Meeting News - June 22, 2009 - (Page 14)

Construction Cites Embassy Suites recently launched its first open Embassy Suites in downtown Buffalo, N.Y., major room design change in the brand’s 25-year a hotel that developers are converting out of a history: a one-room suite that brand leaders said federal office building. The company expects newly constructed is designed to appeal to Embassy Suites propbusiness travelers. erties to begin incorThe new room porating the room design, announced in later this year. May, preserves the feaEmbassy Suites also tures and amenities of designed the room Embassy’s traditional with developers in two-room suite design but consolidates them mind, Holthouser said. The smaller room in one room that is means that developers about 20 percent will be able to fit more smaller than the full rooms and hence drive two-room suite. Jim more revenue from Holthouser, global their projects. head of full service They can decide brands for Embassy’s whether to incorporate parent company One-room layout combines two-room the rooms depending Hilton Hotels Corp., features in 4/5 of the space. on the property’s locasaid the rooms were designed with business travelers in mind. “The tion, he said. An office park location that does a individual business traveler has told us that they lot of transient or small group business travel would probably stay at Embassy more but just would benefit more from the new rooms than a location near a theme park that hosts mostly don’t need all that room,” he said. “It’s not that radical of a change for a very suc- family business, for example. Developers are allowed to use the one-room cessful brand like Embassy,” he said.“You have all the elements that make it the Embassy Suites suite design for room: the wet bar, the sleeper sofa, the king-stan- no more than 20 dard room.” percent of the The rooms will first appear in the soon-to- rooms in a proj- By Michael B. Baker mbaker@meetingnews.com Embassy Suites To Add One-Room Suites To Some Properties ect.“This brand is so established and well-known that if people show up and want to have a tworoom suite, you still have to have them to sell,” Holthouser said. r Melbourne Debuts New Convention Center Melbourne, Australia, is set to open its new convention center on June 22, a project that features 32 meeting rooms, a grand ballroom, a 5,000-seat plenary hall and an entry-level foyer equipped to hold up to 8,400 visitors. The Melbourne Convention Centre is located along the banks of the Yarra River, integrated with the city’s exhibition center. It’s within walking dis- Yarra River venue opening tance, via paths and footbridges, to a number of local attractions, including the Southern Star Observation Wheel, sporting and entertainment event venue Telstra Dome, Melbourne’s city center and Southgate, Melbourne’s arts and leisure district. Two of the city’s public venues, Federation Square and the Arts Centre, are accessible by tram. Developers said the convention center already has been booked for 50 major international conventions and an estimated 190 national events prior to its opening. The project’s developers also are touting the environmental considerations that went into the convention center. Those include use of solar panels for all of the public amenity hot water requirements, a high fresh air volume inside the center and the center’s expansive glass façade that will provide a high degree of natural light. r www.meetingnews.com Newport Beach’s Island Hotel Renovated The luxury Island Hotel Newport Beach has completed a two-year renovation of its meeting facilities, guest rooms and public spaces, a project the Irvine Co. embarked upon when it took over the 23year-old California hotel in late 2005. Most recently, developers renovated 20,000 square feet of the Meeting space oceanfront hotel’s meeting space, including its 6,000-sq.-ft. ballupgrade complete room, five meeting rooms and five meeting suites. Upgrades include new carpeting and furnishings, new skylights as well as a new design to the walls. Developers also overhauled the hotel’s 295 rooms and suites with new carpeting, wood furnishings and improved bedding. The hotel also renovated its dining facility, the Palm Terrace Restaurant & Lounge, to fit in with the tropical motif. r 14 MeetingNews June 22, 2009 http://www.meetingnews.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Meeting News - June 22, 2009

Meeting News - June 22, 2009
Contents
Newsmakers
Collier County Insert
Meetings Spotlight
MeetingNews Research
Association Watch
Viewpoint
Construction Cites
Meeting People
Event Profile
Travel Dashboard
Dateline: Bermuda
Dateline: New York
South Regional
Las Vegas Insert

Meeting News - June 22, 2009