Meeting News - May 19, 2008 - (Page 7)

What’s Up @ MeetingNews.com Web Top 5: May 1 – 8, 2008 LA QUINTA SELECTS WORKTOPIA FOR MEETINGS BOOKING TOOL Develop Green Luxury Hotels #2 Starwood Capital totoday announced plans to develop a chain of luxury hotels that will adhere Starwood Capital Group to state-of-the-art standards for environmentally friendly construction, thus giving a big boost to what is known as the green building movement. (From Oct. 18, 2006) #1 Francisco CVB Launches F&B Site #3 SanSan Francisco Convention & Visitors Bureau has launched a new micro-site dedicated to the The pursuit of all things food-related: www.onlyinsanfrancisco.com/taste. San Francisco’s hottest restaurants, a calendar listing of food-related news and events, the history of San Francisco’s many food firsts, chef profiles, and Foodie 411, a weekly insiders blog by Marcia “the tablehopper” Gagliardi, are among the features of the new “Taste” micro site. (From May 1, 2008) La Quinta Inns and Suites has selected Worktopia Inc. to power its first online meetings reservation service, giving La Quinta customers real-time access to booking meeting space. The service allows planners to book room blocks and meeting rooms directly, as an alternative to calling the hotel or sending in a request for proposal. (From May 1, 2008) The Web Top 5 and other breaking stories, feature articles, and blogs are available 24/7 at MeetingNews.com. #4 Wal-Mart Exposed buckle the knees of even the most steel-nerved planner. An outside vendor It’s a situation that would is hired to videotape the proceedings of a company’s internal meeting. Afterwards, the vendor sells copies of the tapes not only to other businesses, but also to labor unions and attorneys with agendas that could seriously harm the host company’s brand image and financial health. Such a situation has struck one of the largest corporations in the world—Wal-Mart. (From May 6, 2008) Healthy #5 Seven Tips to Having a business, a Computer or are just trying to find a recipe online at Whether we are part of a small multinational, home, we seem to spend just as much time fixing “issues” and “conflicts” on our computers as we do working on them. For the home user this is merely an inconvenience, but to a business it can add up to tens of thousands of dollars lost to decreased productivity or repairs. (From April 25, 2008) Soapbox All That Jazz—and So Much More Posted by Lori Morris Last month, I had a wonderful weekend of amazing food, beautiful scenery, and incredible music, all courtesy of the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs. The 3,000-acre resort hosted its 5th annual Earl Klugh Weekend of Jazz on April 3-5, allowing me the perfect opportunity to experience the resort’s facilities. When I arrived on Thursday afternoon, I was greeted by a slight mist of rain; by the time I finished unpacking, large snowflakes were falling rapidly and covering the landscape. (As a first-time Colorado visitor, I didn’t realize that the area is, as Dawn Beagle, Broadmoor’s national sales manager, told me, “more likely to have a White Easter than a White Christmas.”) The snow ended up providing the perfect backdrop for an intimate performance by the unbelievably talented Mindi Abair (www.mindiabair.com), which took place in the resort’s off-property Cheyenne Mountain Lodge. The stage was set up next to a wall of floor-to-ceiling windows that framed a snow-covered city lit up by torches and a glowing fireplace. The power and energy that came out of the petite blonde blew me away. The next day, John Washko, Broadmoor’s VP of sales & marketing, met me for lunch at the Tavern steakhouse. He spoke about the Broadmoor Connection, a new program for large groups needing more than the property’s 700 guest rooms and suites. It partners the hotel with neighboring properties Cheyenne Mountain Resort, Hilton DoubleTree World Arena, and Crowne Plaza Colorado Springs—all within a five-minute drive of the 100,000-sf Broadmoor Events Center Complex—to offer 1,700 peak-night rooms. Transportation between the hotels is included. My weekend closed with the final performance at the Weekend of Jazz, which featured Earl Klugh alongside the 35-piece Broadmoor Pops Orchestra. After Klugh gave his final bow, Boney James took the stage for a rousing set that got the audience on its feet, as he played and danced through the crowd during his final song. Hot Deals meetingnews.com/hotdeals * MEETING PACKAGE: Conference on Oahu Benchmark Hospitality’s Turtle Bay Resort is offering the Benchmark Conference Plan for groups with a minimum of 20 rooms per night. Planners will get run of oceanfront rooms, daily meals (full American buffet), meeting room rental (setup and standard AV equipment included), and continuous refreshment break. Contact Robin Ide at (808) 293-6052. * MEETING PACKAGE: Puttin’ on the Ritz The Ritz-Carlon, Palm Beach is offering groups of 10 or more room nights booked before July 31 and meeting between June 1 and Sept. 30 a special room rate plus complimentary meeting space for one general session and daily continental breakfast and coffee break in the meeting room. The package has other benefits and is also being offered to groups booked before Jan. 1, 2009 with arrival between June 1 and Sept. 30, 2009. * MEETING PACKAGE: Palm Springs Break The Palm Springs Desert Resort CVA is giving groups with at least 10 attendees and two peak nights a credit up to 10 percent of the total actualized guest room revenue. Groups must be booked at participating Palm Springs-area convention hotels by Dec. 31, 2008 and actualized by Dec. 31, 2009. Call (760) 770-9000. *Please call to confirm all prices and terms. May 19, 2008 MeetingNews 7 www.meetingnews.com http://MeetingNews.com http://www.onlyinsanfrancisco.com/taste http://MeetingNews.com http://www.misoapbox.com/ http://meetingnews.com/hotdeals http://www.mindiabair.com http://www.meetingnews.com

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Meeting News - May 19th, 2008 Contents What’s Up @ MeetingNews.com Hotels & Resorts CVBs Destination Insider: Reno-Lake Tahoe Advertisers Index Insider Report: Midwest Meetings Live from the Forum

Meeting News - May 19th, 2008

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