While New York City boasts an ever-changing array of flashy, cutting-edge venues delivering the hip factor as perhaps no other destination can, a lot of Manhattan’s hotel and meeting space inventory is long on elegant and historic and short on modern-day flexibility.
The Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC) took a bite out of the Big Apple by staging its two-and-a-half-day Canada Media Marketplace at one of the most-storied hotels in the world, The Waldorf=Astoria, during which time Travel Alberta International showcased a full-on fashion preview by star Alberta designer Paul Hardy.
The CTC rotates the annual event between New York and Los Angeles, and while The Waldorf=Astoria—and the destination itself—guaranteed a high turnout of trade and lifestyle journalists for the April 16-18 show, the Art Deco landmark is not the first place one associates with catwalks and flashbulbs.
“The Waldorf=Astoria wasn’t something that I went out and chose, necessarily, but we went in and said, ‘How do we revolutionize this area for people who have already been in it several times—how do we make it new,’” says Hillary Bowers, president of banzai!, a New York-based event planning company that is the firm to call when you want to stage a high-gloss fashion event or other stunning soiree. “When you’re working with a large hotel you really have to change it to look like something else, and there are always challenges working with a venue that has pre-set vendors—the careering has to be with one person, the flowers have to be done by another person. But at the Waldorf we were really happy with the people they brought on—you never know until you get there.”
Bowers herself was brought in by Travel Alberta International and worked with Melinda Wunder, CMP, owner of Boulder, Colo.-based Creative Conventions & Events, which plans a variety of CTC happenings.
Wunder says the Canada Media Marketplace drew approximately 350 participants and required about 15,000 square feet of meeting space and 300 to 400 rooms.
“The first thing we look for is a hotel that has some panache—big-name recognition—five-star, of course, and service. If it’s not a good hotel we won’t get the media,” Wunder says. “For these events we look for a blank slate, because there’s a lot of branding going on and the partners want to have their own identity in the space. We don’t like to take the group off-property to another hotel.”
It’s no secret that holding a meeting in Manhattan, which is enjoying historically high occupancy and room rates, is an exercise in battling the laws of supply and demand, but planners who come to the table with realistic facility and budget expectations can enjoy a premier destination in the most population-rich region of the U.S. that practically markets itself.
“New York is a whole different animal,” Wunder says. “You pay 40 percent more and get 30 percent less. From a planner’s standpoint, one has to be very strong and very clear. A good budget is key. If you don’t have much money to work with you’ll be miserable in New York. But people love it and they want to go, and that’s where the media are, so that’s why we go there.”
