NORTHEAST
At the 942-room Resorts Casino Hotel, the very first casino to open in Atlantic City in 1978, the meeting-services team uses every inch of the property to help planners execute their events. Along with 64,000 flexible square feet of modern meeting space,
including 24 meeting and function rooms with ocean views and a 13,000 square-foot ballroom, the staff can help arrange private events at in-house restaurants such as Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville, which can serve up to 580 people, and the Landshark
Bar & Grill, which seats 500.
The casino meetings team also presides over the hotel’s Resorts Conference Center, added in 2015 and devoted to group meetings. Planners using this 12,000-square-foot facility and its 6,500-square-foot Atlantic
Ballroom can rely on the staff to help devise a doable agenda, supply just the right dining for the occasion and manage a suite of high-tech features including cinema-quality DLP projection with oversized drop-down screens.
The adage of there being strength in numbers holds especially true in the conventions and meetings industry. It takes a phalanx of skilled, dedicated and accommodating professionals to deliver an incredible meeting experience — which is exactly the mission
of the meetings staff at the 1,996-room Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Md. The talented support staff here likes to fuss over the details, from A/V to F&B, from breakout room to ballroom and indeed every square inch
of the resort’s total 546,000 square feet of meeting and event space.
Meetings are certainly no afterthought at the luxurious 262-room Trump International Hotel in the nation’s capital, where the events team draws rave reviews from planners for their expertise, geniality and overall excellence is helping on-property gatherings
surpass all expectations. They keep meetings humming at a property with 38,000 square feet of associated space that includes the 13,200-square-foot Presidential Ballroom, which can accommodate receptions for groups of up to 1,335.
SOUTHEAST
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The events team at the 369-room Margaritaville Hollywood Beach Resort in South Florida has a lot to recommend it — including a lot of clients (Home Depot, HSMAI, Pike Electric, et al.) who have praised the staff for its meticulous attention to detail
and ability to produce fantastic functions. Indeed, the team here features two full-time certified meeting planners, while the conference-services staff is dedicated to on-site execution at every event regardless of weekday or weekend.
The
resort has 30,000 square feet of flexible indoor/outdoor meeting space, and the events crew keeps all the plates spinning with custom touches tailored to the group, whether fun team-building exercises, related entertainment or clever culinary tie-ins.
The F&B staff especially delights in creating custom banquet menus and food options that speak personally to the group.
The extraordinary guest rooms, dining, meeting space and more are brought to life by the most valued component at the award-winning Rosen Centre in Orlando — an enthusiastic staff whose turnover rate is a fraction of the national average in the hospitality
industry. The 1,334-room property’s owner, Harris Rosen, empowers his employees to provide unparalleled customer service and quick decisions to avoid red tape. Indeed, planners and guests alike are embraced as members of the Rosen family. Total on-site
meeting/event space comes to 150,000 square feet.
Home of the most meeting space in Key West — 11,000 square feet of indoor space plus a variety of outdoor terraces and beach options — the 311-room Casa Marina Key West is also home base for a hands-on team of events-industry veterans who assist planners
by way of smart solutions, reassuring responsiveness, and the ability to find just the right hospitality suite or outdoor space to make an on-site event come to life.
In Delray Beach, Fla., the 28-suites/villas Crane's Beach House is justly proud of a loyal staff whose members have long been known for their enthusiastic service and resourcefulness in helping guests enjoy their stay and planners accomplish their group’s
goals. Recent events include a “Best Bite” feast for a group of 200 in which local restaurants supplied the goods in vying for best-bite honors, while fun contests marked a fundraiser to support year-end holiday packages for military servicemen and
women fighting overseas.
MIDWEST
In the secluded enclave of Lincolnshire, Ill., on Chicago's North Shore, the 390-room Lincolnshire Marriott Resort fields an army of 350 employees in all, many who have been with the property for over 25 years. Such devotion reflects well on the resort’s
impeccable support of in-house meetings and events, which unfold on 63,348 square feet of dedicated space, including the 10,080-square-foot Grand Ballroom, that can hold up to 800 for a banquet and 1,200 for a reception..
Here the event
team works with planners to help them determine an overall vision for the gathering, set a budget, decide on a menu, determine technology needs, find florists/vendors, etc. Numerous on-site venues include 30 meeting rooms, the 10,080-square-foot Grand
Ballroom and three spacious outdoor pavilions with impressive views of the North Shore.
Able to accommodate functions of anywhere from 109 to 10,000 guests in a total of more than 26,300 square feet of meeting space, the 500-room Radisson Blu Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn., takes a personal approach to on-site gatherings. It starts
with a warm welcome by the events staff to every planner upon arrival, goes above and beyond via touches such as using the company’s brand colors to help build a banquet theme, and takes advantage of proximity to the amazing Mall of America (connected
to the hotel by skyway) to arrange for memorable experiences in its restaurants, shops and attractions.
With a specialized group of on-site staff members at the ready for events, team building, recreational activities, catering and more, the 356-room Grand Geneva Resort & Spa delivers outstanding attendee experiences among some 1,300 acres in the woodlands
of Lake Geneva, Wis. The resort provides 62,000 square feet of conference space, including the 13,770-square-foot pillarless Forum seating up to 1,800.
SOUTHWEST
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A team that boldly steps up to the plate is a team ready for greatness, and in the case of the event team at the 250-room Texas A&M Hotel and Conference Center in College Station, a bold approach means that great gatherings are in the offing. The hotel
is IACC-approved, signifying that its facilities, services and other important meetings criteria represent the best the industry has to offer.
The property’s conference facilities span a full 35,000 square feet, and the meetings and catering
departments are there to help in any way, whether to help arrange an in-house banquet for 500 people or to set up an education session at a site on the surrounding Texas A&M University campus, whether assisting with charity function in the 8,205-square-foot
Century Ballroom or arranging appropriate audiovisual resources for a hybrid conference in the 109-square-foot Honor Boardroom. All meetings and events are given the same high level of care.
The 784-room Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, Colo., strives to deliver an unrivaled meeting experience through exceptional service and the warm, gracious manner of the staff, and to that end the resort offers more than 50 classes to employees that not
only teach the basics of hospitality, but the standards set forth by both the Forbes Travel Guide and the American Automobile Association (AAA) for Five-Star and Five-Diamond service. While the standards are complex, the basics are simple: treat everyone
you encounter like your personal guest, a credo that stretches across the property’s 315,000 square feet of event space.
A hotel and conference center can only be as good as the team that supports it, as planners and attendees who stay at the 297-room AT&T Hotel and Conference Center know from happy experience. Located on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin,
this venue scores high in every department, from housekeepers to conference-service managers, all helping to make gatherings succeed in meeting their objectives in the property’s 85,9000 square feet of meeting space.
FAR WEST
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Even with many thousands of guest rooms and more than 2.25 million square feet of meeting space, the event professionals at the Venetian are dedicated to providing personal service to planners of gatherings large and small. The process begins with the
catering and conference manager and, depending on needs, other members of the support staff, all forming a tight team to help coordinate and put a program together.
The Venetian’s Group Housing Services ably assists with group-reservation
set-up requirements prior to arrival. Group Hotel Services helps plan arrivals, departures and specific housing needs. A specialized event services/event manager oversees an event’s technical requirements and assists with any trade show or exhibit
needs. Of course, the resort’s food and beverage team provides an array of offerings, from roving cars filled with tasty treats to elegant plated dinners. Net result: a successful event.
In Huntington Beach, Calif., the 250-room Paséa Hotel and Spa keeps service, attention to detail and customization at the forefront of each meeting program. The events team can provide special wellness menus, team-building activities and myriad ways to
utilize the hotel’s 35,000 square feet of flexible space for gatherings, including a beautiful 14,600-square-foot event lawn with oceanfront fire pits.
A top wellness retreat with 19 cottages set on a historic working ranch in Southern California’s Santa Monica Mountains, the Ranch Malibu’s food technicians, dietary experts and fitness instructors works with groups prior to arrival to develop a customized
program of daily activities, including morning hikes, afternoon breakout sessions, team-building activities, wholesome meals and more. Under the staff’s expert guidance, groups are able to support their health while learning sustainable practices
and building a sense of camaraderie and teamwork.
A glittering jewel on the Las Vegas Strip, the 3,027-room Cosmopolitan Las Vegas has 150,000 square feet of meeting and convention space and a group of professionals to help event planners make the most of it. The casino hotel’s sales and curatorial teams
begin by learning about the purpose of a given meeting, then work with planners to create an event that brings that purpose to life. The property helps design the environment, select the entertainment and craft menus that align with the goals and
mood of the event, so attendees will have a seamless and productive experience.
INTERNATIONAL AND U.S. TERRITORIES
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For nearly 50 years, the Casa de Campo Resort & Villas has welcomed people from around the world to enjoy its 250 guest rooms and 50 private villas, 24,000 square feet of event space and all the activities found on its location along the sun-dappled southeastern
coast of the Dominican Republic. The attentive staff helps meeting groups plan meals among seven restaurants, arrange tee times at the resort’s three golf courses and horseback riding at the equestrian center, establish the perfect technology set-ups
in meeting spaces and much more.
To address a number of safety, privacy and health concerns during the pandemic, the resort has developed the Casa Cares Program to provide executive training sessions to educate team members about Covid-19,
institute stringent propertywide sanitation practices, and run an on-site testing lounge and privately-owned medical center with 24/7 services for guests.
The experienced meetings team at the lovely 792-room Shangri-La Hotel, Singapore, helps meeting professionals best utilize the property’s 60,000 square feet of function space in 16 gathering spaces, including the magnificent pillar-free Island Ballroom
that can accommodate up to 1,200 people for a reception. Working with one of the hotel’s dedicated events managers lets planners find just the right spot for a meeting — including outside, among extensive tranquil garden environments, and with all
the services required to accomplish any agenda.
Exotic was never so enchanting as at the 186-room Shangri-La Bosphorus, Istanbul, sitting amid the largest city in Turkey and the country’s economic, cultural and historic center. The hotel’s event-services staff routinely goes the extra kilometer to
help groups accomplish their goals among 20,451 square feet of meeting space, including two ballrooms and nine versatile conference and function rooms. Staff also can arrange a group lunch on the shore of the storied Bosphorus, help with shopping
and even arrange for an incentive winner to enjoy a tour the dynamic city in the property’s own Rolls-Royce.