For long that crossroads between East and Midwest, the Buckeye State stood in the forefront as an industrial-powerhouse frontier, giving birth to seven presidents. New industries have taken over, and cities continue to revitalize with meetings and conventions in mind while continuing to tout their advantages of location and affordability. It has all been paying off, with new sales and marketing strategies and initiatives also playing an integral part.
Attesting to Ohio’s growing appeal, its four largest cities—Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Toledo—all came off 2008 on a roll and are now looking to protect their gains; for each, future meeting and convention room nights booked were up substantially over those of 2007.
In addition, whether it is continued rejuvenation, new arenas and hotels, airports like Dayton and Akron-Canton reporting a record 2008, or waterpark resort expansion along scenic Lake Erie, the celebrated swing state of the 21st century has much to shout about, and it’s time for planners to take another look.
Southwest Ohio
Located amid rolling hills on the Ohio River, Cincinnati, the state’s third-largest city, is the center of a metro area that spills over into Northern Kentucky. The Queen City is home to MLB’s Reds, NFL’s Bengals and nine Fortune 500 companies.
Dan Lincoln, president and CEO at the Cincinnati USA CVB, described 2008 in the group’s annual report as a “landmark year,” with the city hosting two of its largest and most significant groups ever: the 10,000-delegate NAACP and National Baptist Convention USA, with more than 15,000 attendees.
“We probably had our biggest year last year in 10 years,” says Julie Calvert, Cincinnati USA vice president, marketing and strategic development, adding that the CVB continues to forecast a further 3 percent increase in future bookings made this year over 2008.
Future room nights booked by the bureau increased 6.7 percent last year over 2007, while average hotel occupancy and average daily rate increased for both downtown and Hamilton County.
“We’re very competitive with rates, and we’re now working closely with planners on attendance-building,” she says.
Calvert attributes Cincinnati’s achievements to infrastructure investment by the city and county, notably convention center expansion, along with major hotel renovations and increased sales and marketing efforts, which she says began in 2003 and 2004 ‘‘to attract high-profile groups and put us back on the radar.”
With its $135 million expansion in June 2006, the Duke Energy Convention Center features 200,000 square feet of exhibit space, a 40,000-square-foot grand ballroom and more than 30 meeting rooms. Connected by skywalks to Hyatt, Westin and Millennium hotels, which collectively offer another 86,000 square feet of meeting space, it is flanked by $2 billion in new infrastructure and has 3,000 hotel rooms within three blocks. One top property nearby is the Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza, a French Art Deco landmark that is a member of Historic Hotels of America and features 40,000 square feet of meeting space.
Also unveiled in 2006, the $43 million restoration of the Fountain Square area at Fifth and Vine, with its landmark Tyler Davidson Fountain as its centerpiece, provides a focal point near the convention center that can be a venue for events.
“We have a whole host of new restaurants and entertainment, which has proven to be quite a draw. Everybody is impressed with how everything is in close proximity, and our arts scene is huge,” Calvert says.
A plethora of city attractions provides lots of gathering options. Among them are the Cincinnati Art Museum, the Contemporary Arts Center and the Taft Museum of Art, along with many choices at the three museums at the Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal. Other off-site venues include the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, and the facilities of MLB’s Reds (Great American Ball Park) and NFL’s Bengals (Paul Brown Stadium).
Fifteen miles north of downtown, the Sharonville Convention Center delivers 28,000 square feet of available space. The city of Sharonville plans to begin an expansion on the center this year, which will add another 37,000 square feet.
Mason, 26 miles northeast of downtown, prides itself on being Southwest Ohio’s resort area with such attractions as Kings Island amusement park and the adjacent 3-year-old, 401-room Great Wolf Lodge, with a 40,000-square-foot conference center and an indoor waterpark.
Moving farther north, Dayton is the “Birthplace of Aviation” and hometown of Orville and Wilbur Wright, boasting such attractions as the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Park and the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force.
Downtown has the Schuster Performing Arts Center, cornerstone of its revival, plus the RiverScape MetroPark for community events and Fifth Third Field, home of the Dayton Dragons minor-league team. And serving up 100,000 square feet of space is Dayton Convention Center, connected by skywalk to the 283-room Crown Plaza, offering another 12,000 square feet of meeting space.
Other Dayton facilities include the IACC-certified, 100-room David H. Ponitz Sinclair Center and the 165,000-square-foot Hara Arena Conference & Exhibition Center. There is also an expo center at Dayton International Airport, which last year saw a 2.4 percent passenger increase, posting a record 1.46 million passengers.
Central Ohio
Halfway between Cleveland and Cincinnati lies Columbus, Ohio’s capital and largest city.
Adjacent to downtown’s Arena District and Short North Arts District, the Greater Columbus Convention Center serves up 426,000 square feet of exhibit space and more than 60 meeting rooms. Connected by enclosed walkway is the 631-room Hyatt Regency, with another 63,000 square feet of meeting space.
Also downtown are the 110,000-square-foot Franklin County Veterans Memorial and the 20,000-seat Nationwide Arena, home of the NHL Columbus Blue Jackets. North of downtown, the 1 million-square-foot Ohio Expo Center is home to the Ohio State Fair.
“We’re perceived as a value destination,” says Brian Ross, vice president of sales at Experience Columbus, the Greater Columbus CVB, pointing out that last fall Tradeshow Week found Columbus the second-most affordable U.S. city to host a trade show, second only to Des Moines, Iowa, and ahead of Louisville, Ky.
Future bureau-booked room nights last year increased 11 percent over 2007 bookings. He attributes this to a new sales emphasis on such SMERF sectors such as faith-based groups and education, and agriculture—groups booking 750 to 2,500 peak-night rooms.
“Our concern now is convention attendance,” he says. “We’re increasing efforts to bolster it.”
Authorities are pursuing financing for a proposed second convention center hotel of 500 rooms.
“We have a convention center that is second to none. To fully utilize it, we need more rooms for larger national groups that require the use of fewer hotels,” he says.
Ross also explains that an experiential group program rolled out in 2007 by the CVB “gives us a distinct advantage over our competition.”
Program activities range from cooking and bottling wine to a behind-the-scenes Broadway show and “eating breakfast with the animals” at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium. Last May, the aquarium opened the $20 million, 23-acre Zoombezi Bay waterpark and will debut a new Polar Frontier exhibit next year.
A new activity in the program is about to debut: Baseball Fantasy—Experience What Life’s Like in the Minors at Huntington Park, a new $56 million, 10,000-seat ballpark opening April 18. Home to the Triple A Columbus Clippers, it is across from Nationwide Arena and two blocks from the convention center and is more easily accessible than the Cooper Stadium it replaces.
Downtown revitalization continues. The historic Lincoln Theater has its grand reopening Memorial Day weekend following an $11 million restoration. Two AAA Four Diamond meetings hotels completed renovations: the landmark Westin Columbus, known as the Great Southern Hotel since its 1897 opening, which finished a $9.6 million restoration in December, and The Columbus, a Renaissance Hotel, which completed meeting space renovations last June, the final phase of a four-year, $16.5 million project. Also last summer, the Holiday Inn Columbus Downtown Capitol Square completed a two-year renovation that included a new ballroom.
New hotels will be unveiled this year around Port Columbus International Airport: the 198-suite Embassy Suites Columbus-Airport in September and the 110-room Four Points by Sheraton Columbus Airport in August.
Additionally, to the north in Delaware County, the suburban Polaris Fashion Place area has two new hotels, also with meeting space: the 252-room Hilton Columbus/Polaris, which opened last June, and the 125-unit Cambria Suites, which opened in January. Birthplace of President Rutherford B. Hayes, the county has a variety of venues, ranging from the IACC-certified, 120-room Conference Center at NorthPointe to the Delaware County Fairgrounds.
Farther north, Marion County delivers almost 20 gathering options, including several hotels and inns, several museums, the 16,000-square-foot Veterans Memorial Coliseum, the historic Palace Theater, the restored Marion Union Station and venues at Ohio State University at Marion.
East of Columbus, Zanesville, seat of Muskingum County, has a growing downtown arts district and meeting facilities such as the Secrest Auditorium, the Muskingum County Conference & Welcome Center and the county fairgrounds’ Veterans Complex.
Northeast Ohio
Once hailed as the “Comeback City,” Cleveland, located on the shores of Lake Erie, is packed with downtown entertainment districts.
Just south of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, the Great Lakes Science Center and the Cleveland Browns’ Stadium, the Cleveland Convention Center encompasses 375,000 square feet of exhibition space. Within a 10-minute walk are 3,100 hotel rooms, including an adjacent Marriott and Crowne Plaza, and the newly reflagged Doubletree Hotel Cleveland Downtown/Lakeside, as well as thriving entertainment areas such as the Warehouse District and East Fourth Street.
On the campus of the renowned Cleveland Clinic is the InterContinental Cleveland, featuring the Bank of America Auditorium and Conference Center, as well as a ballroom and eight meeting rooms.
Among the city’s other prominent group venues are the International Expo (I-X) Center, with 1.6 million square feet of exhibit space, and downtown’s Wolstein Center at Cleveland State University, with seating for 15,000 people.
“We’re the country’s best value destination. A common comment from visitors is, ‘I didn’t know there was so much here.’ We have the country’s second-largest performing arts district (after New York City), and a free trolley system,” says Dennis Roche, president of Positively Cleveland, the Greater Cleveland CVB.
Boasting four restored historic theaters, Playhouse Square performing arts district was joined by a fifth last September, with the grand reopening of the 548-seat Hanna Theatre following a $19 million rejuvenation.
The two trolley routes include the convention center and areas such as University Circle east of downtown, with its handful of major museums, including the Cleveland Museum of Art. Undergoing a multiyear renovation and expansion, the museum opened renovated galleries last summer and will open the first of three new wings in June, with completion slated for 2012.
Additionally, unveiled last October, the HealthLine, a rapid-transit bus line, connects downtown, including Playhouse Square and various districts such as University Circle and the Cleveland Clinic and university hospitals.
According to Roche, future room nights booked last year increased 60 percent over 2007’s results, while hotel occupancy and room rates held steady.
“We changed our sales strategy a little less than two years ago, and it has paid off. We’ve been going after smaller groups and corporate meetings we can put into hotels, and groups we can put into the I-X Center. Before the focus was large industrial meetings,” he explains.
In long-awaited January news, Cuyahoga County commissioners announced that the site of the current center would be the site for a proposed $425 million Medical Mart and Convention Center.
A partnership between the county and Chicago-based Merchandise Mart Properties, the project’s current plans call for a medical showroom and 270,000 square feet of exhibition space. If the project is approved, construction would begin in 2011 and the center would be completed in 2013.
Last summer a site selection committee had recommended downtown’s riverfront Tower City, not far from the convention center, which has over 100 stores and restaurants, two prominent meetings hotels—the Renaissance Cleveland and the recently renovated Ritz-Carlton, Cleveland—and is connected by walkway to the Cleveland Indians’ Progressive Field and Quicken Loans Arena, home to the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers.
“For a long time we’ve been less than ideally competitive with more modern and renovated centers. We are trying to get back into a game that we used to dominate, although we continue to maintain what we have captured, Roche says.
Cleveland’s airport area is another option for meetings, with group-friendly properties such as the Sheraton Cleveland Airport Hotel, Cleveland Airport Marriott and Crowne Plaza Cleveland Airport.
Within an hour’s drive south of Cleveland, and 20 miles apart, are the cities of Akron and Canton.
Canton boasts such landmarks as the NFL Pro Football Hall of Fame, the William McKinley Presidential Library & Museum.
Meeting facilities include the 5,000-seat Canton Memorial Civic Center, the IACC-certified Professional Education and Conference Center at Kent State University, the Palace Theatre and the Cultural Center for the Arts, home of theater, ballet and symphony.
Downtown Canton has rejuvenated.
“The new arts district is thriving, and First Fridays are going extremely well, and with low fares Akron-Canton Airport continues to have record-breaking months, which has helped us,” says Mary Vlahos, convention sales manager for the Canton/Stark County CVB.
“For a regional airport, we’ve had unprecedented growth,” adds Jim Mahon, marketing director at the Akron/Summit CVB.
The airport and the two CVBs have collaborated in Fly2AkronCanton, an airport promotion initiative. Last year, the airport posted a record 1.47 million passengers, and in January, the month when US Airways launched nonstop service to Reagan Washington National Airport, passenger traffic was up 7 percent.
New airport hotels with meeting space include Cambria Suites Akron/Canton Airport, which opened in April 2008, and a Hampton Inn & Suites, which will open this June.
Together with four counties, the two CVBs launched “Sp4rts Ohio” in October, a consortium to promote the area for amateur athletics. It secured the annual 8,000-attendee softball PONY (Protecting Our Nation’s Youth) National Championships, to be held in Greater Akron this year through 2011.
Located on the Cuyahoga River, Akron is home to the University of Akron, the Double A Akron Aeros, the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail and Cuyahoga Valley National Park, the location of the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad. The CVB has a “Plant Your Meeting” program with the park, planting seedlings on behalf of each group meeting in Summit County.
Akron’s premier venue, the 123,000-square-foot John S. Knight Center, last year hosted 220 events with 427,000 attendees, up from 188 events and 420,000 delegates in 2007, according to Mahon.
An Akron meetings standout is Quaker Square Inn at the University of Akron, with 60,000 square feet of meeting space. Other meetings hotels include the Hilton Akron/Fairlawn, Radisson Akron City Centre and Sheraton Suites Akron/Cuyahoga Falls, each with between 14,000 and 22,000 square feet of meeting space.
Attractions with rental space include the Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens, the estate of the Goodyear Tire founder; Hale Farm & Village living history museum; and Akron Art Museum, which tripled in size in 2007 with the opening of a new building.
Northwest Ohio
Known for its standout Toledo Museum of Art and Toledo Zoo, and the Mud Hens minor-league baseball team, Toledo has been rejuvenated, and its Historic Warehouse District has become a visitor draw.
Ohio’s fourth-largest city takes another step this fall with the opening of the new $105 million, 8,000-seat multipurpose Lucas County Arena, home to the new Toledo Walleye, a minor league hockey team operated by the Mud Hens.
According to David Nolan, president and CEO of the Greater Toledo CVB, downtown will then have three major venues within walking distance of each other and 900 guest rooms. Near the Mud Hens’ Five Three Field, the arena will be attached to the city’s primary venue, the SeaGate Convention Centre, which has 75,000 square feet of exhibit space.
“We offer great value and world-class attractions,” he says. “The arena further revitalizes downtown, where new restaurants have opened. It will rival the Mud Hens as a draw and will help us attract large religious meetings.”
Nolan says last year the CVB’s future room night production increased 24 percent over 2007.
“We’re ideally suited for groups of 500 to 1,000 rooms—2,500 people. Our market is largely state associations and SMERF, and our goal is to attract more white-collar group attractions,” he says, adding that as an incentive the CVB has coordinated with hotels to relax attrition, cancellation, and F&B performance policies.
Among other meeting facilities are the Dana Conference Center on the Medical University of Ohio campus, which together with the connected Hilton Toledo offers 19,000 square feet of meeting space, Franciscan Theatre & Conference Center, Toledo Civic Theater, the Maumee Indoor Theatre, the Ohio Theatre Stranahan Theater & Great Hall, the Valentine Theatre, the 30,000-square-foot Sylvania Sports & Exhibition Center and facilities at the University of Toledo.
The college town of Bowling Green, 25 miles south of Toledo, is home to Bowling Green State University, a historic downtown, a number of museums and the annual Swamp Arts Festival. Among its 30-plus meeting venues are six hotels and several sites at the university.
Nolan points out that Lake Erie and the Maumee River offer lots of group water activity opportunities, and the Cedar Point amusement park—Roller Coaster Capital of the World—is only 40 miles away on a lake peninsula at Sandusky.
Making a splash, the Lake Erie Islands region between Toledo and Cleveland has seen meeting space grow along with waterpark expansion. According to the Lake Erie Shores & Islands Welcome Center, this area of family playgrounds now has over 400,000 square feet of meeting space and more than 8,000 hotel rooms.
Also at Sandusky are the African-themed, 597-room Kalahari Resort, which has 95,000 square feet of meeting space and doubled the size of its waterpark early last year; the Quality Inn & Suites Rainwater Park, which opened its waterpark in 2007 and has almost 4,000 square feet of meeting space; the 237-room Caribbean-themed Castaway Bay, with 7,900 square feet of meeting space; and the Great Wolf Lodge, which can handle banquets for over 100 people.
For More Info
Akron/Summit CVB 330.374.7560 www.visitakron-summit.org
Bowling Green CVB 419.353.9445 www.visitbgohio.org
Canton/Stark County CVB 330.454.1439 www.cantonstarkcvb.com
Cincinnati USA CVB 513.621.2142 www.cincyusa.com
Dayton/Montgomery County CVB 937.226.8211 www.daytoncvb.com
Delaware County CVB 740.368.4748 www.visitdelohio.com
Experience Columbus 614.221.6623 www.experiencecolumbus.com
Greater Toledo CVB 419.321.6404 www.dotoledo.org
Lake Erie Shores & Islands 419.625.2984 www.shoresandislands.com
Marion Area CVB 740.389.9770 www.visitmarionohio.com
Northern Cincinnati CVB 513.771.5353 www.cincynorth.com
Positively Cleveland 216.621.4110 www.clevelandmeetings.com
Sandusky County CVB 419.332.4470 www.lakeeriesfavoriteneighbor.com
Zanesville–Muskingum County CVB 740.455.8282 www.visitzanesville.com
