Meeting News - February 2, 2009 - (Page 8)

Hotels & Resorts Bevy of Suppliers Launch Group Booking Sites Event planning process is eased with web portals for hotels and attractions worldwide In a nod to meeting planners’ ever-present time crunch, two hotel companies, as well as a Boston-based collective (of three hotels, two attractions, and a meetings venue), have launched web portals for group bookings. At www.jalhotels.com/mice, planners can enter an event’s criteria and find a suitable venue among the properties of Nikko Hotels International and its parent company, JAL Hotels Co. Ltd., which has 59 hotels worldwide, including 13 in the midprice Hotel JAL City brand in Japan. Meanwhile, the new Ascend Collection is a portfolio of 23 boutique and historic properties across the U.S. and Puerto Rico. Grouped together by Choice Hotels, a franchisor, the group can be accessed—and booked—at www.ascendcollection.com. The collection includes the Golden Hotel, outside Denver, which has just 62 rooms but 40,000 sf of meeting space, as well as the Baechtel Creek Inn & Spa, a 43-room, retreat-like property outside San Francisco where the largest meeting room is 560 sf. Sites like these are helpful for meeting buyers, said Choice spokeswoman Christie Gregovich. “This can help meeting planners who are looking for something out of the way, or for properties with character,” she said. By Rayna Katz rayna.katz@nielsen.com Some resourceful Beantown suppliers, meanwhile, have banded together in a local effort. The Marriott Copley Place, Sheraton Boston Hotel, Westin Copley Place, Copley Place Mall, the Shops at Prudential Center, and the John B. Hynes Convention Center are all participating in “3-2-1 Connect,” a program offering more than 3,100 guest rooms, over 400,000 sf of meeting space, and access to some 200 stores and restaurants, consolidated into one contract. For more information, go to www.3-2-1connect.com. Trump’s Newest Property in NYC Shows Up the Whole East Coast Downtown Manhattan will get its first luxury high-rise hotel when Trump SoHo New York opens this fall. Neighboring art galleries and chic boutiques, the 400-room property will have the East Coast’s largest suite, 12,000 sf of meeting space, an 11,000-sf spa, and the Trump brand’s signature service, provided by Trump Attache. Designed by the famed Rockwell Group, loft-inspired guest rooms will include custom furnishings by Fendi Casa, floor-to-ceiling windows, and pillows chosen by each guest off the Trump Pillow menu. The hotel will have 11 penthouse suites, one of which will measure 10,045 sf, besting all other suites in the East. The hotel’s meeting spaces will include a conference room, event hall, and boardroom, all outfitted with state-of-the-art presentation technology and AV features. Trump Attache will provide 24-hour services upon request, addressing needs ranging from personal shopping to the making of arrangements for laundry and dry cleaning services. A Sheraton in Colorado Receives a Big Refresh The Sheraton Steamboat Resort, in Steamboat Springs, CO, has completed a $20 million renovation. The area’s only full-service skiin/ski-out resort features newly designed guest rooms, lobby, public and meeting spaces, as well as a new health and fitness program. Sheraton Steamboat’s renovation included a comprehensive redesign of each guest room. And fitness enthusiasts now can experience “Sheraton Fitness, Programmed by Core Performance.” The program helps travelers train and eat healthy, as well as refresh, recharge, and refocus their minds along with their bodies. H Hawaiian, Japanese Firms Team Up A Hawaiian hotelier has struck a partnership with a Japanese luxury hotel group that promises to create synergies between two brands. Halekulani Corp.—which runs Honolulu’s Halekulani and Waikiki Parc Hotels—joined forces last month with Imperial Hotel Ltd. of Tokyo, which operates the Imperial Hotel. Planning is under way for combined marketing and promotions in Hawaii and Tokyo. And come April, Imperial will be taking reservations in Japan for Halekulani’s hotels, easing the booking process for Far East meeting attendees going to the Hawaiian properties. Bringing together Imperial’s urban roots and Halekulani’s resort experience creates the potential for a hotel firm offering a wide variety of experiences, said Imperial president Tetsuya Kobayashi: “With over a century of experience on both sides, the power of our shared professional human resources and our mutual spirit of hospitality, we share a history of a superior quality of hotel industry culture. We anticipate our lengthy and diverse experience with urban hotels will dovetail effectively with Halekulani’s expertise as a leading resort. We look forward to exploring opportunities for personnel development exchanges and cultural promotions that strongly compliment both of our corporate brands and marketplace identities.” 8 MeetingNews February 2, 2009 www.meetingnews.com http://www.jalhotels.com/mice http://www.ascendcollection.com http://www.3-2-1connect.com http://www.meetingnews.com

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