Known as the Inland Empire, San Bernardino and Riverside counties are economic powerhouses continuously increasing in popularity. With a population of 4 million, its central major cities of Ontario, Riverside and San Bernardino make up the country’s 14th-largest metropolitan area.
Extending from Pomona Valley in the west through the San Bernardino Valley to Palm Springs, this land of 100-plus golf courses
and more than 20 lakes also encompasses the four-season playground of the San Bernardino Mountains in the north and Temecula Wine Country in the south.
The region promotes an easily accessible central location. Within an hour you can be at the beach, in downtown Los Angeles, amid pine-covered mountains, or in high and low deserts.
Ontario
Fast-growing Ontario touts itself as “The Center of it All.” It not only boasts LA/Ontario International Airport but also the Ontario Convention Center, with more than 225,000 total square feet of space.
The impressive glass and steel center with a capacity for 10,000 delegates features 70,000 square feet of column-free exhibit space and a 20,000-square-foot ballroom.
“We’re at the intersection of three major highways, our room rates are a little lower than L.A. or Orange County, and we have 2,500 hotel rooms within walking distance of the convention center, which is two blocks from the airport,” says Theresa Moretti, director of marketing for both the Ontario CVB and the convention center. “We are truly a one-stop shop for meeting planners.”
For the last half of 2007, the center hosted 238 events, boosting rental revenue by 25.3 percent over the 2006 period. At the same time, CVB meetings and conventions sales leads for both the center and hotels increased more than 20 percent.
The CVB attributes such success to a new return on investment (ROI) sales strategy.
“It’s a very competitive market,” Moretti says. “Instead of taking business on a first-come, first-served basis we use a worksheet that maximizes ROI.”
Moretti also says the city has seen an upswing in corporate group business for both hotels and the convention center, noting that Ontario still has the land available and continues to attract new companies.
Top meetings hotels include the Doubletree Hotel Ontario Airport, with 25,000 square feet of meeting space; Marriott Ontario Airport, with 21,000 square feet of function space; and Hilton Ontario Airport, with 15,000 square feet of meeting space.
The 180-room Holiday Inn Ontario Airport, with 5,000 square feet of meeting space, opened in February.
At press time, Starwood’s 136-room aloft Ontario–Rancho Cucamonga, which will have banquet space for 40 people, was nearing completion two miles from the convention center.
A new multipurpose sports and entertainment facility, the 11,000-seat Citizens Business Bank Arena, is slated to open in October and will be home to the Ontario Reign, a minor-league hockey team and Los Angeles Kings affiliate.
The arena will be the centerpiece of Piemonte at Ontario Center, a mixed-use project that will include retail, restaurants, offices, condos, and a 200-room hotel, expected to be completed in 2010.
Slated to open in fall 2009 adjacent to the airport is another mixed-use lifestyle project, Guasti, featuring retail, restaurants, entertainment, and offices. A big wine producer in the early 20th century, Guasti’s old stone winery buildings are also being restored.
“This is what the area has been missing. In the next 18 to 24 months we’ll have lots more dining and entertainment options,” says Moretti of the new mixed-use projects.
Ontario’s most-visited attraction is Ontario Mills, one of California’s largest outdoor shopping venues.
Among other area lures are the California Speedway in nearby Fontana; several wineries, including Joseph Filippi Winery and Vineyards, which can host groups of up to 120; and two theme parks, Scandia amusement park and Raging Waters Park, both of which cater to corporate events.
Riverside
The city of Riverside sprawls through 27 neighborhoods but it’s the historical downtown that serves as its meetings and conventions focus.
“We’re affordable, we’re quaint and of historic significance, and everything is real walkable, which is a big plus for us,” says Debbie Megna, CMP, executive director of the Riverside CVB.
The city, she says, can host up to 2,000 delegates, and 500 is the average group size.
Downtown’s Riverside Convention Center offers 45,000 square feet of meeting space plus another 24,700 square feet of outdoor function space. An additional 14,000 square feet of function space is available at the connected 292-room Riverside Marriott.
Nearby, the famous 239-room Mission Inn Resort and Spa, a National Historic Landmark Hotel that opened in 1903, takes up a city block. It features 15,100 square feet of meeting space, 5,000 square feet of outdoor courtyard space, and four restaurants.
Another 500 hotel rooms are within a five-minute drive. Properties with meeting space include a 163-room Courtyard by Marriott and a 116-room Comfort Inn. Hyatt has also announced that a Hyatt Place will be built downtown.
Downtown off-site venue options include the Riverside Art Museum, which can accommodate groups of up to 500, and the 1,775-seat Riverside Municipal Auditorium. Additionally, the Sevilla restaurant seats up to 170 and has reception space for 600.
Riverside-based Tours of the Town offers group excursion choices such as the Olde Riverside Heritage Tour, the Citrus Tour and Gardens on Tour, and also runs downtown walking tours.
A $25 million restoration of downtown’s landmark 1929 Fox Theatre is under way. The project will transform it into a 1,600-seat performing arts center.
The Fox restoration is part of Riverside Renaissance, the city’s ambitious $1.7 billion public investment program approved in late 2006. Other projects include new and improved parks, and arts and cultural amenities.
San Bernardino
Incorporated in 1854 and one of California’s oldest communities, San Bernardino is known for its signature event, September’s Route 66 Rendezvous, which attracts a half-million car enthusiasts and spectators.
The city’s major venue, the 120-acre NOS Events Center, home of the annual National Orange Show Festival, hosts a wide variety of events, from weddings and trade shows to stock car races. It offers 150,000 square feet of meeting and exhibit space and can accommodate groups of up to 1,500.
“We are pretty much in the center of everything,” says Mary Casanova-Poland, director of regional tourism, sales and marketing at the San Bernardino CVB. “We have great weather, great deals and great restaurants, and our hotels are very economical.”
The city’s 20-plus hotels provide more than 1,000 rooms.
About half are located in the expanding Hospitality Lane district, packed with restaurants and shopping. They include one of the city’s two major meetings hotels, the 250-room Hilton San Bernardino, with 14,000 square feet of meeting space.
The city’s two newest properties, a Residence Inn and a Fairfield Inn & Suites, are also located in Hospitality Lane, and at press time, construction was about to start on a Hilton Garden Inn.
Hotels in the downtown area include the 295-room Clarion Hotel and Convention Center, with 19,000 square feet of meeting space.
San Bernardino also features the 5,000-seat Arrowhead Credit Union Park, home to the Inland Empire 66ers, a Los Angeles Dodgers affiliate, and the historic California Theater, home to the San Bernardino Symphony.
San Bernardino International Airport, a cargo and general aviation airport, will open a new $45 million terminal this summer and authorities have been seeking passenger service.
The city is a great location for spouse tours, according to Casanova-Poland, with wineries in Temecula and Ontario and shopping at Ontario Mills and Victoria Gardens in Rancho Cucamonga.
Casanova-Poland is big on promoting the entire Inland Empire—in fact, it’s part of her job. Her responsibilities include California’s newest official welcome center, which debuted in May 2007 off Interstate 10, adjacent to Hospitality Lane.
Claremont and Pomona
Neighboring Claremont and Pomona are at the Inland Empire’s eastern border, just 30 miles from Los Angeles.
Pomona is best known for the Los Angeles County Fair, which attracts roughly 1.5 million visitors every September.
It’s held at the Fairplex, a 543-acre complex that holds more than 300 events a year and includes nearly 325,000 square feet of column-free indoor exhibition space and Fairplex Park, a Thoroughbred racing track.
The 247-room Sheraton Suites Fairplex on the grounds has another 11,000 square feet of meeting space.
Among other Pomona meetings options is the IACC-certified Kellogg West Conference Center and Lodge on the campus of California State Polytechnic University, with 85 guest rooms and 16,000 square feet of meeting space.
Noted for its tree-lined streets, Claremont was rated by Money magazine last year as the fifth-best place to live in the U.S. It is home to the Claremont Colleges, a consortium of seven educational institutions that have meeting space.
A meetings standout is the 190-room Doubletree Hotel Claremont, with 12,500 square feet of indoor and outdoor meeting space.
Temecula
Temecula Valley is Southern California’s Wine Country, but according to Carolyn Fittipaldi, marketing manager at the Temecula Valley CVB, the area offers much more.
“Temecula has a lot to offer for one destination—beautiful weather, ballooning, horseback riding, gaming, golfing, and fishing,” she says.
The area, 50 miles southeast of LA/Ontario International Airport via Interstate 15, has more than 1,800 guest rooms and is ideal for small to midsize meetings of 50 to 300 people, according to Fittipaldi. The CVB recently launched a meeting planner incentive program for midweek bookings.
Temecula Valley boasts properties such as the South Coast Winery Resort & Spa, a working winery with 76 guest villas and 7,200 square feet of meeting space, and the 130-room Temecula Creek Inn, with 8,300 square feet of indoor and outdoor meeting space and 27 holes of golf.
The destination’s largest resort and the state’s largest casino resort is the 522-room Pechanga Resort & Casino, which will unveil the 18-hole Journey at Pechanga golf course in August. The AAA Four Diamond property has more than 40,000 square feet of meeting space.
“We’re in a growth mode. We now have more than 30 wineries and more are on the way,” Fittipaldi says.
About one-third of the area’s wineries have meeting and event space.
The family-owned Wilson Creek Winery just opened a 30,000-square-foot event center that features a 5,300-square-foot ballroom plus outdoor function areas.
The area’s newest hotel, the 64-room La Quinta Inn & Suites Temecula, opened in February, and a Spring- Hill Suites is slated to open in spring next year.
The La Quinta is two miles from Historic Old Town Temecula, which is full of one-of-a-kind stores, restaurants and museums.
Mountain Resorts
Lake Arrowhead and Big Bear Lake in the San Bernardino Mountains are the Inland Empire’s four-season alpine vacation spots, with winter skiing, hiking, fishing, horseback riding, golf, and water recreation opportunities.
From LA/Ontario International Airport, it is less than 50 miles to Lake Arrowhead and a little farther to Big Bear.
Located in the San Bernardino National Forest, Lake Arrowhead features Lake Arrowhead Village as its focal point and more than 400 guest rooms in hotels, motels and bed-and-breakfast properties, and an additional 500 cabins and condo units.
With 12,000 square feet of meeting space, Arrowhead’s top meetings venue is the 173-room Lake Arrowhead Resort and Spa, which completed a $17 million renovation last year.
The transformation includes a remodeled lobby, redesigned guest rooms and meeting space, a new restaurant and bar, and a new 11,000-square-foot spa.
Among other Lake Arrowhead-area conference options with accommodations are UCLA Conference Center and the Alpine Camp & Conference Center, focusing on religious meetings.
With 22 miles of shoreline and two ski resorts, Big Bear Lake also offers a range of accommodations.
The Convention Center at Big Bear Lake was built as the permanent home for Oktoberfest, Big Bear’s biggest annual event. Four miles from downtown, it can accommodate up to 1,400 people inside and up to 2,500 with outside function areas.
Other meetings options include the 148-room Northwoods Resort & Conference Center and the 80-room Best Western Big Bear Chateau.
For More Info
Big Bear Lake Resort Association 800.424.4232
www.bigbear.com
Claremont COC 909.624.1681
www.claremontchamber.org
Lake Arrowhead Communities COC 909.337.3715
www.lakearrowhead.net
Ontario CVB 909.937.3000
www.ontariocvb.com
Pomona COC 909.622.1256
www.pomonachamber.org
Riverside CVB 951.222.4700
www.riversidecb.com
San Bernardino CVB 909.889.3980
www.san-bernardino.org
Temecula Valley CVB 951.491.6085
www.temeculacvb.com
