Smart Meetings

Groups heading 80 miles north of Vancouver to the scenic community tucked between the twin peaks of Blackcomb and Whistler Mountains will find only one thing to complain about: leaving.

“When you have an event in Whistler, you get nothing but compliments,” says Judy Williams, a managing consultant with Expert Meeting Consulting in Vancouver, who has coordinated dozens of functions at the locale, including an annual general meeting for about 250 notaries late last September.

Williams chose the Hilton Whistler Resort & Spa for the weekend gathering, a lodging she describes as “nice without being over the top. The rooms are large, the meeting space has been re-done and I think it’s a great value.”
An added bonus is the property’s location—adjoining the village’s southeast corner and directly across the street from the Whistler Golf Club, where many attendees took advantage of the nearby links. Group members also indulged in zip-lining, four-wheeling and hiking.

According to Williams, late summer is wonderful, as is fall, “with the leaves changing and the air a bit cooler.”
The meetings expert offers two pieces of advice for planners considering a Whistler event: think of it as a year-round destination (“anytime of year is good”), and check for road closures along the Sea-to-Sky Highway running between Vancouver and Whistler, as an ongoing improvement project prepares the roadway in advance of the 2010 Winter Olympics.
She also suggests that planners consider the Rocky Mountaineer, a scenic train ride from Vancouver, as an option to driving.

While the upcoming Olympics—based in Vancouver with several competitions in Whistler—will be a thrilling time for the region, planners may want to book during May through November for better rates and availability.

MAJOR MEETING VENUES AND HOTELS
For a remote mountainside town, Whistler showcases an impressive array of meeting areas and top properties.
The TELUS Whistler Conference Center (whistlermeetings.com) is the biggie here, a state-of-the-art facility with 65,000 sq. ft. of meeting and conference space, located in the heart of town. A favorite area for planners is the Grand Foyer, featuring 5,400 sq. ft. of dramatic meeting space—enhanced by huge skylights and a 40-foot-high stone fireplace—for receptions and dinners.
In addition to the Hilton, several major hotels offer a variety of meeting and function space. The Fairmont Whistler is an elegant property able to host 15 to 1,000, with a wealth of amenities ranging from fine restaurants to a fully equipped health club complete with a lap pool featuring underwater music. Also, The Pan Pacific hotel group actually has two properties in the village, the Whistler Mountainside and the Whistler Village Centre, that are perfect for medium-sized groups. Other properties worth consideration are the Four Seasons Whistler, with 273 rooms, and the Westin Whistler, with 34,000 sq. ft. of meeting and event space.

ACTIVITIES
Whistler actually draws more visitors during the summer than in ski season, partly due to the rate decrease of about 50 percent at most properties. The real attraction, though, is an endless array of outdoor diversions that includes hiking, fishing, mountain biking, swimming at several lakes, horseback riding and much more.

Darlene Small, manager of travel media relations for Tourism Whistler, says a “can’t miss” experience for groups during fair weather is hiking the region’s High Note Trail near the peak of Mount Whistler. Accessible by gondola and ski-lift, the trail features staggering views in all directions.

Golfing is huge in the area, with links that include not only Whistler Golf Club, but also Nicklaus North Golf Course, The Fairmont Chateau Golf Club and Big Sky Golf and Country Club (information on all four courses can be found  at golfwhistler.com).

For something a bit different, planners can contact Ziptrek Ecotours, which specializes in zip-lining as well as “treetrek” ecotours—fully guided ecology hikes meandering high above the trees via a series of wooden walkways and canopies.
When winter does paint the town white, meeting-goers can, of course, hit the slopes, indulge in snowmobiling, or even enjoy sleigh rides or dog sledding. And shopping is a popular outing any time of year in the village, with more than 200 galleries and shops that run the gamut from local artwork to brand-name fashion.
 
UNIQUE VENUES
The Roundhouse Lodge, at the top of the Mount Whistler gondola lift, can take your meeting to new heights with a number of indoor and outdoor event spaces for rent. For the “coolest” event your group might ever experience, take your attendees aboard a helicopter and ascend to Rainbow Glacier, surrounded by meadows of wildflowers and lush pine woods. Back to Top

Getting There

Whistler is about 85 miles north of Vancouver International Airport (yvr.ca)and can be reached by car via the Sea-to-Sky Highway in a few hours. Other options are venturing to Whistler from Victoria on a floatplane operated by West Coast Air (westcoast.air) from early June through September. Daily train trips are available to Whistler from Vancouver on the Whistler Mountaineer (whistlermountaineer.com), a three-hour excursion offered between April 23 and October 19 this year. Back to Top