Meeting News - January 28, 2008 - (Page 36)

Destination Insider: San Antonio Hill Country Ramps Up Resort Options High-end groups and incentives delighted with luxurious new additions Gaylord Entertainment, the Nashville, TN-based hospitality company and owner of Gaylord Hotels and the Grand Ole Opry, will soon take over the management of the Westin La Cantera Resort in San Antonio. With the transfer ﬁnalizing early this year, plans are in the offing for a major property rework, including an expansion of the grounds by more than 90 adjacent acres and $250 million worth of other projects that will be completed in 2011. Room count will increase from 508 to 1,000, and meeting space is expected to climb to 160,000 sf. In March 2010, San Antonio also will welcome the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa, which will have 140,000 sf of meeting space and 1,002 guest rooms, plus Pete Dye- and Greg Norman-designed golf courses. “San Antonio is transitioning from a city without many big resorts to one with two major ones—they will be the largest between Florida and Arizona,”said Steve Clanton, VP of sales for the San Antonio Convention & Visitors Bureau. “This opens the city to new groups, including large corporate meetings in Hotel News With several new major properties joining San Antonio’s roster, the standards for existing properties are on the rise, too. • $45 million in renovations at the 1,000room Marriott Rivercenter and 513-room Marriott Riverwalk hotels, due for completion by mid-year. Both hotels will be given facelifts in decor and style, and the Marriott Rivercenter will upgrade its 60,000 sf of meeting space. • Due for ﬁrst-quarter completion is a $12-million restoration of the St. Anthony hotel downtown, a Wyndham Historic Hotel, including upgrades to its 352 guest rooms and 22,000 sf of meeting space. • In 2007, the Hyatt Regency Riverwalk renovated its rooftop penthouse, the Lone Star Palace, with an oversized outdoor grill and a 1,200-sf terrace. The event space can accommodate groups of up to 150 people. • $8 million in renovations were recently completed at downtown’s Sheraton Gunter Hotel, including guest room upgrades and recreational offerings. Meeting space was also expanded by 4,000 sf, increasing group capacity to 500 attendees. • Joining San Antonio’s hotel roster in April is Hotel Indigo, part of InterContinental Hotels Group’s boutique brand, with 91 rooms in the circa-1909 historic Gibbs Building downtown. It will offer 2,000 sf of meeting space for small groups. —EC group was joined by the library’s architect. “We saw that in San Antonio, people will collaborate and think creatively to cater each group,” said Carleton. “There are so many opportunities to tap into the city’s multiculturalism, unique ﬂavor, and history.” To wit, Carleton plans to work with area DMCs to make the tours AIA offered available to other groups. Her team also published a 300-page book on the city’s architectural style, which will be offered to attendees at future meetings. “With these, visitors can learn about San Antonio in a signiﬁcant way,” she said. r —Section written by Emily Carrus www.meetingnews.com The iconic Westin La Cantera will get a new look under the Gaylord Entertainment ﬂag. the insurance and pharmaceutical industries and incentive groups seeking golf and spa.” Thanks in part to the resort additions, the CVB has intensiﬁed its focus on those specialty markets, as well as West Coast-based groups, by boosting its staff from two to seven people.“This is really paying off; we are seeing a surge in those kinds of meetings,” said Clanton. “People outside the state are realizing that Texas is viable for meetings.” Event Report Architectural Organization Wowed by City Style Alamo City pulls out all the stops for group’s 150th anniversary celebration The American Institute of Architects (AIA) celebrated a landmark year in 2007 with a 19,000-attendee citywide convention in San Antonio last May. Host chapter AIA San Antonio, which organized several smaller events within the convention, was eager to show off its city’s architecture and event know-how. “In years past, the convention met in much larger cities, so I worried that our attendees might think the city was too small,”said Torrey Stanley Carleton, AIA San Antonio’s executive director.“But AIA leadership was very impressed and found San Antonio to be just as I do: very walkable, rich with history, and delightful.” To complement the lectures and seminars in the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, Carleton’s team planned several special events, including 60 architecture-related tours of the city and dinners at such sites as a 10,000-sf contemporary loft, a 170year-old dude ranch, a historic mission at sunset, and the Central Library building, during which the An architectural group got a ﬁrst-hand look at a historic mission during a dinner there. 36 MeetingNews January 28, 2008 http://www.meetingnews.com

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Meeting News - January 28, 2008

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