Comprising San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties, the Central California Coast is home to small seaside villages and resorts, a thriving wine country and copious natural attractions that nicely balance town and country, and luxury and affordability.
With increasing choices for meeting space and new options for outdoor group activities, the area has made it onto the midsize meetings map, and its picturesque communities are responding with a wave of luxurious new hotel offerings and a bumper crop of winery, culinary, agricultural, and green adventures.
San Luis Obispo County
Having long enjoyed an excellent climate for growing grapes, olives and lavender, as well as for supporting a diversity of wildlife, San Luis Obispo County is now planting the seeds for what it hopes will be a banner meetings harvest.
“We are forecasting huge growth in the number of hotels, which brings new opportunities in meeting spaces and amenities,” says Jonni Biaggini, executive director of the San Luis Obispo County Visitors and Conference Bureau. “Spa and wellness will continue to be a focus in existing and new hotel developments, as will the latest technological features required by today’s meeting planners.”
Ten new properties have already opened in the county in the past two years, and additional hotels are being considered near San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport, which is undergoing a major expansion.
Meetings-friendly newcomers include Courtyard by Marriott, La BellaSera Hotel & Suites, La Quinta, and Hotel Cheval in Paso Robles; Courtyard by Marriott in San Luis Obispo; Mission Inn and Dolphin Bay Hotel Pismo Beach; Morro Shores in Morro Bay; and Avila La Fonda in Avila Beach.
Meanwhile, Pelican Cove Inn in Cambria recently added the 400-square-foot Cypress Room for meetings of up to 42 people.
Other top properties for groups include Embassy Suites San Luis Obispo; Madonna Inn, which boasts a 20,000-square-foot expo center; Cliffs Resort at Shell Beach; Cambria Pines Lodge; Inn at Morro Bay; Pismo Lighthouse Suites; and Shore Cliff Lodge.
Paso Robles Event Center offers a 40-acre fairground and 75,000 square feet of function space. Despite the growth spurt, Biaggini says the area, known for its leisurely, friendly quality of life, isn’t about to take on big-city ways.
“San Luis Obispo County is the kind of California you dream about,” Biaggini says. “We are California’s natural escape. Our beaches are pristine, wide-open and often uncrowded. Our wildlife viewing is abundant. We still have that small-town feel, even in the larger cities like San Luis Obispo and Paso Robles. And our agricultural roots are still showing.”
Biaggini is confident that the county’s new developments, myriad charms, central location, and affordability will lure more meetings.
The main communities of the county are Pismo Beach, Morro Bay, Avila Beach, Cambria, San Luis Obispo, Paso Robles, and Atascadero.
San Luis Obispo is a bustling college town featuring the historic Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa.
Pismo Beach is home to the state’s only drive-on beach.
“We are pleased to say we are classic California,” says Suzen Brasile, executive director of the Pismo Beach Conference and Visitors Bureau. “Our meeting and conference guests [enjoy] a breathtaking view and can build a sand castle or visit a real one. Our beachside boardwalk has expanded to stretch along the shore from our State Park Monarch Butterfly Grove to the downtown area, a wonderful 20-minute walk.”
Cambria, “where the pines meet the sea,” is home to a thriving artist colony and many unique galleries, beaches scattered with semiprecious agate and jasper stones, and majestic Monterey pines. A few miles away, massive elephant seals battle for supremacy and nurture their young at Point Piedras Blancas, while San Simeon is the site of Hearst Castle.
The burgeoning hospitality sector in Paso Robles can be attributed to its central location in one of the most productive wine-growing—and wine-tasting—areas in the U.S.
Santa Barbara County
Good things come in small packages, and in the case of Santa Barbara County, small meetings come in exclusive packages at newly upgraded properties.
“Santa Barbara is ideal for smaller meetings and can be seen as a boutique-style meetings destination,” says Shannon Turner Brooks, director of communications at the Santa Barbara CVB. “Similar to boutique hotels, you get superior quality and style without a sense of mass market, generic or cookie-cutter. The luxury product is thriving with the recent completion of some multimillion-dollar renovations at three prominent Santa Barbara hotels.”
These include an $80 million revamp of 40 cottages at San Ysidro Ranch; a $240 million renovation and expansion at Four Seasons Santa Barbara; and $14 million in upgrades to Fess Parker’s Doubletree Resort. Harbor View Inn also recently added 16 guest rooms and three suites.
Other high-end hotel projects are also geared toward meetings. The 84-cottage El Encanto Hotel & Garden Villas, now owned of Orient-Express Hotels, Trains & Cruises, will reopen in 2009 following a $30 million renovation. The Miramar, an iconic Santa Barbara hotel, is finally being revived after years of delays. And Fess Parker is set to break ground on a waterfront boutique hotel.
Other top meetings properties include Hotel Oceana; Hotel Mar Monte; Bacara Resort and Spa; and El Capitan Canyon.
Santa Barbara’s excellent quality of life—from the idyllic Mediterranean-like city of Santa Barbara to the county’s smaller towns—is a serious attraction for groups.
“In addition to the natural and built beauty of Santa Barbara, planners enjoy the manageable size of our destination and the diversity of venues and leisure activities that can be worked into programs,” Brooks says.
Culinary tourism of all sorts makes for increasingly popular group activities in the area, as visitors become more interested in hands-on experiences. Cooking classes, food- and wine-pairing or wine-blending seminars, and chef-led tours of farmers’ markets have joined the more traditional wine tastings and private restaurant events.
A trend both good for the region and good for the planet, green meetings and activities continue to thrive. A partnership between the Santa Barbara CVB and a locally based, eco-friendly shoe company called Simple Shoes has resulted in the creation of GreenSantaBarbara.com, a website promoting opportunities to enjoy and learn about the area’s environmental resources. Options include an educational visit to Fairview Gardens Farm, one of the oldest organic farms in the state, with an optional cooking class; or an excursion to the Dunes Center in Guadalupe, where visitors can view 1,000 species of plants and animals. Sustainable Vine, a new wine tour company, has even launched a green wine tour featuring organic, biodynamic and sustainable wine farming practices.
Besides Santa Barbara, the county includes the meetings-friendly communities of Los Olivos, Solvang and Santa Maria.
Solvang is known as the “Danish Capital of America.”
Groups as large as 250 will find the two-square-mile village a memorable place to meet or spend an afternoon, and planners will be as pleased with the value as with the authentic danishes, the many wine-tasting rooms and the fine restaurants.
“Planners increasingly like to incorporate the local cuisine and atmosphere into their meetings,” says Tracy Farhad, executive director of the Solvang CVB. “Where else in California can you blend Danish culinary delights from a fourth-generation baker with award-winning wines, winemakers and Old World hospitality?
Nearby, one of the destination’s premier properties is the Alisal Guest Ranch and Resort, which will debut a new fitness center in May.
Ventura County
Ventura, Ojai and Oxnard are the major communities of up-and-coming Ventura County.
Planners might be surprised to learn how much meeting space the region offers.
“[The city of] Ventura has three major hotel chains with an unusual amount of meeting space for a cool little California beach town,” says Kathleen Fitzgerald, director of sales at the Ventura Visitors and Convention Bureau. “The Marriott, Crowne Plaza and Four Points by Sheraton, as well as the historic Pierpont Inn, each have as much as 10,000 to 16,000 square feet of meeting space. We have several hotels with ocean and harbor views. In addition, we have the Ventura County Fairgrounds or Seaside Park, with another 100,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor exhibition space, along with San Buenaventura State Beach, which can be used for special events and day programs.”
Marriott Ventura Beach recently boosted total function space to 16,000 square feet.
Fitzgerald says popular team-building activities include sailing, kayaking, beach scavenger hunts, and biking, and the city’s historic downtown features fabulous dining experiences and specialty boutiques.
The boom in agricultural tours hasn’t missed Ventura. Visitors can explore the scenic farms and delicious produce at farmers’ markets, via train or jeep rides, on hot-air balloon excursions, with orchard dinners, or on tours spotlighting the organic movement.
The city looks forward to growing its hotel product and continues to add dining, shopping and adventure choices.
Ojai is a place to rest, relax and rejuvenate. Famous as an artist community and spa destination, the valley town often serves as a spiritual retreat for visitors tired of the city rat race. The recently renovated Ojai Valley Inn and Spa is a favorite choice for groups.
Oxnard, the largest city in Ventura County, is in the midst of a transition designed to pique the interest of planners looking for value and convenience.
“Within the next three to five years, future development will include a new hotel with 350 guest rooms along with meeting space for 500 to 1,000 people,” says Susan M. Stalley, director of sales at the Oxnard CVB. “Oxnard is located one hour north of Los Angeles and 30 minutes south of Santa Barbara.”
Casa Sirena Hotel & Marina is undergoing a renovation that will transform it into an upscale property by 2009.
Other major meetings options include Embassy Suites Hotel Mandalay Beach Resort, Courtyard by Marriott–Oxnard and Residence Inn at River Ridge.
The Oxnard Performing Arts and Convention Center is capable of hosting as many as 1,600 attendees.
Scarlet Belle, a new paddle-wheeler, will furnish another exciting alternative venue when it sets sail at the end of this year in Channel Islands Harbor.
This year Oxnard also gained the distinction of hosting one of only two California Welcome Centers along the central coast and 13 in the state.
Rachel Harris, manager at the new center, says Oxnard is filled with unique options for groups.
“Agri-tourism and ecotourism opportunities abound locally,” she says. “As the largest city in Ventura County, Oxnard also offers fantastic dining and cultural options.”
For More Info
Oxnard CVB 805.385.7545
www.oxnardtourism.com
Paso Robles Visitor and Conference Bureau 805.238.0506
www.visitpasoroblesca.com
Pismo Beach Conference and Visitors Bureau 805.773.7034
www.classiccalifornia.com
San Luis Obispo County Visitors and Conference Bureau 805.541.8000
www.sanluisobispocounty.com
Santa Barbara Conference and Visitors Bureau 805.966.9222
www.santabarbaraca.com
Santa Maria Valley Visitor and Convention Bureau 805.925.2403
www.santamaria.com
Solvang Conference and Visitors Bureau 805.688.6144
www.solvangusa.com
Ventura Visitors and Convention Bureau 805.648.2075
www.ventura-usa.com
