Albany
The biggest news in town is the new convention center, combined with the media attention and local investment it has already begun to draw in, according to Schuyler Bull, director of marketing for the Albany County CVB.
“Construction kicked off with an implosion of an old existing building on the site,” Bull says. “It literally kicked off with a bang.”
With work under way, the Albany Convention Center is scheduled for completion in late 2016 or early 2017. It will drastically expand the variety of events and gatherings the city is capable of hosting.
“We’re diversifying the business we go after and putting in new, bigger bids, including for a few NCAA sporting events over the next few years,” Bull says.
Scaled down from original plans, the $66 million center will offer a 25,000-square-foot multipurpose room, 18,000 square feet of prefunction space and a 10,000-square-foot junior ballroom.
“The impact is already evident,” he says. “Hotel upgrades are under way and we’re expecting more investment as well.”
Lodging projects include a renovation and reflagging of the 74 State Hotel, which became the Fairfield Inn & Suites Albany Downtown. The historic building features 74 guest rooms and a boardroom.
The 200-room DeWitt Clinton Hotel will be renovated and rebranded as a Renaissance by Marriott. Slated to open in July, it will debut a year or two earlier than the convention center, which it will be connected to when both are completed. The DeWitt Clinton will offer meeting space, including a ballroom, in addition to other amenities.
The convention center will have access to more than 1,000 area hotel rooms, and can be combined with the 15,000-seat Times Union Center Arena and the Empire State Plaza Convention Center.
“Big groups can book any combination of the three venues, allowing great flexibility,” Bull says.
However, Albany hopes to retain its standard draws for meeting planners, being a smaller, affordable destination with easy access from Boston, Montreal and New York City.
Bull also encourages planners to leave time for attendees to explore the region’s bountiful nature offerings, including the John Boyd Thatcher State Park, where attendees can hike a trail that runs behind a waterfall, the Albany Pine Bush Preserve and Cohoes Falls, the second-largest waterfall in the state after Niagara Falls.
History-oriented venues include the New York State Capitol, which hosts receptions; the New York State Museum; and the Albany Institute of History and Art, which originally opened in 1791 and is full of great exhibits and plenty of meeting space.
“The big new trends are culinary, sustainability and experiential travel,” Bull says.
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The CVB has found success with planning dine-arounds for groups, offering attendees vouchers and letting them explore. Reel Seafood on Wolf Road, a commercial corridor popular with groups due to its high hotel density, also can accommodate large gatherings.
There is a new event space, Events at 677, above an upscale steakhouse of the same name in downtown, and the city will once again offer its Spirit of Albany program, where local mixologists concoct custom cocktail recipes that characterize the vibrant energy of the city.
“Albany has something new to offer every season,” Bull says.
Summer kicks off with the annual tulip festival, which will run for the 67th time in 2015, there’s track season in Saratoga to the north, and fall brings beautiful foliage.
Saratoga Springs
Thirty minutes from Albany, Saratoga Springs is seeing a few developments as well, in addition to increased interest from incentive groups.
In 2014, the Pavilion Grand Hotel opened, a 48-rooom, high-end boutique property located in the center of downtown. A new Embassy Suites is also scheduled to come online this spring, revamping a historic building downtown and set to feature roughly 6,000 square feet of meeting space.
Todd Garofano, president of the Saratoga Springs Convention and Tourism Bureau, reports that the convention center recently received approval to construct a new 500-space parking garage attached to the center.
In preparation for the opening of the Albany Convention Center, Saratoga Springs is looking to cast a wider net and bring in a wider variety of groups, expanding the sales team with a new position that will focus on corporate, incentive and small groups. According to Garofano, those segments have seen a comeback recently, especially on the incentive side during horseracing season at the Saratoga Race Course.
“Saratoga Springs is a resort destination,” he says “Especially for visitors from major East Coast cities who want to come for racing season or a summer escape.”
Another growth segment for the city is technology. Garofano reports that the last three to four years have seen an increase in tech-related conferences, which are drawn to Saratoga Springs by the semiconductor industry that has sprung up there. For planners, this means that venues are outfitted with the latest bells and whistles for conferences that require heavy technology use, and that staff and local businesses are accustomed to dealing with international visitors.
For dining, he recommends groups host a meal at the new DZ Farm. The company owns three restaurants in town, and took farm-to-table to a new level when it purchased a farm to grow produce, train chefs and host teambuilding programs and outdoor tented events.
