Museums & Attractions
- The new Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Fla., debuted in January, doubling its size from its former location to 66,450 square feet in order to showcase works of art from a 2,140-piece collection. Construction for the new building began last December. For more information, call 727.823.3767.
Programs & Packages
- The Ritz-Carlton, Cancun is offering a new team-building experience at its Viking Culinary Center: the Extreme Chef competition. Extreme Chef is a stylized cook-off featuring two teams challenging one another in a timed cooking battle built around a specific theme. Guests need to prepare a menu utilizing a secret ingredient, which is inspired by the resort's location and relates to Mexican cuisine. The resort's chef, Rory Dunaway, then acts as a judge, considering the flavor, presentation and creativity. The Viking Culinary Center also offers cooking classes and private sessions for groups. For more information, call 011.52.998.881.0808 or 800.241.3333.
Tech Update
- The National Conference Center, in Leesburg, Va., recently introduced a QR-Coded Green Tour of the conference center. QR Codes (Quick Response) are two-dimensional barcodes designed to decode content at high speed. Guests can download an appropriate QR application for their smartphones, such as the universally compatible ScanLife app, and use the app to take a 12-stop multimedia green tour that includes green transportation efforts, green history, sustainable initiatives in the kitchen and green meetings. Each stop features a posted QR Code with information about the property's green initiatives. For more information, call 703.729.8000.
Kudos
- StarCite recently partnered with the Green Hotels Global program to provide planners with a source for environmental information about hotel properties worldwide. Properties that are members of the Green Hotels Global program are identified within the StarCite supplier database. Room night and event-related environmental metrics from each property are available during the online sourcing process. Member hotels can report the carbon footprint, energy consumption, water usage and waste generation associated with room-night usage and event bookings. For more information, call 408.562.3388.
Personnel Profile
- The Georgia World Congress Center Authority recently hired Tim Trefzera as the first sustainability coordinator of its facilities.