Stretching from the Appalachian foothills down to the white-sand beaches of the Gulf of Mexico, Alabama stands apart. It has developed tourism, upscale resorts and meeting and convention venues like no other, boosting the state’s appeal for planners.
The Retirement Systems of Alabama (RSA) built the Robert Trent Jones (RTJ) Golf Trail, the world’s largest golf project, with 26 championship courses at 11 sites, six with resorts.
In the past four years, its hotel projects in Montgomery and Mobile have revitalized downtown convention cores, and RSA properties have consolidated under Marriott and Renaissance flags.
With such diversity, the Alabama Tourism Department is never short of an annual promotion theme. It has had arts and food, and it is winding down the "Year of Small Towns and Downtowns," which was launched in February to promote "The Great Alabama Homecoming"—the major events of 215 communities.
For 2011, "The Year of Alabama Music" campaign will highlight a rich heritage—W.C. Handy ("Father of the Blues"), the Hank Williams Trail, a host of famous artists, entertainment districts and more than 200 annual festivals.
Mountains Region
In Northern Alabama, Huntsville took off with the start of the U.S. space program in 1950 when Wernher von Braun arrived with his team of German scientists.
Alabama’s fourth-largest city is known as "Rocket City," home to Marshall Space Flight Center and the U.S. Space & Rocket Center.
"We’re such an untapped resource," says Charles Winters, executive vice president at the Huntsville/Madison County CVB. "Everything is close by and convenient, and we can accommodate groups of up to 10,000."
Recent downtown developments make for a more attractive meetings product.
Historic downtown’s 170,000-square-foot Von Braun Center (VBC) has been undergoing a $30 million renovation and remodeling. Two major features are its 2,100-seat concert hall, which had a soft reopening in November, and its 9,000-seat arena, slated for completion in January.
Next to the VBC are a connected 295-room Embassy Suites and an adjacent 270-room Holiday Inn that will be joined in March by an adjacent 150-room Springhill Suites, part of a mixed-use development.
In a park across from the center is the Huntsville Museum of Art, which has meeting space and at press time was scheduled to open its new 21,000-square-foot wing Nov. 21.
Other off-site choices include downtown’s Alabama Constitution Village, which includes a replica of the place where delegates met in 1819 to organize Alabama as the 22nd state, and the 120-acre Huntsville Botanical Garden. The Rocket Center offers team building and can handle banquets for 4,000 people.
Among the city’s meetings-ready hotels are the 210-room Westin Huntsville, the 200-room Holiday Inn Huntsville Research Park and the 288-room Huntsville Marriott on the Rocket Center grounds.
Florence, 65 miles west on the Tennessee River, is one of 11 "Great Small American Towns," according to a Huffington Post listing in September.
"We have lots of recreation on the river," says Alison Stanfield, assistant director at Florence/Lauderdale Tourism. "We get state associations and all types of conferences and handle groups of 1,200."
She adds that three properties have opened this year: a Residence Inn, a Holiday Inn Express and a Comfort Suites.
Two major meetings properties are the 200-room Marriott Shoals Hotel & Spa, with more than 30,000 square feet of meeting space and two RTJ Trail courses, and Joe Wheeler State Park Resort Lodge.
Metro Region
Birmingham, Alabama’s largest city, anchors the Appalachian’s southern end. Once the South’s iron and steel center, it was nicknamed "Magic City" because of its dramatic early industrial growth.
"We have Southern charm, great dining, great attractions and a diversity of venues, and the international airport is only seven minutes from downtown," says Barry Hoehn, director of convention sales at the Greater Birmingham CVB, noting that business has picked up this year.
Downtown’s Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex (BJCC) includes a 220,000-square-foot exhibit hall. Adjoining it is the 770-room Sheraton Birmingham, with a 25,000-square-foot ballroom that completed a $22 million renovation last year.
In October, the city council approved $70 million in funding for a 300-room Westin hotel and an entertainment district next to the center. Groundbreaking is expected in early 2011 for a 2012 opening.
Metro meetings hotels include the 329-room Wynfrey Hotel at Riverchase Galleria Mall, the 291-room Birmingham Marriott and the 259-room Renaissance Birmingham Ross Bridge Golf Resort & Spa at Hoover, part of the RTJ Golf Trail.
Early this year the 208-suite Embassy Suites Birmingham-Hoover opened with over 12,000 square feet of meeting space, and in September the 104-room Hilton Garden Inn Birmingham/Trussville opened with 4,500 square feet.
In late October, the Shops of Grand River, a 330,000-square-foot outlet mall, opened in Leeds with the Barber Motorsports Park and Vintage Motorsports Museum, and Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World as its neighbors.
Such top attractions as the Civil Rights Museum, McWane Science Center, the Birmingham Museum of Art, the Birmingham Zoo and the Birmingham Botanical Gardens feature event space. Groups can also experience the industrial past at Sloss Furnaces National Historical Landmark and Vulcan Park & Museum, which have function space.
Located 60 miles southwest of Birmingham, Tuscaloosa is home to the University of Alabama and its Crimson Tide, which won the 2009 BCS championship.
The campus’ Bryant Conference Center, which can handle groups of 1,000 and is adjacent to the 150-room Hotel Capstone, with 8,300 square feet of meeting space, is the largest meeting facility.
Scheduled to open in early spring, the $16 million, 7,200-seat Tuscaloosa Amphitheatre is under construction downtown on the Black Warrior River.
Off-site choices include the 200-passenger Bama Belle paddle wheeler; the 1,100-seat historic Bama Theatre; the Mercedes-Benz Visitor Center; and the Jones Museum at Moundville Archaeological Park, inhabited by Native Americans until 1450 AD and where a $5 million expansion was unveiled in May.
River Heritage Region
Situated on the Alabama River, Montgomery has continued its downtown revival.
In 2008, Alabama’s capital and second-largest city unveiled the 345-room Renaissance Montgomery Hotel & Spa at the Convention Center, a project that included the doubling in size of the former civic center. The complex has more than 100,000 square feet of meeting space and an 1,800-seat performing arts center that has scheduled a Broadway show series.
"This has been huge for us. We have been able to go after more associations," says Jina Clark, marketing director at the Montgomery Area COC/CVB. "We already had the history, and now we have a different product with lots of choices, and we’re convenient and affordable."
The adjacent 237-room Embassy Suites Montgomery Hotel & Conference Center boasts a 10,300-square-foot ballroom. Nearby are the Hank Williams Museum and the Rosa Parks Museum. A few blocks away are the Riverwalk Stadium, home of the Montgomery Biscuits AA affiliate, as well as Riverwalk Amphitheater and the Harriott II riverboat, which debuted last year.
Also unveiled last year next to the convention center was The Alley, a new entertainment mall, and new downtown pedicab and horsedrawn carriage rides.
Ten minutes away, the Montgomery Marriott Prattville Hotel & Conference Center at Capitol Hill has 10,000 square feet of meeting space and the RTJ Trail’s 54-hole Capitol Hill Golf Course.
Another RTJ Golf Trail is located 56 miles northeast along Interstate 85: the 129-room Auburn Marriott Opelika at Grand National, with 15,000 square feet of meeting space and another 54 holes.
Promoted by the Auburn-Opelika Tourism Bureau, the twin cities of Auburn and Opelika have two other major facilities.
Downtown Opelika’s largest space opened last spring: the Event Center Downtown. Housed in a remodeled former Coca-Cola building, it includes a 7,700-square-foot divisible ballroom, meeting rooms and pre-function areas. Auburn has the 225-room Hotel at Auburn University & Dixon Conference Center, with 22,000 square feet of space.
Located between Montgomery and Auburn, Tuskegee University operates the 108-room Tuskegee Kellogg Conference Center, with 17,000 square feet of meeting space.
Gulf Coast Region
Alabama’s coastal area encompasses the port city of Mobile and the Gulf Coast, and the region recovered quickly after fallout from the recent Deepwater Horizon oil spill (see sidebar).
Alabama’s third-largest city and birthplace of Mardi Gras, Mobile has a history going back more than 300 years and has been governed under six flags, beginning with France.
"We have a thriving destination," says Stacy Hamilton, vice president, marketing at the Mobile Bay CVB. "Mobile’s waterfront has been revitalized in the last few years, stimulating growth and activities. We have a good mix of business. Sports is a big segment, national associations are becoming important—groups we would have got five years ago."
The CVB promotes the "Easy Walk Meetings Package," since the waterfront, 317,000-square-foot Arthur R. Outlaw Convention Center is within walking distance of 1,312 rooms in seven hotels.
In 2007, the city’s historic, restored Battle House Hotel, a Renaissance property, reopened with 238 rooms and 28,000 square feet of meeting space as part of a 39-story RSA tower complex. The same year, the nearby 375-room Riverview Plaza convention center headquarters hotel, featuring 44,000 square feet of meeting space, became a Renaissance following a $64 million facelift.
Coming in 2012 is GulfQuest, the National Maritime Museum of the Gulf of Mexico. The 90,000-square-foot facility is part of Mobile Landing, an area that includes the convention center, cruise terminal and a riverside park. Mobile is homeport for Carnival’s Elation, offering year-round Caribbean cruises.
Off-site venues include the Battleship USS Alabama and the Gulf Coast Exploreum Science Center. Among others are the Museum of Mobile, the Mobile Museum of Art, the 2,000-seat Saenger Theatre/Centre for the Living Arts and Magnolia Grove on the RTJ Trail.
On the eastern side of Mobile Bay, midway between Mobile and Gulf Shores, the 405-room Grand Hotel Marriott Resort Golf Club & Spa offers 35,000 square feet of meeting space and 36 RTJ Golf Trail holes.
Alabama’s Gulf Coast serves up 32 miles of sparkling beaches along a 30,000-acre island that is home to the cities of Gulf Shores and Orange Beach.
It delivers more than 15,000 accommodation units, 15 golf courses, plenty of nightlife and entertainment, cruises, fishing charters, nature trails and wildlife refuges.
"People who haven’t been here before are surprised by what we have to offer—the white-sand beaches, the golf, and they are blown away by the quality of the food," says Mike Foster, vice president, marketing at Gulf Shores and Orange Beach Tourism, the coast’s CVB.
Roughly 10 hotels can accommodate meetings, the largest being the 347-room Perdido Beach Resort, with 45,000 square feet of function space.
A new 160-room Hampton Inn & Suites with 5,000 square feet of meeting space will open in Orange Beach in March.
The newest venue, unveiled in March 2009, is Orange Beach’s Conference Center at The Wharf, with 27,000 square feet of function space. It is part of The Wharf, which includes more than 15 restaurants, a marina, condos and a 10,000-seat amphitheater.
Tony Bartlett has been covering the travel industry for more than 25 years.
