While Monterey, Carmel and Santa Cruz boast plenty of hotels, resorts and conference centers conducive for productive meetings, it’s what lies outside of the meeting rooms that may be even more important. Just minutes away are inspiring natural areas ranging from dramatic sea cliffs to redwood forests and oak-studded valleys.
“When a meeting comes here, we stress the fact that there’s so much reason to go outside, to breathe the fresh air,” says David Lambert, director of sales and marketing for the Hyatt Regency Monterey. “When you come to Monterey [County], you escape the big cities. You’re walking in Big Sur, wine tasting in the Carmel Valley.”
That being said, planners will find the region is upping the ante on the quality of its indoor appeal, with new and improved hotels and off-site venues.
Monterey
Monterey, once California’s capital and principal settlement, retains its historic appeal with a downtown where early 19th century adobe houses comingle with inviting shops, bayside restaurants and meeting venues.
Chief among the venues is the 61,000-square-foot Monterey Conference Center and the adjacent Portola Hotel & Spa, which recently received LEED Silver certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. Other properties near the conference center include the Hotel Pacific, Hilton Garden Inn Monterey, Monterey Marriott and Casa Munras Hotel.
“For the conference center, our sweet spot is between 500 and 2,000 delegates—we’re not trying to compete with San Francisco’s Moscone Center,” says Tammy Blount, CEO of the Monterey County CVB. “We’re seeing great growth in the corporate meetings and incentive market these days.”
With business on the upswing, the CVB has ramped up its services for meeting planners by adding dedicated staff, she adds.
“We’ve been beefing up our destinations services to help with venue selection, itinerary planning and other value-adds for planners,” she says. “One important service is helping find local experts to speak at meetings—we have some very interesting people in our community.”
Located about a two-hour drive from San Francisco, Monterey’s biggest market for meetings is the Bay Area and Silicon Valley as well as Sacramento, Blount says, adding that organizations tend to be repeat customers.
“We offer so many different types of experiences and venues that you can come back and get a whole new experience each time,” she says.
Cannery Row, where the Monterey Bay Aquarium offers outstanding marine exhibits and event spaces, is lined with restaurants, bars and quirky shops. Its newest attraction is the Cannery Row Brewing Company, which features 73 brews on tap and 2,500 square feet of event space. Cannery Row is also the location of two major meetings hotels, the Monterey Bay Plaza Hotel and Spa and InterContinental.
Located along Del Monte Golf Course, the 575-room Hyatt Regency Monterey, the largest hotel between the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles, recently completed a $60 million renovation and opened a spa.
Carmel
Just south of Monterey, Carmel encompasses two destinations with distinct characters of their own: Carmel Valley and the village of Carmel-by-the-Sea.
Inland and sunny, Carmel Valley is a wine and golf mecca that sports some of the region’s most celebrated resorts, including Bernardus Lodge Carmel Valley Ranch and Quail Lodge & Golf Club, The hotel portion of Quail Lodge closed in 2009 (the golf club remained open) but will reopen in April following a property-wide renovation of all guest rooms and meeting space.
“We have seen improvement in the economy and have thoughtfully developed a new business model that we believe will enable the resort to operate profitably,” says Sarah Cruse, the property’s general manager.
In Carmel village, the historic La Playa Carmel reopened in August following a renovation of its 75 guest rooms and meeting space. Surrounded by gardens, the hotel offers outdoor and indoor event spaces.
Commanding stellar views atop the cliffs is Park Hyatt Carmel Highlands Inn, with 5,000 square feet of meeting space and accommodations that include townhouse-style suites with spa tubs and fireplaces.
Nearby Escapes
Between Monterey and Carmel, upscale Pebble Beach is celebrated for both its spectacular coastal scenery and some of the world’s most celebrated golf courses. Its three properties, Inn at Spanish Bay, The Lodge at Pebble Beach and Casa Palmero, all have access to the oceanfront Spa at Pebble Beach, an equestrian center and tennis facilities.
Bordered by Monterey and Pebble Beach, Pacific Grove exudes small-town charm with a classic main street and neighborhoods of quaint wooden cottages. It is also home to Asilomar Conference Grounds, nestled amid sand dunes and cypress groves and offering distinctive accommodations and meeting spaces, many designed by Hearst Castle architect Julia Morgan.
Santa Cruz
On the northern side of Monterey Bay, Santa Cruz County is a magnet for meeting attendees who want to enjoy a diverse natural environment only an hour from Silicon Valley, says Christina Glynn, communications director for the Santa Cruz Conference and Visitors Council.
“We market ourselves as the destination that goes from mountains to the sea—you can literally go from redwood forests to the seaside in just minutes,” she says. “We’re a drive market that caters primarily to Silicon Valley and the Bay Area.”
A new choice for meetings is the Hotel Paradox, a boutique-style property on the site of a former Holiday Inn. With forest-themed design elements that include a wall-sized photograph of redwoods, the 164-room hotel offers a 4,400-square-foot ballroom—the largest in Santa Cruz—and a cabana-lined pool deck available for events.
Other group-oriented properties include Chaminade, which includes an IACC-certified conference center, and Seascape Resort Monterey Bay, a beachfront property in nearby Aptos with 17,000 square feet of meeting space and an adjacent golf course.
Off-site venues include Roaring Camp, with event spaces and a train excursion through redwood forests; Seymour Marine Discovery Center, an aquarium and research center with space overlooking the bay; and Hollins House, a hilltop historic mansion with expansive views.
Maria Lenhart is a San Francisco-based freelancer who grew up in Santa Cruz County. Her favorite stop for Mexican seafood is Tacqueria Mundial, located between Santa Cruz and Monterey in Watsonville.
