s hard to beat a cruise ship. Brams also points to the increasing number of 3 and 4 day
cruises – often sailing out of Florida and Texas ports – and that
timeframe is about right for many meetings. A reality: Cruise lines, from Disney to Carnival, very much want a bigger slice of the meetings pie and, says Brams, they understood they need to work hard
to win and keep the business. So far they are delivering, says Brams, who indicates that feedback he gets from customers who have held meetings at sea is exceptionally positive.

NOLA Rising
Talk to planners and two contradictory thoughts about New Orleans immediately pop up. Many planners still have doubts that the city’s infrastructure (from electricity to water and sewage – all ravaged by Hurricane Katrina) is robust enough to handle a big influx of meeting attendees. But many planners simultaneously admit that curiosity about New Orleans – a city that went through probably the biggest catastrophe to strike a U.S. city since Pearl Harbor – is rampant.
For its part, New Orleans insists it is ready for business and the
CVB points to the June 2006 convention of the American Library
Association, which brought 18,000 attendees to the city. Still…many planners admit to some skepticism about the city’s health but they also say that, increasingly, potential attendees are pressing for New Orleans as a location. A smart bet: Many organizations will begin scheduling smaller get-togethers in New Orleans in 2007, as a way to test exactly how ready the Crescent City is for prime time.

Off-Season No More
“You’d be surprised how much meetings business we do in the
traditional hurricane season. Our ‘off-season’ is getting smaller and
smaller,” says Annessa Hand, director of sales at the Mandarin
Oriental, Miami. Crosscountry in Phoenix, Troy Batt, director of sales at the sprawling Pointe South Mountain Resort, says much the same: “We are staying busy in July and August,” which – with daily highs over 100 degrees – traditionally have been dead months. What’s different? Attractively low prices are the key. Big meetings-oriented hotels are slashing rates (often by 50 percent or more against in-season highs) to fill rooms. Isn’t it too hot to do anything in Tucson in July? At mid-day, yes, but in the early mornings and twilight, the desert cools. The upshot, particularly for groups that genuinely arrive with crammed agendas that keep everybody inside for much of the day, is that bargains are driving traffic to locations that would never have been on any planner’s radar. There’s even talk that some groups are looking at winter bargains in Montreal, Toronto, Minneapolis, and Chicago. In the hunt to cut costs, a February
meeting in Quebec City suddenly sounds reasonable.

Cost cutting
Hotels and conference centers don’t like to talk about it, but
evidence is rising that customers – that means you – are beginning to push back when confronted with rate increases. In 2005 and into 2006, travel providers – hotels in particular – sought to raise rates to capitalize on increased demand (business hotel rates increased 7.3 percent in 2006, according to Smith Travel Research). But now
businesses – faced with a slowing economy and employee demands for higher compensation – are saying enough is enough. How are they holding the line on costs? Many companies are dropping an entire hotel category (switching stays from, say, Marriott to Courtyard). Other businesses are axing names completely off travel lists (sending just 150 people to a meeting this year, compared to 200 last year). What this means to any meeting planner is that now is an excellent time to ask hotels and conference centers for concessions, cost reductions, and freebies. Want coffee and Danish in the morning but don’t want to pay? Ask. You just may get it. Note: The Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers announced at press time that it was working on an initiative where many groups would get free coffee in the morning without even asking. That is a small proof of just how ready hotels are to offer concessions.

Maritz’ Ratings
With Fenton, Missouri-based Maritz, it’s the numbers that matter,
and that is how they know the top meetings destinations. With them, it’s not opinions or spin, but headcounts and, by their reckoning, here are the top destinations for 2005 (the most recent year for which numbers are available):
1. Las Vegas
2. Orlando
3. Chicago
4. Dallas Fort Worth
5. Phoenix

What’s most intriguing about this list is the sheer lack of surprise. Good weather plus extraordinary airlift and top-quality meetings spaces are why Las Vegas, Orlando, and Phoenix make the list. Chicago and DFW may not have the weather, but they do have
wonderfully central locations that split the difference for travelers from either coast. Other cities are certainly trying to work their way onto this list – San Francisco, San Diego, and Boston all have
ambitions – but no city can wave a magic wand and, poof, create airlift, huge hotels, and capacious meetings space. That is why,
year in, year out, the top cities keep their places.