From the red rocks to the blue sky, Utah is a land of contrasts, and just as it has long been known as a home base for groups seeking adventure, the state’s urban centers and high-end resorts now set the stage for refined meetings and events.
Salt Lake City
Salt Lake’s downtown Renaissance was cemented in March 2012 with the opening of the 23-acre City Creek Center. A trout-filled creek runs through the middle of the multibillion-dollar project, a replica of City Creek, which once ran through town and was Salt Lake City’s original water source. A center of life 165 years ago when the Great Salt Lake was first settled, the downtown neighborhood has reemerged as a welcoming, walkable destination for visitors and residents alike.
“Our unique calling card is being very friendly and affordable,” says Mark White, vice president of sales at Visit Salt Lake. “Those attributes mesh especially well with certain groups that like the safety that our city has to offer.”
City Creek is home to 110 shops and restaurants and was recently named the “best retail development” in the country by the 2012 International Property Awards. Anchor stores include Nordstrom and Macy’s.
For planners seeking a classic atmosphere, Lambs Grill on Main Street seats 60 guests in its private banquet room or 220 in the entire restaurant. Founded in 1919 and originally located in Logan, Utah, the grill has been a long-standing home to local business power brokers and tourists alike.
“We also have an affinity for healthy living and certain groups gravitate here because of that as well,” White says, adding that the city’s largest event is the summer Outdoor Retailer trade show, which brings in approximately 25,000 people and is hosted at the Salt Palace Convention Center. (The associated winter trade show is slightly smaller.)
In April, the Utah Transit Authority opened a new light rail line running from Salt Lake City International Airport to the downtown convention district in about 20 minutes for a cost of $2.50. Once downtown, attendees can travel throughout the City Creek Center and the surrounding area for free.
Newer cultural venues include the Utah Museum of Natural History, set in the foothills above the city and offering spectacular views from the Sky Gallery and Terrace, which also showcase some of the museum’s green features.
The Canyon, the signature space at the museum’s new Rio Tinto Center, can seat 350 for after-hours events. Private gallery strolls can be added, allowing guests to explore historic exhibits that detail the history of the Great Salt Lake, local ecology and the area’s five native nations: Shoshone, Goshute, Paiute, Ute and Navajo.PageBreak
Four blocks from the convention center is the Leonardo Museum, named for Leonardo da Vinci and inspired by his blending of science, technology and art. Event spaces include a 194-person auditorium and a 50-person meeting room, and museum buyouts for up to 2,000 guests are also available. The Leo is unique and thought-provoking, with exhibits including an investigation into the formation of individual personalities, the immersive Hylozoic Veil art piece by Toronto artist Philip Beesley and a lab where guests can watch artists-in-residence at work or create something of their own.
Meanwhile, the 775-room Grand American Hotel is the quintessential embodiment of Western opulence in Salt Lake, with 75,000 square feet of function space, including ornately decorated ballrooms, as well as a Grand Spa, French patisserie and specialty toy boutique.
Park City
Carolyn Creek-McCallister, sales manager for the Park City Chamber/CVB, reports that both leads and booked business have increased so far this year in the destination, especially in the SMERF and corporate markets.
“Groups business as a whole has been up from both state and national markets,” she says, noting that groups have also begun booking further ahead. “Things are trending upward,” September is already booked out this year at most of our properties and we’re seeing a six-month window instead of three months.”
Being one of the most accessible mountain meeting destinations in North America offers great positioning for Park City, and Creek-McCallister is quick to remind planners that it’s only 30 minutes from Salt Lake City International Airport to a chairlift.
“It’s a major point of differentiation for us,” she says. “Especially during the winter months.”
With three world-class ski resorts—Deer Valley, Canyons and Park City Mountain—the winter season is always booked, so the CVB targets its marketing efforts toward spring, summer and fall, which are also the more affordable seasons for groups.
“The busy season starts to wind down in April and we head into the value season, which is popular with planners,” she says.
Downtown Park City comes alive during the warmer months, filling up with street festivals, live music and free cultural events along the historic main street, from the classical tunes of the Beethoven Festival Park City to the mucking and drill competitions of the annual Labor Day Miner’s Day celebration.
A notable meetings upgrade was the unveiling of a new ballroom in May at the upscale Stein Eriksen Lodge. The new space practically doubled the property’s meetings offerings, which already included a 4,050-square-foot Olympic Conference Center ballroom, three boardrooms and prefunction space, as well as group packages and off-site destination management planning. PageBreak
Utah Valley
The new Utah Valley Convention Center opened last spring in downtown Provo, adding more than 83,000 square feet of LEED-certified function space, including a 5,500-square-foot rooftop garden.
Provo’s other primary conference venues are the Provo Marriott Hotel and Confer ence Center, Robert Redford’s Sundance Resort, with 95 guest cottages and 12,800 square feet of meeting space, and Thanksgiving Point, with 55 acres of themed gardens and a Show Barn that can seat 1,000 people.
Northern & Southern Utah
As you travel north from the capital city along the shores of the Great Salt Lake, the former frontier town of Ogden welcomes large groups at the 150-acre Golden Spike Event Center, the Ogden Eccles Event Center downtown, where groups can utilize 70,000 square feet of conference space, and the 840-seat Peerys Egyptian Theater, which is a screening location during the Sundance Film Festival.
Rich Koski, director of sales for Visit Ogden says his city is popular because of its proximity to Salt Lake and recommends the Ogden Junction and the Salomon Center for groups, with indoor skydiving, surfing and rock climbing.
Smaller groups can rest their heads at the historic Ben Lomond Suites hotel, one of Utah’s last remaining “grand hotels” or host a reception at Union Station downtown, which houses cultural institutions such as the Utah State Railroad Museum, John M. Browning Firearms Museum and Browning Kimball Car Museum.
Lodging updates include the new 120-room Hilton Garden Inn downtown and a conversion of the former Ogden Marriott to the new 14,000-square-foot Summitt Hotel and Conference Center. Hampton Inn & Suites is scheduled to complete a room renovation in May.
In the southern reaches of the state, St. George boasts a comparably temperate climate and an assortment of cultural activities. The Tuacahn Amphitheater puts on Broadway shows and rents out its costumes and facilities, including a 2,000-seat outdoor amphitheater, the indoor Hafen theater, seating 300, classrooms and dance studios.
Also down south, the city of Moab may first bring to mind images of hiking, climbing and desert exploring, but the town of approximately 5,000 people is also home to luxury resorts such as Sorrell River Ranch, which can be used as a secluded meeting location for executive retreats and ranch buyouts, or serve as a home base for exploring the area’s popular outdoor excursions and national parks.
