Those lucky enough to take an aerial tour of Seattle and its surrounding areas are sure to be impressed by the lush green landscape punctuated by snow-capped mountains reaching into the sky, all set in scenic contrast to the deep blue waters of Puget Sound, sprinkled with 300 islands. Yet when the sun sets, a bright blanket of lights envelop the city, showing visitors that the area’s natural attributes are only complemented by its urban excitement.
“Seattle is a clean city, it’s a safe city, and it’s a very friendly city,” says Jani Lauvrak Lee, senior national account executive with Seattle Hospitality, a local DMC. “It is just really a neat city, and it has an amazing energy about it.”
Seattle’s beauty also extends to its outlying areas, which include fast-growing Bellevue, famous as the headquarters of technology giant Microsoft, and Snohomish County, Seattle Southside and Tacoma, all of which are luring groups with their cultural attractions, retail centers and well-appointed meeting venues.
Seattle
While formulating a new marketing plan last year, Seattle’s CVB decided there wasn’t a word in the dictionary that adequately described their city. So they invented one.
In October, the bureau unveiled their new “metronautral” campaign, designed to portray Seattle as a city “having the characteristics of a world-class metropolis within wild, beautiful, natural surroundings.”
“It is taking the simple concept that we are surprised by what a real city Seattle is, and yet there are so many things to do with nature right at our doorstep,” says Tom Norwalk, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Seattle’s CVB, adding that the proximity of the convention center to downtown Seattle hotels is a strong group selling point. “There is also a variety of pre- and post-meeting activities—from visiting Victoria or Vancouver to water activities at almost all times during the year.”
The city is experiencing a period of unprecedented growth, according to Norwalk, who says a possible expansion of its largest group venue, the Washington State Convention and Trade Center, is being considered.
“It is not finalized and a bit premature, and it may only be about 50,000 to 75,000 square feet of space, but it would enable us to continue to handle organizations that may be outgrowing us,” he says.
Other new projects are already in development, including a new hotel tower that will open at the Sheraton Seattle in June; the Four Seasons Seattle, scheduled to debut in 2008; the Hyatt at Olive 8, slated to open in fall 2008; and the Hyatt Place Hotel, scheduled for completion in summer 2008.
Additionally, the Silver Cloud Hotel–Stadium, located across the street from Safeco Field and Quest Field, opened in December with 211 guest rooms and 3,300 square feet of meeting space.
The new properties are augmenting Seattle’s already impressive inventory of meetings-ready hotels, ranging from the Fairmont Olympic Hotel, the Renaissance Seattle and the Grand Hyatt Seattle to several inviting boutique hotels, the newest of which are the Pan Pacific Seattle and Hotel 1000.
Seattle also plays host to a variety of unique group-friendly attractions, including the Seattle Art Museum, which debuted its downtown Olympic Sculpture Park in January and plans to unveil a facility expansion in May, and the Experience Music Project at the Seattle Center, an interactive museum with more than 80,000 pop music artifacts.
Bellevue
Just 10 miles from Seattle is the scenic city of Bellevue, a growing community surrounded by mountains and filled with options for planners.
“We are a great alternative to downtown Seattle if you are a midsize convention group and want a lot of personalized attention,” says Brenda Dotson, CMP, director of sales for the Bellevue Convention Sales Group. “Oftentimes, a group will go into a tier-one destination and they kind of get lost in the 300,000-square-foot convention center or huge high-rise hotels, but for a midsize convention group from 200 hotel rooms to 800 on peak, Bellevue is the perfect destination.”
Ongoing development is prompting an increasing number of people to move downtown, resulting in additional diversions in the city.
“With people choosing to live and work in downtown Bellevue, there are lots more things to do and see within the downtown core,” Dotson says, adding that shopping is a draw, with retail centers such as Bellevue Square and Lincoln Square. “Where 10 years ago it was a business district, now people are living, staying and dining in downtown Bellevue.”
Upcoming projects include The Bravern, a retail, office and residential development located across the street from Meydenbauer Center, the city’s largest group venue.
Meanwhile, Meydenbauer Center is enhancing its offerings, with plans to unveil a newly renovated, 36,000-square-foot exhibit hall in April.
Area hotels have also jumped on the makeover bandwagon, with the Hilton Bellevue (formerly a Doubletree) adding 4,500 square feet of meeting space and the Hyatt Regency Bellevue and the Sheraton Bellevue Seattle East Hotel recently completing renovations.
Additionally, new hotels are gracing the city, including the Westin Bellevue, which opened in late 2005 with 25,000 square feet of meeting space. The property is located at Lincoln Square, a hotel, condo and retail development that is part of the Bellevue Collection, which also features Bellevue Square and Bellevue Place.
Courtyard Seattle–Bellevue Downtown is also one of the city’s newest hotels, and other options include the Red Lion Hotel Bellevue and The Coast Bellevue Hotel.
Corporate business is Bellevue’s largest group market segment, and Dotson advises other types of groups to take advantage of the city’s affordable weekend rates.
“Due to the high-end corporate and the heavy business base in Bellevue, the midweek room rate has gone up in recent years, so our rates usually drop 25 to 40 percent on the weekends,” she says. “Therefore, SMERF, social groups and reunion groups can come to this great, high-end destination and get outstanding value on the weekends.”
Seattle Southside/SeaTac
The area outside of Seattle dubbed “Southside” touts its affordability, natural beauty and proximity to Seattle–Tacoma International Airport.
“The Southside features a great blend of urban attractions and closeness to natural wonders,” says Katherine Kertzman, director of the Seattle Southside Office of Tourism. “Our hotels also cost about 30 percent less than downtown hotels. This is just a great place to experience the Pacific Northwest.”
Encompassing the communities of SeaTac, Tukwila, Kent, Des Moines, and Renton, the area offers more than 400,000 square feet of meeting space at properties such the Hilton Seattle Airport and Conference Center; the Red Lion Hotel Seattle Airport; the newly renovated Doubletree Hotel Seattle Airport; the Sea–Tac Airport Conference Center; and the soon-to-be-updated Seattle Airport Marriott and Best Western River’s Edge.
Accessibility within the region will significantly improve with Sound Transit’s new Link light rail, which will connect 12 stations from Seattle to Tukwila and include an extension to the airport when it begins running in 2009.
“That is pretty exciting,” Kertzman says. “It will have an impact on the growth of the cities.”
Attractions-wise, the region is filled with group-friendly options, including Acme Bowling-Billiards-Events and the Museum of Flight in Tukwila; the Hydroplane and Raceboat Museum in Kent; Emerald Downs, a racetrack with banquet space in neighboring Auburn; and the Spirit of Washington Dinner Train, which picks passengers up in Renton and transports them to Woodinville for a ride along Lake Washington and a stop at local wineries. Groups can also gather at the 10,000-square-foot Spirit of Washington Events Center.
Tacoma
Multicolored blown-glass art installations are highlights of a visit to Tacoma, where glass artist (and local native) Dale Chihuly has adorned museums, art galleries and even hotels and meeting spaces with his work.
With the city’s affinity for creativity, coupled with outdoor options provided by Puget Sound and Mount Rainier, the Tacoma Regional CVB’s tagline appropriately reads, “Where Art and Nature Meet.”
“Tacoma is a great opportunity to immerse yourself in the glass arts scene as well as the beautiful outdoor nature we have in our region,” says Ruthie Reinert, executive director of the Tacoma Regional CVB. “You can kayak in [Puget] Sound in the morning, and you can walk up through the alpine meadows at Mount Rainier in the afternoon, or choose to see the sights of Dale Chihuly glass around town.”
The arts in Tacoma have become especially apparent in the past several years with the formation of a museum district complete with group-friendly attractions such as the Museum of Glass and the Washington State History Museum, connected by the Chihuly Bridge of Glass, a 500-foot walkway filled with blown-glass exhibits.
Beyond its arts scene, the city is greeting attendees with renovations, expansions and new construction at hotels and meeting venues.
The Sheraton Tacoma, connected to the Bicentennial Pavilion, is scheduled to begin a refurbishment in April; the Best Western Tacoma Dome Hotel completed a renovation last spring; and the nearby Puyallup Show and Events Center opened its new 122,000-square-foot Showplex Exhibition Center last year.
The city is home to the Greater Tacoma Convention and Trade Center and the Tacoma Dome, as well as meetings-ready hotels such as the Courtyard Tacoma Downtown, the Red Lion Hotel Tacoma, the Silver Cloud Inn, and La Quinta Inn and Suites.
Additionally, the new Chambers Bay Golf Course, a 250-acre, 18-hole course designed by Robert Trent Jones II, is scheduled to open this summer. The property will also feature a clubhouse with 1,000 square feet of rentable space and an events pavilion with 2,800 square feet of space that can be utilized in summer.
Snohomish County
Snohomish County stretches north of Seattle, encompassing the communities of Everett, Lynnwood, Snohomish, Marysville, and Edmonds.
Friendly residents, impressive natural surroundings and well-appointed meeting venues are key draws.
Snohomish has long existed as a peaceful waterfront destination, with the stunning scenery of Puget Sound and the surrounding mountains, but the county has recently caught the attention of meeting planners with the opening in recent years of two major facilities: the Everett Events Center, featuring the Everett Conference Center, a trade show facility and a 10,000-seat arena; and the Lynnwood Convention Center, offering 55,000 square feet of function space.
Rumor has it that a new hotel may be developed near the Lynnwood Convention Center.
“We don’t have a full-service hotel that is in close proximity to the convention center, and to have one would be huge,” says Eddie Tadlock, the center’s general manager. “Construction may start as early as September. It would help us become more of a destination.”
Other developments include the Tulalip Resort Casino’s new 363-room hotel, opening in 2008, and the new Holiday Inn and Suites, slated to debut this spring in Marysville.
Meanwhile, the Embassy Suites Hotel Seattle North/Lynnwood plans to finish a renovation this summer.
Among the area’s many other hotels catering to groups are the Hilton Garden Inn Seattle North–Everett and the Holiday Inn Downtown–Everett.
One of the county’s top attractions is Everett’s new Future of Flight Aviation Center and Boeing Tour, an interactive facility where visitors can design and test their own jetliner and tour the Boeing assembly plant. The facility also has 3,300 square feet of meeting space, a boardroom and a gallery that can be used for events.
Groups looking for a little fresh air can partake in activities such as whale watching, biking and hot-air ballooning, or visit the Mount Baker–Snoqualmie National Forest for a day of hiking or river rafting.
“You can be cross-country skiing or river rafting and then be back in your hotel sipping Washington wine 45 minutes later,” says Amy Spain, executive director of the Snohomish County Tourism Bureau.
For More Info
Bellevue Convention Sales Group 425.637.1020
www.bellevueconventions.com
Seattle’s CVB 206.461.5800
www.visitseattle.org
Seattle Southside Office of Tourism 206.575.2489
www.seattlesouthside.com
Snohomish County 425.348.5802
www.snohomish.org
Tacoma Regional CVB 253.627.2836
www.traveltacoma.com
