At Harrah’s New Orleans Hotel and Casino (www.caesars.com/harrahs-new- orleans), the event planning team recently arranged for a jazz band to perform a traditional Second Line processional during outdoor receptions in their Fulton Street promenade area, as a way of incorporating local culture and flavor into group programs.
From California to Cincinnati to Connecticut, here are other examples of resort casinos going to exceptional lengths to create extraordinary experiences for groups.
“Interrogate Reality”
As part of the program for MPI’s signature MidAmerica Conference (MAC), held in Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati in March 2015, Horseshoe Cincinnati Casino (www.caesars.com/horseshoe-cincinnati) hosted an evening event, co-sponsored by several business partners, based on the 2015 MAC theme of “Through the Looking Glass.” The creative solution, “Interrogate Reality,” was based on “Alice in Wonderland.”
The night’s magic began with each delegate receiving a vintage bottle of lemon and thyme elixir marked “Drink Me” as they boarded the bus for the casino. Upon arrival, each guest was then directed down the “Rabbit Hole,” a 40-foot long spandex tunnel with changing LED lighting leading to “Wonderland.” Dressed to resemble a vertical hanging garden, the first room featured crudite planted in edible dirt, sound effects that included crickets and frogs, green lighting and natural elements such as birch trees, moss and stone.
Next was a visit with the Mad Hatter for Afternoon Tea, in this case mushroom and beef consomme garnished with a fresh herb “tea bag.” With the sounds of a classical harpsichord filling the room, decor elements included a 24-foot center table adorned with rose topiaries and silver candelabra, and 30-foot drape lit with rotating rose and orange LED floral gobos.
Proceeding to the main room, the “Queens Court,” guests were greeted with black and red martinis as heart-shaped gobos and Cheshire Cat eyes danced on the walls. With an elevated DJ playing music above a 16-foot mirrored wall, guests took to the black-and-white checkered dance floor and enjoyed food stations in black and white cabanas, including a “library” of desserts in black and red. For the parting gift, guests received chocolate playing cards.
“If you build it, they will come...”
Challenged with finding enough space to accommodate a major group with delegates from 35 countries and with significant AV requirements accompanying their general session, Harrah’s Lake Tahoe and Harveys Lake Tahoe teamed up with their regular VIP event partner Destination Tahoe Meetings and Events (www.destination-tahoe.com) to create a solution.
Taking the approach of “if you build it they will come,” this resourceful team did not just think outside the box—they thought outside the building. Together, the sales and catering team and DMC created a 24,000-square-foot outdoor tented venue in the hotel’s main parking lot that would house the roughly 1,600 general session attendees, serve as the lunch location, and then be quickly transformed for the 1,300 guests attending the disco-themed dinner event.
PageBreakThe venue’s focal point was a massive stage, backed by seven translator booths and generous additional space in the prefunction tent. With the path from the hotel enhanced with additional greenery, decor and amenities such as carpeted flooring, green room, air conditioning and heating, luxury portable restrooms, and outdoor picnic tables.
With hundreds of staff completing the turn as soon as lunch finished, the evening event was spectacular. Dressed in linens and theatrical lighting, the tent also featured life-sized Rubik’s Cubes, a Pacman lounge, and a custom disco ball chandelier towering over the dance floor. After the buffet dinner, a nine-piece disco band took the stage and got the crowd, all in full costume, on their feet and dancing the night away.
Extra Steps
Back at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut, the meetings and conventions team routinely provides unique, customized experiences for groups.
When a wholesale grocery customer announced that it would be distributing a landmark restaurant’s tomato sauce, the Foxwoods team transformed one of its ballrooms to replicate the restaurant, down to details including the black and white celebrity photos on the walls. The culinary team, meanwhile, worked with the client on customizing the menu to incorporate the new product for a 1,000-attendee dining event.
On another occasion, the resort hosted a retreat for the coaches and executive staff of a legendary New York basketball team. Talk about a slam dunk: Foxwoods went on a full-court decor and redecorating press. Highlights included customizing two floors of the Fox Tower Hotel by wrapping elevators and windows with the team’s logo and colors; adding color gels in the team colors to all hallway lighting and sconces; and placing “fatheads” of players throughout the rooms, hallways and lounges.
Additionally, all artwork on the guest floors was replaced with photos of current and past team players, while in the team’s hospitality suite, the pool table was re-felted with the team colors and its logo, and a photo mural of NYC was papered on one full wall of the suite. Foxwoods even went as far as to decorate the housekeeping carts on the team floors with their logo and team colors.
