Successful Meetings - February 2009 - (Page 72)

A taste for the finer things P BUCKHEAD Everywhere you look, in fact, the South is becoming the next great meeting destination. In Baton Rouge, two new full-service convention hotels have been proposed for downtown. And the Hotel King, built in the colorful Huey Long era in the ‘30s, is being converted to an 80-room boutique hotel. “We think we’re ideally positioned for meetings, both in our facilities and in our location,” says Geraldine Bordelon, director of destination sales, CMP, for the Baton Rouge Convention & Visitors Bureau. “We’ve got new hotels coming in all over the place. Our convention center was expanded just a few years ago. Cajun Country is right down the road. And Louisiana State University—with its athletic and cultural offerings—is right here in Baton Rouge.” Down the road in New Orleans, the talk is of the future, as well. The historic Roosevelt Hotel, a local landmark, is scheduled to reopen in June, with some 500 rooms and plenty of new meeting space, along with a restaurant by legendary chef John Besh. And the New Orleans Hyatt, next to the Superdome, is being renovated for reopening next year. On the Mississippi coast, too, the winds of Katrina helped usher in the winds of change. A new world is emerging, symbolized by the $704 million Harrah’s Margaritaville Casino & Resort, scheduled to open next year in Biloxi—with 66,000 square feet of meeting space. “New hotel and meeting facilities are popping up almost on a monthly basis here,” says Chris Bounds-Chapman, public relations manager of the Mississippi Department of Tourism. “Casinos, in particular, have made a tremendous investment in this state. Everything on the coast is brand-new.” erhaps more than any other region, the South is known for its distinctive cuisine— and its distinctive places at which to sample it. There are the old standards, of course—the best fried chicken in the country, for one thing. And staples such as shrimp ‘n grits or the legendary barbecue. Now, the South is diversifying its culinary scene dramatically, with the importation of styles from all over the world. The Streets of Buckhead, a huge new multi-use development just outside Atlanta, will feature 14 restaurants when it opens in the spring of 2010. The mixture will include Continental (Bottega del Vino), French (La Goulue), Irish (Fado Irish Pub & Restaurant), and Japanese (Japonais) restaurants, along with great places for traditional Southern food. South Carolina’s another trendsetter in the Southern dining scene. The historic Old Columbia Fire Station will open later this year as a center for the culinary arts, featuring The Taste of The South cooking school, a gourmet market with offerings that include Southern candies, international foods, and a wine cellar. It’s hard to keep up with the wave of new hotels in North Carolina. Charlotte just welcomed a luxurious new property called aloft, and it will open the state’s first Ritz-Carlton in the fall. “So many new hotels are coming, with amenities and service equal to anywhere in the country,” says Wendy Scott, a Raleigh meeting planner who scouts locations for clients all over the country. “And we can offer so much more value.” Nashville is planning a new, world-class convention center for 2013. And Dr. Juanita Doty, who recently presided over the Mississippi Statewide Cluster Conference of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority in Jackson, gives the city rave reviews. “We had 550 members in Jackson, and we couldn’t have been more pleased,” says Doty. “I attend meetings all over the country. Everything in Jackson was first-class. The Convention & Visitors Bureau was attuned to every detail.” The South’s reinvention also extends to its less cosmopolitan meeting destinations. Virginia is a prime example of the “push the envelope” mentality in the transforming South, with two innovative new properties coming soon. The Kalahari Hotel, an Africanthemed complex with a spa and the largest indoor water park in CHARLOTTE’S NASCAR HALL OF FAME

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Successful Meetings - February 2009

Successful Meetings - February 2009 Contents Editor's Letter News Update: Meetings Associations Band Together Education Planner Spotlight Technology Talk Food & Beverage Making Cents of It All Meanwhile, Back at Headquarters Seal of Approval Come Sail Away Making Tracks Places & Spaces Florida’s East Coast Aruba Maui 3 Days in Philadelphia

Successful Meetings - February 2009

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