Anyone looking for theme parks, chain restaurants and generic shopping malls should steer clear of Santa Fe, N.M.
“The first thing you need to know about Santa Fe is that this is the real thing, baby,” enthuses Chris Madden, director of sales for the Santa Fe CVB. “It’s a genuine experience in history, architecture, art, and cuisine. There’s nothing made up about it.”
Mindful of its 400 years of European heritage (The official 400th anniversary will be observed in 2010, but some sources suggest that Santa Fe was founded as early as 1604.), the city has taken great pains to preserve its traditional Spanish colonial character, even tightly restricting the color of paint that local residents can choose for their home exteriors.
Rather than a preponderance of chain stores, its low-rise adobe structures shelter over 300 eclectic art galleries, award-winning restaurants and a rich assortment of museums. According to Madden, Santa Fe’s long-time insistence on being the “City Different” has proved to be a winning formula for attracting both vacationers and meeting attendees.
“Santa Fe is a great attendance-builder and we have a lot of repeat clients,” she says. “Santa Fe is on the must-see lists of a lot of people.”
According to Madden, many attendees choose to extend their stay in Santa Fe before or after the meeting.
“People love to stay on and explore the old Spanish towns to the north, the pueblos, Bandelier National Monument, and the O’Keefe country,” she says.
After decades of planning, Santa Fe is about to take a big leap forward with the opening of a new convention center in September. But because this is Santa Fe, the 72,000-square-foot convention center, which will be certified by the U.S. Green Buildings Council, will not be just another big-box facility. Instead, it will complement its surroundings and feature plenty of natural light and inviting function areas, including a spacious event terrace with a kiva fireplace.
“The convention center will make a huge difference for us and we’re already getting bookings from groups we couldn’t handle before,” Madden says. “Now, at last, we’ll have a great centralized space.”
However, she is quick to add that the CVB will continue to court and serve the small meetings market.
“We really value the meeting that needs 25 or 50 room nights,” she says. “We do our best for everybody—whether it’s the board of directors or a very rate-sensitive group.”
