Meeting News - November 10, 2008 - (Page 18)

International The Rose Hall enclave on Jamaica’s northwestern coast last month received its latest inventory boost with a Phase II property at the Iberostar Rose Hall Beach & Spa Resort complex, and more is on the way. Set to open this month is Iberostar’s Phase III property, and in March 2009, hotelier Horst Schulze, of Ritz-Carlton fame, will debut his new resort brand at Rose Hall—already the location of a 427-room Ritz-Carlton resort with 25,000 sf of meeting space. Solis Hotels & Resorts, Schulze’s high-end brand, will debut in North America with Solis the Palmyra Resort & Spa, which will comprise three luxury-suite towers on 16 oceanfront acres of a Rose Hall plantation. On deck are 23,000 sf of indoor and outdoor meeting space, five F&B options, and a 30,000-sf Espa spa with 14 treatment rooms. By William Ng william.ng@nielsen.com In Jamaica, the Rose Hall Area Blossoms with More Resorts Witch, Cinnamon Hill, and Half Moon courses. The resort is expected to challenge the RitzCarlton Golf & Spa Resort, Rose Hall, which renovated all of its meeting spaces in 2007 and guest rooms this year. While Solis works on completing its premier Caribbean resort, already operating since Oct. 1 is the 319-suite Iberostar Rose Hall Suites. It is the second property in the brand’s resort complex, following the 366-room Rose Hall Beach hotel, which opened in May 2007. Now on the way is the third property, the upscale, 293-suite Grand Hotel Rose Hall. Although the three all-inclusive properties have small meeting rooms, they all share a conference facility at the resort. Meanwhile, the 398-room Half Moon resort is not standing idle, recently refurbishing its 14-seat boardroom, plus the Montego, St. James, and Rose Hall meeting suites. At the forefront of its AV upgrades is a globally capable videoconferencing system for groups to communicate with three offices simultaneously. All of the resort developments coincide with American Airlines’ capacity increase to Sangster International Airport (MBJ). Beginning on Dec. 18, American will operate daily service from Dallas/Fort Worth. In Miami, it will add a third daily flight to MBJ. On Jan. 31, American will launch a morning flight from Chicago O’Hare five times a week. The MBJ outbound to O’Hare takes off in the afternoon. H www.meetingnews.com Solis Hotels’ Palmyra Resort intends to challenge the incumbent Ritz-Carlton property at Rose Hall. The 299 accommodations will be a mix of one- to four-bedroom suites, penthouses, and 645-to 2,600-sf private villas with terraces. Leading the indoor meeting spaces will be a 5,500-sf ballroom; outside, it will be a 10,000-sf lawn and a gazebo that stretches 300 feet into Montego Bay. The Palmyra will give guests access to golf courses in the Rose Hall area, including the White EIBTM Readies A Wide-Ranging Educational Program The organizer of the European Incentive, Business Travel & Meetings Exhibition (EIBTM), taking place in Barcelona next month, thinks it has put together the most comprehensive educational program in the show’s history. Over three days, EIBTM will have a mix of presentations, seminars, and workshops covering industry forces, personal career strategies, meetings technology, meetings branding, green meetings, the pharma sector, the millennial generation, and ROI. It will even delve into the psychology, innovative science, and weird tech18 MeetingNews nology found in events. North Americans will take center stage on the first day with an interactive session identifying key challenges for N.A. planners doing international meetings. A panel of senior Professional Convention Management Association members will anchor. EIBTM organizer Reed Travel Exhibitions will unveil its industry trends and market share report on Dec. 2, with an encore on Dec. 3. Corbin Ball will speak in “Technology Hour,” pontificating on meetings technology trends, and the founder of Corbin Ball Associ- ates will participate in a debate on the benefits of social networking sites and virtual meetings. Keynote speaker Maarten Vanneste, president and CEO of Belgium-based company Abbit Meeting Support, will look to persuade attendees to think unconventionally with a look at the weird and innovative. Vanneste also will hold a session discussing his “meeting architecture” concept, which deals with designing meetings around structured sets of objectives, as well as with continual improvement processes for annual events. November 10, 2008 http://www.meetingnews.com

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Meeting News - November 10, 2008 MN Exclusive Research %20%20%20%20%20Green & Social Responsibility: The Year that Was in Meetings Incentive Special: Recovering from AIG Perspectives What's Up @ MeetingNews.com Letters to the Editor Inside the Meetings Industry South Africa Supplement Newsmaker Q&A People Making News Hotels & Resorts %20%20%20%20%20Starwood Hopes E-Portal is Small Meeting Utopia %20%20%20%20%20Intercontinental O'Hare Puts Art at Forefront Convention Centers %20%20%20%20%20Dallas and Philadelphia Move on Their Projects CVBs %20%20%20%20%20Jacksonville Markets to Medical, Cultural Groups International %20%20%20%20%20Jamaica's Rose Hall Area Blossoms with Resorts %20%20%20%20%20EIBTM Puts Together an Ambitious Program Transportation & Services Meeting News South Technology Green Beat Destination Insider %20%20%20%20%20Fort Lauderdale %20%20%20%20%20Cleveland Incentive Report %20%20%20%20%20Mexico MN Webcast Report Ad Index Live from the Forum

Meeting News - November 10, 2008

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