What is it that puts a once overlooked destination up on the radar screen as a great place to meet?
One thing’s for sure, it’s not just any one element such as a new convention center or marketing plan from the CVB. Rather, it seems to be a whole lot of elements coming together, usually stemming from a city’s all-out commitment to distinguish itself from the competition.
And it’s far from an overnight process. The destinations spotlighted here as rising stars have spent years fine-tuning their group appeal. While some such as Santa Fe, N.M., have long held an aura for leisure travelers and just needed to augment their meeting facilities, others such as Tacoma, Wash., have literally reinvented themselves in the space of a decade or two.
Bend, Ore.
Once a sleepy lumber mill town tucked into the mountainous high desert region of central Oregon, Bend has successfully morphed into a retirement hot spot and popular leisure destination that has garnered national attention for its vibrant downtown and wide range of outdoor recreational activities.
With new meetings infrastructure such as the Riverhouse Conference Center, which offers 29,000 square feet of indoor meeting space as well as outdoor function areas overlooking the Deschutes River, Bend’s status as a meetings destination is on the rise, says Doug La Placa, president and CEO of Visit Bend, formerly the Bend CVB.
“The Riverhouse has given us the means to host groups that we couldn’t host before—it’s a tremendous asset,” he says. “And when you combine that with all the other attributes that make Bend a great destination, you’ve got a unique meetings experience in the region.”
LaPlaca points with pride to Bend’s growing roster of acclaimed restaurants, including The Blacksmith, ranked as one of the world’s top 60 new restaurants by Conde Nast Traveler. He also cites shopping and entertainment opportunities that he says have made Bend “a cosmopolitan mountain town reminiscent of Boulder.”
Coming attractions for downtown include the Hotel Oxford, a luxury hip boutique property scheduled to open in spring 2009. Other upcoming developments include Hotel Tetherow, which will be part of a 700-acre resort community that will also include a conference center managed by Dolce International with space for up to 300 attendees.
Outdoor recreation in the area ranges from Mt. Bachelor Ski and Summer Resort, where skiing and snowboarding can typically be enjoyed from Thanksgiving through Memorial Day, to more than 30 golf courses. According to Caron McCulloch, president of Cascade Destinations, a local DMC, it’s no problem to combine a recreational activity with a meeting or event.
“A number of golf courses have built great clubhouses with views and event spaces—a favorite is at the Aspen Lakes Golf Course,” she says. “At Mt. Bachelor, you can take a chairlift up to the Pine Marten Lodge, a great venue with spectacular views.”
While not in a large metropolitan area, Bend is surprisingly accessible, with increasing service into Redmond/Bend Airport from Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Salt Lake City, and Portland and Eugene, Ore.
At the same time, Visit Bend, which recently launched a new branding campaign, is stepping up its promotional efforts, including the hiring of a dedicated meetings sales manager early next year. The bureau also recently launched a new website with meeting planning tools.
Pasadena, Calif.
With its bucolic neighborhoods, Main Street ambience and strong cultural traditions, Pasadena is a charming anomaly in the midst of trendy Los Angeles County. In its quiet way, Pasadena has been steadily building a solid reputation as an accessible yet secluded spot for small and midsize meetings.
Its fortunes are certain to grow with the expansion of the Pasadena Convention Center, expected to be completed early next year. The major components of the expansion include meeting environmental standards necessary for receiving LEED certification and increasing exhibition space from 32,000 square feet to 60,000 square feet, along with adding a 25,000-square-foot ballroom.
“It’s not only an expansion, but an upgrade that will bring the center up to the standards expected these days,” says Nan Marchand, executive director of the Pasadena CVB. “We’re going to be improving everything from our catering to guest service levels. It’s not just about the building.”
With its proximity to downtown Los Angeles, Los Angeles International Airport and Burbank Airport, the Pasadena CVB is stressing convenience in its new marketing campaign, which bears the tagline “Pasadena…Simply More.” The bureau has also recently added a fourth sales manager to focus on small meetings.
“Our message is that you can come here and find a complete package—shopping, dining, golf, tennis, cultural attractions,” Marchand says, adding that groups requiring 300 rooms or less are the city’s target market. “We’re a small city with just 2,500 rooms, so the shoe has to fit.”
Meanwhile, upgrades are also being made to some of Pasadena’s key hotels and attractions, including property-wide renovations at the Hilton Pasadena and Sheraton Pasadena. The city’s most luxurious hotel, the former Ritz-Carlton, became The Langham Huntington Hotel & Spa earlier this year and is scheduled for a $25 million redo that includes improvements to its spa and cottages.
At one of the city’s premier attractions, the Huntington Library, Art Galleries and Botanical Gardens, a 4.5-acre first phase of the Garden of Flowering Fragrances, a Chinese classical garden, was recently unveiled. The Huntington has also completed a two-year renovation of its main gallery.
Riviera Nyarit, Mexico
Stretching for 100 miles along the coast north of Puerto Vallarta International Airport, Riviera Nyarit is among Mexico’s fastest growing and most ambitious resort destinations. Although development is nowhere near total completion, the destination already boasts over 12,000 hotel rooms, most of which are high end, as well as four golf courses.
In the pipeline are two additional golf courses and an assortment of luxury resorts, including the St. Regis Resort Punta Mita opening this fall with 120 guest rooms and 3,200 square feet of meeting space. Scheduled to open in October are the 445-room, all-suite Riu Palace Pacifico and the 229-room Dreams Villamagna Nuevo Vallarta, both beachfront resorts. Other properties opening within the next three years include a Park Hyatt, Capella Resort and three Iberostar hotels.
By mid-2009 there will be a convention center by the Riviera Nyarit marina with meeting space for up to 4,000 people. The destination is also building a comprehensive highway system that will connect the coastal resorts as well as the six golf courses and four marinas.
Along with its facilities, the location of Riviera Nyarit bodes well for its future as a meetings destination, says Marc Murphy, managing director of the Riviera Nyarit CVB.
“We have excellent air access from most gateways in the U.S. and Canada, with all of the major airlines serving Riviera Nyarit by way of Puerto Vallarta International Airport, which is only minutes away,” he says. “Moreover, it’s a year-round destination with excellent weather and opportunities to see wildlife at different times of the year, including migratory birds, humpback whales and rare sea turtles.”
According to Murphy, the types of meetings being targeted by the destination include both corporate and incentive meetings, many of them drawn by the range of soft adventure activities available, including jungle trekking, ATM rides, ziplining, deep-sea fishing as well as the more traditional golf and spa.
“The incentive market will be attracted to our luxurious resorts, but we also offer medium-priced and all-inclusive resorts that offer quality service and accommodations,” he says. “And companies interested in retreats for their employees can also opt for intimate environments where they can stay in their own villas or bungalows.”
Santa Fe, N.M.
With a new convention center having made its debut in August, Santa Fe is set to enter a new chapter. Long a popular leisure and small meetings destination, the city is suddenly in demand for a much broader range of group business than it could previously handle, according to Chris Madden, director of sales for the Santa Fe CVB.
“The interest is growing to the point of insanity—we have a lot of old clients returning to us and a lot of new clients that couldn’t meet here before,” she says. “They needed more flexibility and space, and now we can offer it. Plus we’re seeing a lot of local events—the local community has really embraced the convention center.”
Constructed on the site of the old convention center, the new facility was built in compliance with LEED certification requirements set by the U.S. Green Building Council. Designed to handle groups ranging from 200 to 2,000, the center offers such function areas as a large terrace with a kiva fireplace and a spacious courtyard open to the sky. Meeting space is designed to provide multiple events with their own exhibition areas, breakout rooms and meal function areas.
“The old building was simply raw space that had to be dressed up for an event, but now we have a state-of-the-art facility with double the amount of space,” Madden says. “We’ve always leaned heavily toward the association market, plus SMERF (social, military, education, religious, fraternal) business associated with local universities and the Los Alamos lab. So we’re expanding on that.”
Another exciting development is the Santa Fe Railyard, an area on the west side of town that became a train terminus with the arrival of the first locomotive on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe line in 1880. Opening in stages in the coming months, the Railyard will be home to museums, galleries, live-in artist studios, open space, and a building housing the popular Santa Fe Famer’s Market, which features crafts as well as local produce.
Tacoma, Wash.
Can fortunes be made out of glass? In Tacoma, hometown of glass artist Dale Chihuly and home to several glass-themed attractions such as the Glass Museum and Bridge of Glass, the answer is definitely in the affirmative.
“We’re the City of Glass—that’s become our brand and our identity,” says Tammy Blount, executive director of the Tacoma Regional CVB. “The whole city has embraced this attribute.”
Even the city’s major meetings hotel, the former Sheraton Tacoma, which recently emerged as the Hotel Murano after a $22 million renovation, sports a glass theme by featuring the work of over 40 glass artists showcased throughout the property.
“We’ve seen an increase in interest among meeting planners because of the Hotel Murano, which really has a new look and image,” Blount says. “In particular, there’s more interest from the corporate and incentive markets.”
On the horizon for Tacoma, which has become increasingly known for such off-site venues as the Washington State History Museum and the adjacent Museum of Glass, are attractions such as the Le May: America’s Car Museum, which is slated to open near the Tacoma Dome in 2010. The museum will display antique vehicles from the world’s largest private collection.
The city’s Working Waterfront Museum, currently closed for expansion, will reopen in 2009 as the centerpiece for the $21.5 million Foss Waterway Seaport. Purported to be the largest maritime education and activity center on the West Coast, the museum will feature 4,000 square feet of meeting space with water views, outside event space and a theater.
Hotel rooms near in the Tacoma Convention Center are set to double in number over the next few years, including a 160-room Holiday Inn Express and adjacent 72-room Candlewood Suites on the site of a former Heidelberg Brewery. Other upcoming developments include two waterfront properties, the 150-room Silver Cloud Inn and 160-room Inn at the Floss.
Vancouver Island, B.C.
While best known as the home of British Columbia’s charming capital, Victoria, Vancouver Island as a whole is gaining new stature as a meetings destination. Most notably, the centrally located harbor city of Nanaimo, with its new Vancouver Island Conference Centre, is throwing its hat into the ring for group business.
Managed by Atlific Hotels, the conference center is the flagship of the new Port of Nanaimo Centre, which also includes the Nanaimo Museum, the 200-seat Shaw Auditorium and the Port Theater. Accommodating groups of up to 1,300 people, the meetings facility offers 38,000 square feet of function space that includes a 14,000-square-foot ballroom and five other multipurpose rooms with audiovisual and teleconferencing capabilities.
In addition, groups have access to the Shaw Auditorium, which is equipped for global broadcasting, and the Nanaimo Museum, an attraction devoted to the history and culture of Vancouver Island and available as an off-site venue for receptions and dinners.
“The new conference center in Nanaimo is a terrific addition to the city. The design and size are perfectly suited to host multi-use conferences for mid-sized groups, a new type of business for the community,” says Dave Petryk, president and CEO of Tourism Vancouver Island. “The sales team at the center are boasting advance bookings of over 50 groups.”
At the same time, Nanaimo and its environs have seen a jump in hotel inventory, including the new Ramada Nanaimo, which opened earlier this year with 65 guest rooms, a business center, fitness center, and complimentary high-speed Internet access. New in nearby Parksville is the 149-room Beach Club Resort, which features a conference center accommodating groups up to 200, a business center, indoor pool, full-service spa, and other amenities.
Accessibility to Vancouver Island has gotten a recent boost with new direct daily service between Victoria and San Francisco on United Airlines. As a result, Tourism Victoria is offering a package that includes discounts on food and beverage, room upgrades and other amenities for San Francisco Bay Area-based meeting planners who book groups for dates in 2008.
