If you come to Missouri once for a meeting, there is a good chance you’ll be back.
"Missouri surprises people," says Susan Gray, president of MAC Meetings and Events, a St. Louis-based event management company.
What’s so surprising? The state’s accessibility, affordability, number and variety of meeting facilities, and too many attractions to list. Plus, many hotels continue to upgrade and the state is at the forefront of the downtown live-work culture revival that is de rigueur.
St. Louis Area
Urban renewal is one of the millennium’s buzz phrases, but St. Louis was one of the leaders of this pack. A whopping $3.7 billion has been spent on downtown revitalization efforts. St. Louis is actually growing in population, and the attractions, entertainment choices and unique meeting venues with the soaring Gateway Arch not far from view continue to enchant groups.
"Actually, I think St. Louis is underestimated when it comes to what it can offer for meetings," Gray says.
In fact, St. Louis Art Museum, Grant’s Farm (former home of Ulysses S. Grant), the Missouri History Museum, the St. Louis Science Center and the city’s zoo are all free.
"The St. Louis Zoo is either No. 1 or 2 in the country, alongside the San Diego Zoo," Gray notes. "I think the ranking depends on who just did the latest and greatest exhibit."
Primary meeting facilities begin with the America’s Center convention complex in the heart of downtown, which offers 502,000 square feet exhibit space. The facility boasts the St. Louis Executive Conference Center, a 1,411-seat Ferrara Theatre, a 28,000-square-foot ballroom, the 67,000-seat Edward Jones Dome and 83 meeting rooms.
Almost 8,000 hotel rooms are located within a mile of America’s Center. The many group-focused properties include the $500 million Lumiere Place casino complex, which features the 294-room HoteLumiere and a 200-room Four Seasons property. The underground Lumiere Link pedestrian walkway connects delegates to the Edward Jones Dome and America’s Center.
The Renaissance Grand and Suites Hotel, adjacent to America’s Center, offer 875 rooms. Meanwhile, the 910-room Hyatt Regency St. Louis Riverfront (formerly the Adam’s Mark Hotel), located across from the famed Gateway Arch, recently finished a $63 million renovation. And just across from Busch Stadium, the Hilton St. Louis at the Ballpark offers 672 guest rooms and recently completed a renovation. And the St. Louis Union Station Marriott, formerly the Hyatt Regency at Union Station, in the city’s Victorian-era railroad station, is another good pick for groups. Meanwhile, the historic Chase Park Plaza hotel recently added 89 rooms. And the Crowne Plaza St. Louis Downtown offers 16,000 square feet of meeting space.
In the outlying areas of the city, communities such as Chesterfield, Clayton, Lambert and Westport offer meetings-friendly hotels. Among the options are the Doubletree Hotel and Conference Center St. Louis, the Sheraton Westport Plaza Hotel, Harrah’s St. Louis, the Sheraton Westport Chalet Hotel St. Louis, the Renaissance St. Louis Hotel Airport, the Hilton St. Louis Airport and the Sheraton Clayton Plaza Hotel St. Louis.
St. Louis delivers on the gaming front and offers a new option that opened earlier this year. The $380 million River City Casino in Lemay is decked out in the look of a Missouri riverboat town.
Saint Charles, a suburb 20 miles northwest of downtown St. Louis, is home to the 154,000-square-foot Saint Charles Convention Center, with an attached 296-unit Embassy Suites and more than 500 hotel rooms within walking distance. Nearby are the Ameristar Casino and the town’s Historic Main Street, with cobblestone streets and quaint boutiques.
Kansas City and Environs
A great location combined with picturesque fountains (second only to Rome in number), interesting attractions and a revitalization boom are drawing more and more groups. The city is part of a metro area that also encompasses Kansas City, Kan., and Overland Park, Kan.
Kansas City’s downtown revival is the subject of a documentary, The Next American Dream, which has been airing on PBS affiliates around the country. The Seville, Spain-inspired Country Club Plaza and the many fountains do add to a European vibe and make for a nice juxtaposition with the all-American mainstays that Kansas City is known for: barbeque and jazz.
"We’ve done a bit of a shift in the activities we can offer in the last five years," says Keli O’Neill-Wenzel, president of O’Neill Event Management, a Kansas City-based full-service destination management company.
"There are more venues to hold events and receptions because of downtown revitalization," she says.
The $850 million Power & Light District is a nine-block entertainment district (named after the Art Deco Kansas City Power & Light Building) that links the Kansas City Convention Center and the 18,500-seat Sprint Arena that opened in 2008.
O’Neill-Wenzel says groups are increasingly interested in the Crossroads Arts District, which features dozens of galleries in renovated warehouses, live music venues and many eclectic restaurants, including one operated by celebrity chef Lidia Bastianich.
She says must-sees in KC are the National World War I Museum at Liberty Memorial and the new 18th and Vine museum complex that houses the Negro League Baseball Museum and the American Jazz Museum.
The 1912-built Gem Theater, which hosts the museum’s annual national jazz concert series, is available for groups of 20 to 500 people for meetings and events.
The largest group hotel is the 983-room Kansas City Marriott Downtown, adjacent to the convention center, which offers 93,400 square feet of meeting space. The recently renovated Hilton President Kansas City, located in the Power & Light District, is another meetings-ready choice. Crowne Plaza Kansas City Downtown, formerly a Radisson, completed an extensive renovation last year. Westin Crown Center and Hyatt Regency Crown Center, both of which finished renovations last summer, offer a combined 1,400 rooms and 96,000 square feet of meeting space.
The $400 million Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts will open next year. And the first Schlitterbahn Waterpark outside Texas is expected to open in phases through 2011.
East of Kansas City, in the town of Independence, the 5,800-seat Independence Events Center debuted last year. An hour north of the city is St. Joseph, where the Pony Express began and where Jesse James was killed. More than 50 sites listed on the National Register of Historic Places and 13 museums are featured here.
North of Kansas City is Riverside, home to the Argosy Casino Hotel & Spa, with 250 guest rooms, 18,000 square feet of meeting space, a spa and a Mediterranean-themed casino.
Central Missouri
Jefferson City has hosted statesmen since becoming the state capital in 1821. The city, which is situated along the Missouri River, offers a central location, a quaint downtown district and loads of interesting attractions, in addition to a variety of meeting venues.
A major attraction is the Missouri State Capitol, with the Missouri State Museum situated on the first floor. A series of Thomas Hart Benton murals are featured in the House Lounge. Lewis and Clark passed beneath the bluff upon which the capital was built on their historic expedition. Another top attraction, which opened last year, is the Missouri State Penitentiary. The prison was 100 years old when Alcatraz began accepting inmates. In the late 1960s, Time magazine called the prison the "bloodiest 47 acres in America."
Once attendees have explored the lives of lawmakers and lawbreakers, the bustling Central Dairy offers popular ice cream treats.
The 255-room Capitol Plaza Hotel and Convention Center includes 22,000 square feet of meeting space. Other options include Doubletree Hotel Jefferson City and Truman Hotel and Conference Center.
The small-town-meets-big-city vibe is apparent in the city of Columbia, located just north of the capital. The town is surrounded by colleges and packs a punch with plenty of attractions, nightlife and live music.
Foodies in the group will be happy to note that Columbia boasts more than 200 restaurants. Cafe Berlin offers pancake burritos and live music. Encore Wine and Dessert Bar boasts hometown favorite "tira-mizzou" and the almost-too-pretty-to-eat Raspberry Miroir. The venue can accommodate private parties from 10 to 300 people.
The main meetings property is the 311-room Holiday Inn Executive Center-Columbia Mall, which includes 15,340 square feet of meeting space, and the adjacent Columbia Expo Center, with 18,000 square feet of exhibit space.
More group-ready hotels include the Hampton Inn & Suites-Columbia at the University of Missouri, Hilton Garden Inn Columbia, Days Inn Hotel & Conference Center and Stoney Creek Inn & Conference Center.
Boone County Fairgrounds, the University of Missouri’s 14,000-seat Mizzou Arena and the Midway Expo Center provide additional choices for large events.
Situated south of Jefferson City and Columbia, the Lake of the Ozarks region attracts millions of visitors every year. The lake is a reservoir that includes more miles of shoreline than either California or Florida. Osage Beach, Lake Ozark, Lake West, Versailles, Eldon and Camdenton are the charming cities tucked into the region. The area offers 6,700 hotel rooms, 18 golf courses and plenty of outdoor venues with lake views.
"The lake is the main attraction," says Vicki Schveninger, director of sales for Lake of the Ozarks CVB’s Kansas City office. "We are mostly a drive-to meeting city, but we are slowly doing more national business. The airport in Springfield is only about an hour away."
The newest resort, Camden on the Lake, offers 9,000 square feet of meeting space. Other group properties include Tan-Tar-A-Resort, the Lodge of Four Seasons, the Country Club Hotel & Spa, Resort at Port Arrowhead, Inn at Grand Glaize and Old Kinderhook Resort.
Southwest Missouri
Missouri is the Show-Me State, after all, and in Branson there’s always a show going on whether the performance is manmade or created by the natural world.
"Right now, there are over 100 shows going on," says Terra Heithaus, meetings project manager for the Branson/Lakes Area CVB.
Branson is home to more than 40 theaters and features ventriloquists, a cappella acts, rock music and musicians who create music with lighters and chainsaws.
"We don’t just feature country music," Heithaus says. "Although we do have plenty of that."
Mother Nature performs for attendees, too. The Branson Lakes Area has three pristine lakes with hundreds of miles of shoreline, as well as more than 100,000 acres of city, state, federal and privately owned wilderness areas open to visitors. Heithaus gives her thumbs-up to Dogwood Canyon Nature Park, where groups can enjoy a canyon cookout, tram tours, fly-fishing clinics and horseback riding.
Branson is more accessible than ever thanks to the newly developed Branson Airport, which opened in May 2009. The new airport offers non-stop flights from 11 cities, including Milwaukee, Atlanta and Denver.
On the meeting facilities front, the 220,000-square-foot Branson Convention Center and the adjacent properties, the Hilton Branson Convention Center Hotel and Hilton Promenade at Branson Landing, earned Certified Green status from the Missouri Hotel and Lodging Association. Plus, the Radisson Hotel Branson recently debuted new guest rooms.
The largest meetings hotel, the 301-room Chateau on the Lake Resort & Spa, has 43,500 square feet of meeting space. Among the other options are the Big Cedar Lodge and the StoneBridge Village and Resort.
Springfield, the state’s third-largest city, offers affordability and plenty of room to get comfortable, thanks to more than 6,000 hotel rooms. The city can accommodate groups of to up 12,000.
"Springfield is one of the least expensive cities in the country for meetings," says Susan Wade, public relations manager for the Springfield CVB. "That’s according to the Corporate Travel Index."
The city is home to the largest and original Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World and Fantastic Caverns, America’s only ride-through cave. Wonders of Wildlife, another popular attraction, is undergoing a renovation and is expected to open in spring 2011. Wade says it offers unique spaces for events and receptions.
The Springfield Exposition Center boasts 112,000 square feet of meeting and convention space, and is located across the street from the University Plaza Hotel.
Group-ready hotels include the Doubletree Hotel Springfield, Holiday Inn Hotel and Suites, and the Ramada Oasis Convention Center.
Joplin, a city that includes 2,500 hotel rooms, is situated near Kansas and Oklahoma. It offers a zoo, the historic Route 66 and a museum that details the infamous escapades of outlaws Bonnie and Clyde.
Venue choices include Holiday Inn Joplin and the John Q. Hammons Convention and Trade Center, Joplin Memorial Hall and a La Quinta Inn.
