Sometimes, you just need to coast. To be ankle-deep in shells or knee-deep in warm Gulf waters. Or up to your elbows in stone crabs.
You get all that plus great meeting space in southwest Florida, one of the most laid-back regions of the Sunshine State. In places like Everglades National Park it’s obvious Mother Nature is in charge, and even Father Time takes a hike in the primordial preserves winding their way past picturesque cities and towns that dot the coast from Englewood down to Everglades City.
In other scenic spots, kayakers create the day’s only ripples as they glide along pristine waterways.
Complementing the lightly trafficked rivers and canals, though, is the foot traffic of historic downtown plazas, some light—a small group headed on a walking tour of Punta Gorda—and some heavy—the crowds that throng the dining and nightlife scene of Naples’ Fifth Avenue South.
Like the settings for your event, the variety never ends in southwest Florida.
Naples, Marco Island and the Everglades
Similar to its Italian namesake, Naples is a classic seaside retreat with a sweeping bay surrounded by homes, restaurants and resorts, miles of white-sand beaches, and nearly 90 golf courses. Others, however, think of Naples as “Paris with Palm Trees,” thanks to a picturesque, pedestrian-friendly downtown filled with designer boutiques, art galleries and sidewalk cafes, most located along the palm-lined promenades of Third Street South and Fifth Avenue South.
Just north of downtown, the Waterside Shops at Pelican Bay is home to luxury retailers such as Gucci, Tiffany and Tourneau, while a Nordstrom is on deck for 2008. If your group’s itinerary includes Waterside Shops, mall managers will help create unique shopping-themed experiences, scavenger hunts and other activities.
But Naples has its wild side, too, which groups will discover at Ngala, a private game reserve with tented group dining areas, live animals they can interact with, and an authentic atmosphere of African music and dance.
In the same vein, group functions at the Naples Zoo at Caribbean Gardens incorporate the property’s extensive botanical gardens as well as programs that include a champagne reception aboard the Primate Expedition Cruise.
If you prefer the real thing when it comes to excursions on the water, adventure is waiting on Marco Island, the largest of the Ten Thousand Islands—a maze of mangrove islands, islets and waterways—and the perfect launch point for boating, canoeing and kayaking on the Gulf of Mexico or through the area’s extensive coastal estuary system.
One trip your group will never forget is a tour on the Dolphin Explorer, where they’ll join a dolphin survey team conducting a five-year study to catalogue and monitor the dolphins living and raising their young.
The Ten Thousand Islands chain stretches all the way from Marco Island’s southern edge down to the tip of the Florida mainland past Everglades City, a town perched on the edge of the Florida wilderness, not to mention the edge of civilization.
Together with nearby Chokoloskee Island, Everglades City offers a glimpse into Old Florida—the rustic village ambience here is real—while proudly maintaining its status as the “stone crab capital of the world.” You’ll find stone crabs all along the Florida coast from October to May, but there’s nothing like eating them alfresco in Everglades City, washed down by a pitcher of sweet tea.
Of course, at some point while you’re in the Naples area, you’ll probably be coordinating a meeting, and there are excellent hotel-based facilities to help you do just that. In Naples, venues include The Ritz-Carlton, Naples; The Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort, Naples; the Naples Grande Resort & Club; the Naples Beach Hotel & Golf Club; LaPlaya Beach & Golf Resort; the Hilton Naples; GreenLinks Golf Resort; the Inn on Fifth; Bellasera Hotel; and numerous name-brand and boutique properties that can handle smaller group functions and overflow from the larger conference hotels.
Top properties on Marco Island include the newly renovated Marco Island Marriott Beach Resort, Golf Club & Spa, the Hilton Marco Island Beach Resort (also newly renovated), the elegant Marco Beach Ocean Resort, and Olde Marco Island Inn & Suites.
In Everglades City, the Ivey House can accommodate small group meetings, while their in-house guide service specializes in canoe and kayak team-building tours.
Debi DeBenedetto, sales and marketing manager for the Naples, Marco Island, Everglades CVB, says the region continues to attract a healthy share of incentive groups.
“We get a lot of incentive business because luxury is what we’re all about—that and gorgeous weather,” she says, adding that the recent expansion at Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers has had a positive impact on the destination. “What’s nice is about 40 percent of the traffic that comes into the airport is coming to Naples. And now we have a better relationship than we’ve ever had with the airport authority.”
Beaches of Fort Myers and Sanibel
First, there are the islands. From Boca Grande and the Outer Islands—including North Captiva, Useppa and Cabbage Key—to quirky, artistic Pine Island and the resort enclaves of Sanibel and Captiva, there are more than 100 islands off the coast of Fort Myers, so you might as well accept the fact that you’ll probably be walking around with sand in your shoes.
Not just any sand, mind you, but a dazzling white powder that blankets island beaches like tropical snow. Except, that is, on Sanibel, where beaches are carpeted in colorful shells so coveted as souvenirs that the posture associated with shell hunting is called the “Sanibel Stoop.” Some enthusiasts have even been known to attach flashlights to their heads and start searching before daybreak.
On the mainland, contemporary Fort Myers and Fort Myers Beach are the headquarters for sophisticated nightlife, dining and shopping, but also have bragging rights to some of the state’s most fascinating attractions, including the Edison & Ford Winter Estates, two neighboring riverfront mansions that are filled with historic memorabilia, from rare antique automobiles to the laboratory where Edison turned goldenrod to rubber. Edison’s botanical garden also contains more than 1,000 varieties of plants imported from all over the world. A popular spot for weddings, the Henry Ford Estate (not Edison’s) is available for corporate events as well.
In fact, you don’t have to go far to find a variety of off-site venues in the Fort Myers area, from elegant space at the new International Design Center to a moveable feast aboard the Murder Mystery Dinner Train.
Groups meeting in Fort Myers and Sanibel range in size from large trade shows at the Harborside Event Center down to the smallest incentive at an island resort, with conventions flying into the newly expanded Southwest Florida International Airport during the winter high season and in-state associations and corporations taking advantage of lower summer and fall rates, reports Suya Davenport, the new executive director of the Lee County Visitor & Convention Bureau. Davenport says new midsize properties located well inland signal growth in the regional meetings market, a sector she would like to see develop even more.
“In order for this area to grow, we need to have that part of the market grow as well,” she says. “Companies that may have offices in Miami or Tampa would find this area of southwest Florida a convenient spot to bring their teams together, even for small regional meetings.”
Among the new inland properties Davenport mentions are an Embassy Suites in Estero, several Hampton Inn and Suites hotels, a Comfort Inn and Suites, and a Courtyard by Marriott that is due in the next few months. Meanwhile, there are local properties boasting as much as 73,000 square feet of meeting space while others have 500 square feet.
“Really, we just have a variety of accommodation styles that are available to the meeting planners here, anywhere from small to midsize meetings in state-of-the-art facilities,” Davenport says.
Among the options are the recently reopened South Seas Island Resort; the Sanibel Harbour Resort & Spa; the Sundial Beach & Golf Resort; the Hyatt Regency Coconut Point Resort & Spa in Bonita Springs; the Pink Shell Beach Resort & Spa in Fort Myers Beach; and several SunStream properties, including GullWing Beach Resort, Pointe Estero Beach Resort and DiamondHead Beach Resort, which offers seven meeting spaces, including a ballroom that seats up to 400.
Charlotte Harbor and the Gulf Islands
Long known as an eco destination of quiet waterways, deserted beaches and lush state parks, Charlotte Harbor and the Gulf Islands was barely visible on the meetings radar, hosting small, mostly local events in one hotel; in fact, the largest groups were probably the flocks of migratory birds that descended on the county’s wetlands, flatwoods and marshes every year.
All that’s about to change. Not the nature part—most of that is protected—but Charlotte Harbor is about to become a bonafide meetings destination for the first time in its history, thanks to several momentous events. One will be the January 2009 opening of the 43,000-square-foot Charlotte Harbor Event and Conference Center in downtown Punta Gorda, which is going to be “just gorgeous,” promises Becky Bovell, director of the Charlotte County Visitor’s Bureau.
“It will be located on the waterfront in Punta Gorda, giving planners easy access to a very walkable city, nearby hotels, dining, attractions, and so forth,” she says.
The center’s largest meeting space will measure nearly 20,000 square feet, enough for 112 booths or 1,517 delegates seated theater style.
Also expected to drive group business into Charlotte County will be the launch of the first commercial air service to serve the county in 20 years. Starting Dec. 5, Skybus will inaugurate two daily roundtrip flights from Punta Gorda to Columbus, Ohio, with another daily roundtrip to Portsmouth, N.H., beginning Dec. 17. The Columbus-based, low-cost airline will operate the flights on full-size Airbus A319 jets.
“This opens tremendous opportunities for us in terms of our marketing, because these are major markets for us already,” Bovell says. “It will certainly ease transportation and encourage additional visitation...including the meetings market. They’re talking about additional destinations, but they haven’t been announced yet.”
Already prepped for the new flights, the Charlotte County Airport unveiled a new $5.5 million terminal at the end of October.
Naturally, all these new visitors will need a place to stay, and the county expects to open 500 additional hotel rooms within the next two years, Bovell says. Projects include the Wyvern Hotel, a boutique property due to open next year, and the Harbor Inn Resort & Yacht Club, a Four Points by Sheraton property slated to open in 2009. Both hotels will be located in downtown Punta Gorda near the new Charlotte Harbor Event and Conference Center and close to the existing Best Western Waterfront, formerly the area’s largest group venue, with event space for up to 400.
The planned properties will join the new 79-room Sleep Inn at Interstate 75 and Kings Highway and the 86-room Microtel Inn & Suites in Port Charlotte. Also on the horizon are a new LaQuinta Inn & Suites and a new Country Inn, both in Port Charlotte.
Of course, additional hotel rooms will be needed to house the fans who are expected to arrive in Charlotte County to attend Tampa Bay Devil Rays spring training games, starting in 2009. The stadium at Charlotte Sports Park is undergoing a $46.5 million renovation that is slated for completion in summer 2008.
“I think our destination will have an entirely different appeal within two years,” Bovell says. “We’re very happy, and we’re poised to really enter the meetings market.”
For More Info
Beaches of Fort Myers and Sanibel 239.338.3500
www.fortmyers-sanibel.com
Charlotte Harbor and the Gulf Islands Visitor’s Bureau 941.743.1900
www.charlotteharbortravel.com
Greater Naples, Marco Island, Everglades CVB 239.403.2379
www.paradisecoast.com
