Meeting News - November 19, 2007 - (Page 46)

Destination Insider: Canada Edited by William Ng william.ng@nielsen.com An Olympian Effort Olympics preparations reshaping Vancouver’s meetings infrastructure Vancouver continues to prepare for its 2010 Olympic showcase, conducting expansions and renovations of the city’s hotels and convention spaces— most notably the Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre—that will have long-term beneﬁts. “We needed to expand our convention center,” said Dave Gazley, VP of meeting and convention sales for Tourism Vancouver.“We’ve got a phenomenal convention center, but by North American standards, it’s of the boutique class.” To be completed by spring 2009, the center will triple in size from 133,000 to 475,000 sf and will serve as the international broadcast and media center during the Winter Games. The expansion will include 225,000 sf of new exhibition space, as well as 60,500 sf of new meeting space that will bring the center’s number of meeting rooms to 73 from its current 20. “It’s going to be world standard when it comes to environmental and sustainable practices for a convention center,” added Gazley, including an extensive recycling program, a six-acre living roof housing 400,000 indigenous plants, seawater heating and cooling, on-site water treatment, and a ﬁsh habitat. Recent hotel renovations include the completion of a six-year, $40-million upgrade of the Hyatt Regency Vancouver’s 644 rooms and 45,000 sf of public space. Meanwhile, the 372-room Four Seasons Hotel recently began a $5.3-million renovation to bring a new restaurant, bar, and lounge to the property while updating the upper and lower lobbies. Among the new hotels opening prior to the Winter Games are the 77-room Loden Hotel (in early 2008) and the 120-room Shangri-La Vancouver (in fall 2008). The 415-room Fairmont Paciﬁc Rim and the 220-room Coast Coal Harbour Hotel are both set to open in 2009. Further infrastructure improvements include a new rapid transit line that will connect downtown to Vancouver International Airport in nearby Richmond, home to the proposed 400,000-sf Asia Paciﬁc Trade and Showcase Centre. room hotel and 100,000 sf of meeting space to the property. It will change its name to Caesars Windsor following the project’s completion in the spring. The move is putting the destination on the meetings and conventions radar and giving it the size to compete head-to-head with new players such as Detroit’s MGM Grand, which opened in October. “Competition is always on our radar,” said Holly Ward, a spokeswoman for the casino resort.“There are three Detroit casinos, and they’re all expanding. They’ve all said they will offer convention facilities, but not to the extent that we have.” The MGM Grand in Detroit offers 30,000 sf of meeting space, including a 14,000-sf ballroom and three meeting rooms, each 1,600 sf. Meanwhile, the Windsor property will offer 100,000 sf of convention space, including a 26,000-sf ballroom, seven conference rooms, and a 5,000-seat theater. “It really raises the bar for resort properties and convention facilities in our area and in the province,” said Ward. It will be the second-largest convention facility in Ontario outside the Greater Toronto area. Hotel Boom Beneﬁts Toronto, Montreal Groups Four new luxury hotels for Toronto; Montreal gets convention properties Two new convention center hotels and four new airport properties are taking shape in Montreal, while Toronto plans for 1,000 new luxury rooms by 2011. Convention facilities in both cities are renovating to keep pace with the hotel boom. In August, Embassy Suites Hotels opened its ﬁrst property in Montreal, targeting conventions: a 210room hotel located directly across from the Palais des Congres, the city’s convention center (and where MPI held its World Education Congress this past July). A 454-room Westin will open next door in fall 2008, offering 30,000 sf of meeting space. Minutes away from the Palais des Congres, Place Bonaventure in fall 2006 expanded its exhibition halls by 35,000 sf to a total of 315,000 sf. Outside the Montreal-Trudeau Airport, a 160room Courtyard by Marriott and a 120-room Novotel, which offers 5,000 sf of meeting space, both opened last fall, expanding airport options for business travelers. Two other airport properties will open in 2008: a 162-room Fairﬁeld Inn & Suites with 2,650 sf of meeting space, in February, as well as a 275-room Marriott, later in the fall. Meanwhile, Toronto is preparing for four new luxury hotels, which are scheduled to be completed by 2011. They include a 256-room Trump Tower, a 267-room Ritz-Carlton, a 265-room Four Seasons, and 220-room Shangri-La. The city’s ﬁrst ﬁve-star hotel, the 77-room Hazelton Hotel, opened in August, with just under 1,000 sf of meeting space. The area’s four primary convention facilities are also expanding. This year, the Metro Toronto Convention Centre completed a $4-million renovation project that reconfigured the prefunction space outside Constitution Hall. The Toronto Congress Centre will complete a 500,000-sf expansion in January, which will include 40 meeting rooms and a 25,000-sf ballroom— doubling the center’s size to more than 1 million sf. continued on page 50 Metro Toronto Convention Centre recently plowed $4 million into improvements. Caesars Invades Canada Ontario’s Casino Windsor, just across the Detroit River, is nearing completion of a $400-million renovation project with Harrah’s that will add a 36946 MeetingNews November 19, 2007 www.meetingnews.com http://www.meetingnews.com

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