Successful Meetings - March 2009 - (Page 48F)

BigIsland SERVICE WITH A STYLE Waikoloa Beach Marriott Resort & Spa WHAT TRULY SETS THE BIG ISLAND APART from the The Fairmont Orchid Sheraton Keauhou Bay Resort & Spa competition is its tradition of service and hospitality. “I call it our ‘aloha spirit,’ that sense of well-being and caring that people find specifically on the Big Island,” says Debbie Hogan, senior director of sales for the Big Island Visitors Bureau (BIVB). “Service is extremely important to us. It’s part of our upbringing, heritage, and culture, and what makes us different. We listen, we accommodate, we find creative ways to look at business opportunities, and we do a lot of extras for our guests that we don’t necessarily charge them for.” Hogan’s wise words on the Big Island’s hospitality especially ring true for meetings. The island is known for an array of group-friendly resorts, where the emphasis is on making attendees feel welcome, energized, and productive. If there’s a challenge about the Big Island’s resorts, it’s trying to choose from among a plethora of first-rate options. The Sheraton Keauhou Bay Resort & Spa, for example, features the largest ballroom on the Kona Coast—just under 10,000 square feet—plus resortwide high-speed Internet and breath-taking cliff walks. At the 1,240-room Hilton Waikoloa Village, attendees can swim with the dolphins, golf with an amazing view, or enjoy the luau of a lifetime on the resort’s 175,000 square feet of outdoor function space. Laptops are a natural fit at the Waikoloa Beach Marriott Resort & Spa, which features 28,000 square feet of top-tier meeting space and some 15 acres of beachfront, perfect for curling up with a good Word file. The in/out motif works nicely at the secluded Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel as well, where the 85,000 square feet of indoor meeting space comes complemented by more than 71,000 square feet outdoors: poolside, in their golf pavilion, and along the hotel’s oceanfront lawn. And fresh from its recent renovations, the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel sports spacious new floor plans, swank amenities (e.g., bathtubs with ocean views), and a stylish new look courtesy of L.A.’s chic Barry Design Associates. If there’s a final word on booking the Big Island, it’s value, be it in more frequent and easier air access to accommodations and special events. “Yes, you can do Hawaii in this economy,” says the BIVB’s Hogan. “More than ever, we’re focused on what makes sense, what falls within a budget, especially in 2009, and our hotels are offering great rates and great dates.” —MB 4 MEET.BIGISLAND.ORG http://MEET.BIGISLAND.ORG

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

Successful Meetings - March 2009 Contents Editor's Letter News Update Education Management Matters Meetings Law Mouth for Sale Visionaries And the Award Goes to... Taking Green Initiatives to the Top Events of Presidential Proportion It's a Small World After All Places + Spaces Big Island Supplement-Insert NYC Metro Houston Oahu The Bahamas Memphis Passport

Successful Meetings - March 2009

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.