Smart Meetings

American Airlines has taken the trend in flight pricing to its inevitable conclusion by unbundling its rates─lowering the base fare but charging for more ad-ons than a shady car dealer.

The airline will lower its base fair starting in 2009 but will be stripping down the included services and charging passengers a surcharge for luxuries that were once standard, such as beverage service, blankets and seat assignments.

However, people taking flight on American starting next year may have the option of paying for preferred seating, refundable tickets and even carbon offsets, depending on what’s important to them. For someone like me who doesn’t care where he sits, rarely changes plans and never needs a blanket (planes are incredibly warm!), the carbon offset might be a cool trade-off if it ends up being the same price as a flight would be today.

No word on whether more airlines will follow suit, but it’s likely that other domestic carriers will adopt the method already used by many European and Canadian airlines.

There’s just something wrong about football in warm weather. But something oh-so right about watching it from a skybox on the 50-yard line.

Sunday was a battle of teams with records that didn’t reflect the type of games they’d been playing. Both the Oakland Raiders and the San Diego Chargers had played games they should have─and almost did─win and were to meet at the Oakland Coliseum. How I ended up there is because we here at Smart Meetings are headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area and were lucky enough to snag an invite to go to the game from Russ Kembel, director of sales and marketing at Hilton Waikoloa Village.

It seems that the Raiderettes (one of whom I’m almost certain I went to high school with) shoot their swimsuit calendar at the gorgeous Hawaiian hotel, and the team thanks Russ for his hospitality by inviting him to a game where he can once again exude hospitality.  

I joined two dozen meeting planners, Hilton employees and special guests in the luxury suite where we got to watch the Raiders lose a 15-point lead in the second half.

Between snaps I chatted with Debbie Hogan, senior director of sales for the Big Island Visitors Bureau, and Mark Coulter, director of rooms division at Hilton San Francisco.  I asked Mark about the hotel’s rooftop Cityscape Restaurant closing and its soon-to-be-completed transformation into a second meeting space.

While I’m sad to see the home of many New Year's Eves for my friends and me disappear, it’s bound to be a great space for meetings. (Besides, I only went to New Year's Eve there at most once a year.)

It was a great gathering up in the fancy suite, and watching the game was a blast─even if the home team absolutely fell apart in the end (however, one young fan in the box wearing a Chargers jersey was having a great time watching his team rally).

Since the game, the head coach of the Raiders has been fired. I can’t help but think, after talking to those lucky enough to live there, that Lane Kiffin should just hop a plane to Hawaii and buy a little hut on the beach.

If you’ve ever fantasized about buzzing around an oval track at warp speed, head for Infineon Raceway—and Jim Russell Driving School—in Sonoma, Calif. Here you and your top execs can suit up, get tips from the pros and be out on the course for a team-building experience you (and they) will never forget. Or, if you’re drooling over the new Audi R8, which will get you to 60 mph in 4.4 seconds, slide behind the wheel of a 2009 at the track’s Audi Driving Experience—but be forewarned, drive it and you’ll want one!   

And you thought Sonoma County—or Sonoma Country, as they call it—was all about wine!

Well, it is, and it isn’t. Sure, there are more than 175 wineries producing everything from Parker-rated cabernets to old-vine zinfandels to skinny sauvignon blancs. But there’s so much more.

Like horses, for instance. If your speed is a little more leisurely than 120 mph, your group can learn leadership skills and more about themselves through a first-hand experience with a herd of eight horses at Skyhorse Ranch in Valley Ford. Turns out, horses have a social structure much like humans, says Ariana Strozzi, who leads the program, and their interactions with both individuals and a group’s dynamics are insightful for all concerned. (Although you don’t saddle up for riding instruction, you still have an excuse to wear jeans and your Tony Lamas!)

Horsepower and horses—Sonoma Country—who knew?

Just experienced my first visit to Park City, Utah and was duly impressed by many aspects of the town. There’s a charming Main Street, an array of top restaurants that is pretty amazing for a town of several thousand, and top-tier lodgings aplenty.

What really stood out from my perspective, though, was the selection of cool outdoor fun they have that goes well beyond the town’s heralded skiing scene. Where else can you bobsled down the same track used by Olympic athletes and ride a fast and furious zip-line—at Utah Olympic Park—zoom down the side of a peak in a one-man mountain rollercoaster, throw caution to the winds on an alpine luge down a precarious concrete slide...?

And if you’re into more sedentary outdoor enjoyment, there’s no shortage on that end either. As part of my visit—hosted by the awesome Park City CVB folks—one definite highlight was riding the tiny Flight of the Canyons gondola 3,000 feet up the side of a towering mountain to lunch at the Red Pine Lodge at the massive Canyons Resort.

I lodged at the Newpark Resort, a tasteful, brand-new condo-tel minutes outside of downtown that is part of a neighborhood development still in the works—with some restaurants and shops in place, but much more to come. A high-tech bowling alley, multi-screen theater and additional restaurants are on the way. Meeting planners can be excited as well about the development’s venue potential, including the Swaner EcoCenter, the headquarter building for the Swaner Nature Preserve. It will house exhibits, a contemporary theater, climbing wall and much more; and host lecture and film series, private parties, and a mix of other special events.

Also had a chance to visit several properties, including the casually inviting Yarrow Resort and regally rustic Hotel Park City. Oh, and I have to mention some of my favorite meals of course… Shabu is an amazing second-story Asian restaurant on Main Street (but moving soon, from my understanding) where the food is as inventive as it is delicious and the appetizers are particularly outstanding (try the firecracker shrimp!). More down-to-earth but nearly as tasty was the Red Rock Brewing Co, where the sweet potato manicotti was mouthwateringly good.

 

Scott Beck, president and CEO of the Salt Lake Convention & Visitors Bureau, gives Smart Meetings magazine a preview of what to expect at next year’s MPI-WEC in Salt Lake City.