Meeting News - November 10, 2008 - (Page S6)

75 Lake Lanier Island Alpharetta Marietta Atlanta 20 Augusta 85 Braselton Athens GEORGIA With Four Ws, Atlanta Rivals New York City Formerly home to just one W Hotel—the W AtlantaPerimeter—Atlanta is now teeming with four, giving it more W Hotels than any other city in the world except New York City. Atlanta’s second W, called the W AtlantaMidtown, opened in June with 466 rooms and 30,000 sf of event space, including a 10,000-sf ballroom, a 3,700-sf penthouse space, and 10 hightech meeting rooms that range from 400 to 3,000 sf. The third one, the W Atlanta-Buckhead, opens this month with 291 rooms and 7,000 sf of meeting space. And, the W Atlanta-Downtown, will open in early 2009 with 237 rooms and 9,000 sf of meeting space, as well as a 3,300-sf spa. According to Marylouise Fitzgibbon, general manager of the W AtlantaBuckhead, there’s plenty of business to support all four W properties. “Atlanta is really a growing city,” she said. “It’s very neighborhood-specific. There are four very distinct neighborhoods in Atlanta: Downtown, Midtown, Buckhead, Perimeter—all of them are so unique, and, interestingly enough, they happen to be the four places we have Ws. “When people have business in one area of town, they tend to stay in that neighborhood.” College Park Peachtree City 85 75 Callaway Macon Gardens 185 Columbus 16 Savannah Albany 75 Brunswick 95 St. Simons Island Jekyll Island ACVB: Rediscover Vibrant Atlanta A native of Lexington, KY, Mark Vaughan first moved to Atlanta in 1998 to become director of marketing for the Atlanta Marriott Marquis. He lived there until 2004, when he accepted a position as director of marketing for the Marco Island Marriott Resort, Golf Club, and Spa in Marco Island, FL. Homesick, he lasted less than two years before moving back to Atlanta in 2005, when he joined the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau (ACVB) as its chief sales and marketing officer, and executive vice president. During his three-year tenure, Atlanta has undergone a massive transformation into a cosmopolitan meetings destination. MeetingNews recently spoke with Vaughan to find out what’s been driving that transformation. The picture he painted is sure to appeal to meeting planners both north and south of the Mason Dixon line. Valdosta Exec. VP Vaughan explains city’s continual evolution A We had tremendous exposure from the Centennial Olympic Games, but people were waiting for our next chapter. Now, there’s all kinds of redevelopment taking place around Centennial Olympic Park. Literally, you can walk out of the GWCC and walk into a beautiful park setting that’s surrounded by the world’s largest aquarium, the World of Coca-Cola, and the children’s museum, All these attractions have popped up in the last three years, which has really elevated the appeal of our city. Q A Meetings are expensive. How can meeting in Atlanta save cash-strapped planners money? Q A Why has Atlanta become a major meetings destination? It’s all about accessibility, and the time out of the office for meeting attendees. We are very accessible, because 80 percent of the country’s population lives within a two-hour flight of Atlanta. That cuts down on people’s time out of the office. Atlanta has always been an attractive meetings destination. But what jump-started us was the addition of the Georgia World Congress Center (GWCC) back in 2003, which gave us another 450,000 sf of convention space. It had been a real missing link for the city. Beside the GWCC, what other meetings venues does the city offer? Q A Effective Jan. 1, 2009, the ACVB will have a new CEO in William Pate, who was previously vice president of advertising and public relations for BellSouth. How will he help Atlanta evolve as a destination? I’ve known William for probably 10 years, on a personal and a professional level, and I’m extremely excited about him being on board. He brings a wealth of marketing knowledge to our destination, and he’s got a great deal of experience in our industry. He will be a tremendous asset for the bureau. Q A What makes Atlanta unique is that we have numerous facilities. Certainly our anchor building is the GWCC, but you can take a loop around the city and find excellent facilities all over. Starting at the airport, by the Georgia International Convention Center—which has over 400,000 sf of meeting and exhibit space there—and moving up to the north end of town there’s Cobb Galleria, and there are tons of viable options that can fit all shapes and sizes. Some of our major hotels have pretty significant meeting space, too. What do you wish that meeting planners knew about Atlanta? What’s Atlanta doing to keep the city’s travel market strong, in spite of the present economic and industry downturn? It is honestly just about telling our story better. We need to make sure people know that Atlanta has changed drastically over the last three years. So we’re saying to potential customers, “If you haven’t been to Atlanta lately, you need to take a look at it.” www.meetingnews.com Q A Q S6 MeetingNews November 10, 2008 http://www.meetingnews.com

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Meeting News - November 10, 2008

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