From Santa Cruz to the Monterey Peninsula, a uniquely endowed landscape of coastal cliffs, golden beaches and deep forests of redwood and cypress trees is infused with powers of rejuvenation. It’s true for the endangered sea otters that have made a stunning comeback in recent years and it’s equally true for over-stressed humans seeking relief from the urban grind.
With easy accessibility from major population centers and a wide range of meetings-friendly hotels and resorts, Monterey and Santa Cruz are ideally
situated to serve the needs of groups seeking inspiration, whether they’re top executives or budget-minded association members. And not only do groups get top-notch facilities, they can choose from a myriad of ways to unwind, whether it’s whale watching, sea kayaking, hiking, sinking a putt, beachcombing, or simply savoring an ocean view.
While blessed by nature, the Monterey Bay region is also distinguished by its important role in California history. The city of Monterey, once the governmental and trading center of Alta California, still wears this legacy with pride, offering a remarkable collection of historic adobe houses and public buildings throughout its downtown core. Santa Cruz, also dating from Spanish colonial days, is better known for another type of landmark, the century-old Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, a classic bit of Americana by the sea.
Monterey
The commercial center of the Monterey Peninsula, Monterey offers a wealth of sophisticated hotels and venues without sacrificing a feeling of small-town charm. Its compact downtown, a pleasing mix of historic landmarks, quaint shops and restaurants, features such group-friendly properties as the Portola Plaza Hotel & Spa at Monterey Bay, Hotel Pacific, Hilton Garden Inn Monterey, Monterey Marriott, and Casa Munras Garden Hotel. Adjoining the Portola Plaza Hotel is the 30,000-square-foot Monterey Conference Center.
Cannery Row, once known for its sardine canneries and immortalized by John Steinbeck’s novel of the same name, is another major visitor hub, drawing crowds to the renowned Monterey Bay Aquarium as well as to shops and bayfront restaurants. A new 290-seat IMAX theater is scheduled to open in the historic Edgewater Packing Co. building in May.
Home to the Monterey Bay Plaza Hotel and Spa, where guests can watch for otters right from their private decks, Cannery Row will soon welcome another major property, the 208-room InterContinental Hotel The Clement Monterey, opening in June.
Another important meetings hotel is the 575-room Hyatt Regency Monterey, the largest hotel between the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles, which recently hosted the international convention of the Society of Incentive & Travel Executives (SITE). The hotel, located on the Del Monte Golf Course, is in the midst of a $55 million renovation that will conclude with the addition of a new full-service spa in October.
With its contemporary-style guest rooms feautring flat-screen TVs and stone-floor bathrooms, a new Tuscan-style restaurant and a newly designed lobby with a fireplace, the Hyatt is in a stronger position for group business than ever before, according to Todd Statz, director of sales and marketing.
“We’re now expanding into the incentive market, to the point where we’ve reorganized our sales staff to include one person focusing on incentives,” he says.
Also making a more aggressive pitch toward meetings is the Monterey County CVB, which has more than doubled its sales staff in the past year.
“We now have five sales managers, including a new position in Washington, D.C., to focus on the national association market as well as East Coast corporate business,” says Bruce Skidmore, director of sales for the Monterey CVB. “We’ve also taken on a more county-wide role, focusing on everyplace from Big Sur to Salinas. And the town of Pacific Grove joined us in January.”
Another partner of the CVB is the Monterey Meeting Connection, which represents three downtown hotels: the Portola Plaza, Hotel Pacific and Monterey Marriott. According to Skidmore, the Monterey Meeting Connection, which up until recently functioned in a wider capacity as the Monterey Convention Authority, is now focusing solely on its three member hotels and the Monterey Conference Center.
In the wake of the SITE convention, Skidmore is confident that Monterey County, always a strong incentive destination, will be on even stronger footing with that lucrative market segment. At the same time, the area continues to focus on everything from Fortune 1000 corporate meetings to state and regional associations.
For groups looking for maximum affordability and flexibility, Skidmore recommends booking meetings during the softer period of November through March.
“At any time of year, Sunday through Thursday is more flexible than on weekends,” he says. “Weekends during the summer and fall are very busy here.”
Carmel
Just south of Monterey, Carmel refers to two beautiful but distinctively different destinations: Carmel Valley and the village of Carmel-by-the-Sea.
Inland and largely protected from the coastal fog, Carmel Valley sports some of the region’s most celebrated resorts, including Bernardus Lodge and Quail Lodge & Golf Club.
The largest of the valley resorts, the 144-room Carmel Valley Ranch Resort recently reopened its signature Pete Dye-designed golf course after a major restoration. The resort also boasts a newly redesigned lobby, refurbished meeting space and a new partnership with acclaimed French Chef Michel Richard, who is overseeing all culinary operations, including catering and banquet affairs.
Long famed for its storybook architecture, lack of postal address numbers and pine-shaded lanes spilling down to a sugar-white beach, Carmel-by-the-Sea remains a favorite place for browsing in innumerable art galleries or taking a break at charming local cafes such as the Tuck Box English Tea Room and Patisserie Boissiere.
Right in the village is the recently renovated 80-room La Playa Hotel, a gracious property dating from the 1940s and offering several private cottages and distinctive meeting rooms, some with fireplaces and ocean views. Commanding stellar views atop the cliffs just south of the village is the Park Hyatt Carmel Highlands Inn, which features 5,000 square feet of meeting space and accommodations that include townhouse-style suites with spa tubs and fireplaces.
Nearby Escapes
Between Monterey and Carmel, the tony enclave of Pebble Beach occupies a stretch of spectacular coastline where multimillion-dollar homes, luxury resorts and some of the world’s most celebrated golf courses share space with cypress forests and dramatic seaside outcroppings. Not only a magnet for visitors, Pebble Beach is one of the world’s top corporate meetings destinations, a place where Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. recently convened to hear speakers such as Tony Blair, Al Gore and Bill Clinton.
The three properties owned by the Pebble Beach Co. provide distinctive experiences for meetings. The 270-room Inn at Spanish Bay, which offers 14,000 square feet of meeting space, overlooks the ocean and the Links at Spanish Bay, which is designed in the natural style of a Scottish links course.
The 161-room Lodge at Pebble Beach is built around the world-famous Pebble Beach Golf Links and offers 8,000 square feet of conference facilities. Located in an historic estate, the 24-room Casa Palmero is a Mediterranean-style hideaway that can be bought out by groups. All three resorts have access to the oceanfront Spa at Pebble Beach, an equestrian center and tennis facilities.
Bordered by Monterey and Pebble Beach, Pacific Grove is a bit of small town U.S.A., with a classic main street and neighborhoods of quaint wooden cottages, many of them built for transplanted Midwesterners at the turn of the 20th century. Among the town’s many charms are the affordably priced Pacific Grove Golf Course, with ocean views to match its more expensive rivals, and a long and a meandering waterfront path ideal for strolling, cycling and taking in the views.
Pacific Grove also boasts what may be the world’s most beautiful conference facility located in a state park: Asilomar Conference Grounds. With its earliest buildings created by Julia Morgan, the architect who designed Hearst Castle, Asilomar offers 315 sleeping rooms, many of them in the original brown-shingled cottages, and 28 meeting rooms designed to complement a stunning natural environment of cypress groves and sand dunes. Long popular for association meetings, Asilomar, which recently updated its meetings technology, targets corporate business as well.
Inland from Monterey, Salinas is surrounded by some of the world’s most productive agricultural fields and offers attractions that celebrate its agricultural heritage and the life and work of its most famous native son, John Steinbeck. Both of these are the focus of the National Steinbeck Center, which offers two wings of exhibits as well as space for meetings and catered events.
The quaint Victorian-style home where the author was born, the Steinbeck House, is also a venue for private events and is a popular spot for luncheons and tours. Other important nearby venues include the Mazda Laguna Seca Raceway, which offers both event space and team-building automotive options.
Just north of Monterey, the coastal communities of Seaside and Marina have a growing array of options for meetings. The biggest development under way is a $100 million property to be operated by Fairmont Hotels and Resorts, which will offer a spa, 24,000 square feet of meeting space and golf on two existing championship golf courses at the former Fort Ord military base. In the planning stages for Seaside is a 252-room hotel and conference center on property owned by baseball great Reggie Jackson.
Meetings-ready hotels in the area include the Embassy Suites Monterey Bay and the Holiday Inn Express in Seaside, as well as the Marina Dunes Resort in Marina.
A bit farther up the coast is the tiny harbor enclave of Moss Landing, a jumping-off point for whale-watching cruises and a place to enjoy antique shopping and cioppino, a savory shellfish stew created by Sicilian immigrants, at Phil’s Fish Market. Moss Landing is also home to Elkhorn Slough, a wetlands sanctuary for migratory birds that visitors can explore by kayak or pontoon boat.
Santa Cruz
On the sunnier northern side of Monterey Bay, compact Santa Cruz County is a surprisingly diverse destination where beachside communities are just minutes from mountain hamlets surrounded by redwood groves. Its main hub is the city of Santa Cruz, a surfing town with a laid-back feel that has long drawn Bay Area weekenders, especially in summer.
Close to Silicon Valley but a world away in spirit, Santa Cruz County is also a magnet for corporate meetings. Catering primarily to groups, Chaminade offers 156 guest rooms and an IACC-certified conference center in a secluded hillside setting. Another popular choice is the 285-room Seascape Resort Monterey Bay, a beachfront property just south of Santa Cruz in Aptos with 17,000 square feet of meeting space and an adjacent golf course.
The Santa Cruz waterfront includes a major attraction, the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, and the largest meetings hotel, the Santa Cruz Dream Inn, recently acquired by San Francisco-based Joie de Vivre Hospitality. Formerly known as the Coast Hotel Santa Cruz, the property is undergoing a major renovation that is scheduled for completion this summer.
Along with its 1911 Louf Carousel and Giant Dipper roller coaster, the Boardwalk is a popular spot for corporate events and offers banquet spaces as well as admission packages for groups.
When it comes to outdoor activities, the options are almost unlimited in Santa Cruz County. Companies such as Kayak Connection offer tours, instruction and team-building events, including a full-day treasure hunt where participants either kayak, cycle or walk while searching for items. Groups can also learn to sail onboard a 30-foot yacht operated by Pacific Yachting and Sailing.
“Eco-tourism events have long been popular with our leisure guests and now they are extending to meetings as well,” says Christina Glynn, communications director for the Santa Cruz County Conference and Visitors Council. “Groups usually do at least one outdoor activity.”
Experiencing the majesty of old-growth redwoods is the focus of activities provided by Roaring Camp, which operates a historic steam train six miles north of Santa Cruz in Felton. The company’s new Outdoor Adventure Program, which can be tailored for groups, includes excursions that pair a train ride to Bear Mountain with mountain biking. Other options include forest walks to learn about the ancient trees and native plants of the Santa Cruz Mountains.
For a new way to break the ice at meetings, Santa Cruz-based Hands-On Drumming gives groups the chance to let off steam and unlock their inner rhythm during sessions led by percussionist Jim Greiner.
“He brings percussion instruments to the meeting—everything from bongo drums to triangles, so the group can create their own sound,” Glynn says. “It can be done in a ballroom or at sites such as the beach at the Seascape Resort in Aptos."
For More Info
Carmel Valley COC 831.659.4000
www.carmelvalleychamber.com
831.657.6400
www.montereyinfo.org
831.646.3770
www.montereyconnection.com
831.425.1234
www.santacruzca.org
