Meeting News - May 19, 2008 - (Page 16)

International Hilton Now Taking NYC Glamour Overseas Waldorf=Astoria Collection expands with property in Jerusalem, following Rome intro Beverly Hills, CA—Hilton Hotels, expanding its Waldorf=Astoria roster of hotels inspired by the fabled New York City property, will introduce the brand to Israel by end of 2010. Hilton and its developer partner will restore a historic, circa-1929 building in Jerusalem,“steps from the Old City,” both inside and out and rename it the Palace Jerusalem. The property will have 220 rooms and suites, three restaurants, a 5,400-sf spa and pool-equipped fitness facility, and “extensive” meeting facilities. The announcement quickly follows Hilton’s introduction of the brand in Europe with the rebranding and underway renovation of the Rome Cavalieri. Over the next year, the 45-year-old, 370-room property will receive a third outdoor swimming pool, a “state-of-the-art congress centre,” and Waldorf=Astoria Collection brand standards to facilities and services. Its meetings facility currently supports 5,500 delegates. “Only landmark hotels with a reputation for superior service, original architecture, or artistic and historical significance” are chosen for the portfolio, said Ian Carter, Hilton’s president of global operations. The young collection is still predominantly U.S.-based for now, with the Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa in Phoenix; the Grand Wailea Resort Hotel & Spa in Maui; the La Quinta Resort & Club in Palm Springs, CA; and the Qasr Al Sharq hotel in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Properties are in development in Orlando; Park City, UT; Sarasota, FL; and Beverly Hills. Edited by William Ng william.ng@nielsen.com Copenhagen Says It’s Wonderful for Meetings Copenhagen—Hoping to entice association and nonprofit meeting planners, Wonderful Copenhagen, the Danish capital’s convention bureau, is riding on the expansion of the city’s meeting facilities with new services for groups of at least 300 and two nights, under the “Copenhagen to your advantage” banner. Among the services offered by the CVB are free site inspections, discounted public transport for attendees holding the Congress Travel pass, and a complimentary reception with the mayor at Copenhagen City Hall. Hotels, airlines, event venues, and municipalities are offering deals, as well. Copenhagen has seen its meetings capacity grow in recent months. The expansion has been led by the 215room Clarion Hotel Copenhagen’s 13,000-sf meetings centre, which can host 700, and the 164-room Radisson SAS Falconer, which has a 2,100seat hall, a 700-seat auditorium, and breakout rooms for 12 to 150. The city’s hotel inventory is now at 13,000 guest rooms, but that number will grow by 4,200 rooms in the next four years with projects such as the 400-room Tivoli Hotel due in second-half 2010. It will be part of the Tivoli Congress Centre, which will be a facility suiting 4,000 attendees. Another pipeline highlight is the Crowne Plaza Copenhagen Towers, due in late-summer 2009 with 365 accommodations and 20 meeting rooms. It will be part of the 1.4-million-sf Copenhagen Towers mixed-use complex. Not to be outdone, the city’s largest property, the Radisson SAS Scandinavia is negotiating a 400room expansion while it is renovating its existing 542 rooms. At a rate of four floors per year, the hotel will finish the job in 2010. H www.meetingnews.com Prague Sounds Off with Clarion Prague—A major meetings hotel has opened in Prague with the launch of the Clarion Congress Hotel. The property has 559 rooms and features 43,000 sf of meeting space. What’s more, the developer, CPI Group, has opened a companion 10-story mall. The Clarion Congress is claimed to be the biggest hotel to open in the Czech Republic in 18 years. But it is the largest hotel in the world waving the Clarion flag of Choice Hotels International. While the guest rooms are split across two five-story towers, the hotel clusters its three restaurants and its conference spaces on the first and second floors, respectively. Eighteen meeting rooms can be configured to 23 to hold 2,500 attendees. The largest hall, with a capacity of 1,600 and a ceiling height of 26 feet, can be turned into three smaller halls. The hotel’s amenities—which include a fitness/wellness center, a swimming pool, and a sauna—are supplemented by the Galerie Fenix mall. The complex has 81 shops and restaurants to keep attendees entertained. Twenty-five mass transit lines go to the complex, so it’s also an access point to other parts of Prague. ICCA Cautious About Economy Amsterdam—The International Congress & Convention Association said out of more than a quarter of its 850 members who responded to its recent economic outlook survey, 56 percent feel negatively about the rest of 2008, though only 6 percent said they have been hurt significantly by the economic downturn thus far. Further, only 12 percent of ICCA members—meetings hotels, convention centers, DMCs, airlines, and CVBs—said they plan to cut their marketing for 2008, but over onethird feels there will be significant economic impact in the next 18 months. ICCA CEO Martin Sirk said: “There is still great uncertainty, but it is clear that financial turmoil has not yet translated into cutbacks. This reinforces anecdotal feedback from planners that international meetings are ever more important to companies and associations.” Entrance of the Clarion Congress Hotel resembles that of a convention center, indicative of its large meetings ambitions. 16 MeetingNews May 19, 2008 http://www.meetingnews.com

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Meeting News - May 19th, 2008

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