What makes for a good meetings destination in a recession? Affordable places that are well-equipped with facilities and unique amenities are making the grade these days. If they are also easily accessible by car, all the better.
Hotel industry consultant Scott Smith, senior vice president for PKF Consulting in Atlanta notes that many groups are turning to destinations that offer good value. Instead of booking high-profile cities or resorts, they are seeking out the quieter places where they can do business and achieve objectives at less cost of time and money.
“Value is the key to destinations that are rising now, and there’s a demand for drive-to markets through 2010 at least,” Smith says.
Here are some rising destination stars offering value along with new and polished facilities.
Columbia. S.C.
With the opening of Columbia Conference Center four years ago, South Carolina’s capital began pursuing meetings business as never before. New hotels are also livening up the cityscape, with guest room inventory increasing to 13,000 by the end of 2010.
According to Ric Luber, president and CEO of the Midlands Authority for Conventions, Sports, and Tourism, Columbia’s convenient location in the geographical center of the state gives it an edge as well. Affordability and the presence of academic institutions are also advantages.
“We are actually turning meetings business away right now,” Luber says. “We’ve outperformed our pro forma to date, as our numbers have continued to grow. We have more business booked and revenue produced on room rentals and F&B this year than we expected.”
The business, he adds, comes from both corporations and associations who are bringing both regional and national conferences to the area. One of Columbia’s most important conference customers is the University of South Carolina.
“USC is a major research university and you have technology industries like hydrogen fuel development that bring people in,” Luber says. “We just hosted the National Hydrogen Association’s annual conference with nearly 3,000 attendees. We have universities, government, high tech and also a major military base in the vicinity.”
Huntsville, Ala.
A spate of new downtown facilities, affordability and a strong market for government, aerospace and SMERF (social, military, education, religious and fraternal) business are carrying Huntsville through the current economic downtown as an attractive group destination.
Charles Winters, executive vice president of the Huntsville/Madison County CVB, says his city is maintaining bookings for 2009, even though there has been some decline in meetings attendance.
“We are really focusing on weekend and non-traditional business like sporting and religious groups,” he says. “And because we are more of a regional and statewide destination, as opposed to national and international, we are holding our own quite well.”
Downtown Huntsville has seen the addition in recent years of new hotels, retail outlets and restaurants. The Westin Huntsville—the first Westin hotel in Alabama—is among the newest major lodging choices.
The hotel is within Cummings Research Park, one of the largest technology centers in the U.S., and less than two miles from the U.S. Space and Rocket Center, which offers exciting venues for off-site events amid rocket artifacts and a 3D digital theater. Also, the Westin is surrounded by the mixed-use Bridge Street Town Centre development, which is designed to offer a touch of Venice with gondola and paddleboats gliding on a lake.
A drive-to destination from much of the Southeast, Huntsville also offers good air access, including direct flight service from such cities as Washington, D.C., Chicago, Houston, Cincinnati, Denver and Charlotte, N.C.
Groups will also find plenty of support from the CVB, according to Winters.
“We offer amenities and services that many other bureaus charge for,” he says. “This includes complimentary registration assistance to those with 200 room nights or more.”
Puerto Rico
When Puerto Rico unveiled the Caribbean’s largest convention center, with 580,000 square feet of space, back in 2005, it sent a clear signal to the meetings industry that it is serious about bringing business groups to San Juan and the rest of the island.
“The convention center has helped us take our meetings business to another level,” says Ramon Sanchez, executive vice president and COO for the Puerto Rico Convention Bureau. “It’s the cornerstone of a very ambitious waterfront district project on 114 acres that includes a dynamic urban center package of hotels, shops, condos and entertainment sites.”
The Sheraton Puerto Rico Convention Center Hotel & Casino opens this November across the street from the center, with 503 guest rooms and 35,000 square feet of meeting space.
Air access is an issue for the island, and the recession has pulled away some flights. But as the air hub of the Caribbean, Puerto Rico is still very accessible, with 700 weekly flights.
“Although we did lose American flights, others like Jet Blue and Continental stepped in with additional flights to take up the slack,” Sanchez says.
In order to encourage new meetings bookings, the bureau is conducting its Puerto Rico Smooth plan. For groups arriving through December 2010, planners can select from one of three options on attrition commitments.
Tulsa, Okla.
Groups who haven’t looked at Tulsa before are doing so now. Major downtown changes are bringing in a “more polished” meeting facilities package, according to Amy Huntley, director of convention sales and marketing for the Tulsa CVB.
“We are renovating the Tulsa Convention Center and adding a new 30,000-square-foot ballroom—the largest in Oklahoma—and bringing in an additional 15,000 square feet of meeting space,” she says. “On completion next year, the convention center will house over 300,000 square feet of meeting space, including a 102,600- square-foot exhibition hall and an 8,900-seat arena.”
The new 18,000-seat Bank of Oklahoma arena opened adjacent to the convention center last year. The Drillers baseball team will move into the new downtown arena in 2010.
Hotels are ramping, up too. New properties will augment the Tulsa city center next spring, including a Courtyard by Marriott and the historic boutique Mayo Hotel.
All the changes have given Tulsa a new perspective on meetings business.
“In the past, we could handle groups of up to 3,000 attendees, and now that number has about doubled,” Huntley says. “So we are really going after groups we haven’t been able to serve in the past. Our focus is on larger associations, SMERF organizations and sporting events. The markets we go after really hasn’t changed. It’s just that we are just going after larger groups in those markets who can now consider us.”
Tulsa is also promoting its diverse and eclectic culture to groups. The city offers performances by 10 regional opera companies and is home to the world’s largest collection of art devoted to the American West. Tulsa is also known for its Art Deco architecture as well as historic landmarks along the fabled Route 66.
Tunica, Miss.
Partly because of Hurricane Katrina’s devastation of the Gulf Coast four years ago, Tunica has become better known as a meetings destination.
According to Anne Coggins, sales manager–meetings and conventions for the Tunica CVB, business that shifted from the battered coast to Tunica came from a lot of groups who had never met in the northern Mississippi destination.
“The aftermath of the hurricane opened up the entire state to the meetings and conventions market,” she says. “And we’ve been able to sustain a lot of that business from both associations and corporations. One sector that has really picked up for us is SMERF groups.”
With its close proximity to Memphis, Tenn., Tunica engages visitors with its history of blues music, an American original. Casinos like Bally’s Tunica, Harrah’s Tunica and Gold Strike are also a draw. And midweek rates are extremely affordable—well under $100—according to Coggins.
The Tunica Arena and Exposition Center accommodates a variety of events with its 48,000 square feet of exhibit space and luxury skyboxes. Horse shows, rodeos, motorsports events, concerts and family shows are also popular at the 2,000-seat arena.
