Smart Meetings

If you kept your eyes open during Soarin’ Over California, the “airborne” journey at Disney’s California Adventure, you’ve gotten a hang-glider’s view of the state’s surprising southland, one that has towering mountains, deep valleys, huge cities, theme parks, military installations and expansive deserts.

And if Anaheim isn’t in your group’s rotation this year, just click onto Google Earth. Here you’ll also find that Southern California isn’t one homogeneous block of land interspersed with swimming pools—although there are plenty of those throughout, given the year-round sunny climate.

That diversity is what makes this region—stretching from Los Angeles south to San Diego—such an appealing destination. Whatever activity or type of venue that jumps to mind when you’ve got a new meeting to plan, Southern California has it.

 

LOS ANGELES

The tantalizing thing about L.A. is that, as soon as you think you’ve got it figured out, it changes—and changes the way you think.

Take downtown, for instance. Right now, this once-maligned area is undergoing not one, but two, mega redevelopments. L.A. Live, a $2.5-billion hotel, entertainment and residential district growing up adjacent to Staples Center and the convention center, also encompasses a JW Marriott and a Ritz-Carlton. Ground broke on the hotel portion last month; Nokia Theatre, a 7,100-seat live-performance venue, opens in November.

The Grand Avenue project, which began construction last winter, is transforming the Los Angeles Music Center’s setting to reflect the caliber of its renowned theaters and concert halls. In addition to a new 16-acre park, there are new hotel, retail and residential components coming in the new few years.

As another example: although you may not think of Beverly Hills as “command central” for large international conferences, it can be. The Milken Institute’s 10th Anniversary Global Conference, which drew 3,000 high-profile attendees from around the world, recently met at the Beverly Hilton for the seventh year. The group used all of the hotel’s meeting space, says Bryan Quinan, event manager for the institute, and utilized the Hilton as well as several other hotels for accommodations.

They chose the Hilton again this year, he says, because it “delivers almost five-star quality” with the recent $80-million renovation and improvements to the infrastructure in terms of telecommunications and Internet use. “They’re really flexible with us,” he continues. “They’re the first hotel in my career that actually listens as part of the dialogue with a client.”

MAJOR MEETINGS VENUES

...and this one is major: the glass-and-steel Los Angeles Convention Center, with 922,000 sq. ft. of meeting and event space for up to 10,000. Its airy, light-filled interior was on the design forefront when it was built; ditto its technology today.

Staples Center, virtually next door, is home to the Lakers and regularly hosts “name” entertainment like Sting and The Police, who appeared just recently. For your event, the 20,000-seat center has 15 meeting rooms with full A/V
and catering.

Also downtown, there’s the Los Angeles Music Center, comprised of the new Walt Disney Concert Hall plus the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, the Mark Taper Forum and the Ahmanson Theatre. (The buzz is, the Frank Gehry-designed Disney Concert Hall, so avant garde and recognizable, could one day edge out the Hollywood sign as the symbol of L.A.)

Depending on your needs and group size, you might consider holding an event at the Hollywood Bowl, a spectacular natural amphitheater with live music events, or even Dodger Stadium, if the boys in blue aren’t scheduled for a home game. Or, if your group is into glitz and glamour—say, a “reach for the stars” sales incentive event—try the Kodak Theatre, home of the Academy Awards. (You, of course, get the Jack Nicholson seat in the front row.)

UNIQUE VENUES

This is where L.A. really shines. Under the “when in Rome” banner, take your group on a studio tour to Universal Studios or hold your event for up to 5,000 there). If the attendees are culturally inclined, L.A. houses a panoply of stellar museums, including the Los Angeles County Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Hammer. Plus, there’s the Getty Villa in Malibu and, a little farther afield, the Norton Simon in Pasadena. LA INC.’s cultural tourism department is a great place to start your planning.   

Speaking of a little farther afield, just 26—or 23, depending on where you depart—miles away is Catalina Island, an hour away by high-speed ferry but a world apart in experience. Suitable for an off-site, the one-square-mile town of Avalon has charm galore, plus the iconic 15,000-square-foot Art Deco-style Casino Ballroom hugging the crescent-shaped bay. The town is chock full of activities, from dining and shopping to various recreational pursuits, like diving, snorkeling and kayaking in the crystal-clear waters.

Or, in Long Beach, the Queen Mary reigns not only as a visitor attraction but also an events destination, with 80,000 sq. ft. in 14 salons.

 

INLAND EMPIRE

Think of this “empire” as an undiscovered gem. Served by LA/Ontario International Airport, this sunny area (330 days of sunshine a year) encompasses three major cities: Ontario, Riverside and San Bernardino. The Inland Empire Tourism Council (c/o the San Bernardino CVB; 800-867-8366) is its marketing partnership.

MAJOR MEETINGS VENUES

This sprawling, broad region has a lot more than weather going for it. For instance, the Ontario Convention Center is only two blocks from the Ontario Airport, and its 225,000-square-foot function space is ringed by six hotels. Capable of handling midsize groups, Ontario attracts conventions, trade shows, meetings and conferences.

Planners should know two things about Ontario, says Theresa Moretti, director of marketing and public relations for the Ontario Convention & Visitors Bureau. “One, we are accessible, and we’ve just added additional air service with ExpressJet. The airport now has 250 flights daily and serves more than 7 million passengers a year,” she says. The second is Ontario’s easy proximity to popular spots such as Disneyland, Palm Springs, Temecula wineries and the Orange County beaches, she says.

Ontario’s convenience is an attraction for Judi Beghtol, conference coordinator for Eagle Software in Santa Ana, who has booked the Ontario Convention Center for an annual users’ meeting since 2000. The conference draws 1,100 people from around the state for the two-day event. “The flights are right, Ontario is a convenient location and we get good room rates,” she says.

Riverside, with a vibrant cultural scene that includes 20 museums, also holds an appeal for planners. Its downtown convention center offers 50,000 sq. ft. of function space and accommodates groups of 25–2,000. San Bernardino is well known for its National Orange Show Events Center, which has been hosting events like trade shows, wine competitions and county fairs since 1911.

High in the San Bernardino Mountains, at Lake Arrowhead Resort, is the UCLA Conference Center, with 12 meeting rooms that can host up to 200 (university affiliation not required).

  
UNIQUE VENUES

Southern California’s wine country may be emerging in national recognition but its roots are deep. And like more well-known California wine countries, it has vineyards and wineries that can host wine tastings, dinners and both indoor and outdoor events. Temecula Valley Convention & Visitors Bureau, located in Riverside County, is the hotspot, with 30 wineries. Among the facilities primed for group events are Callaway Vineyard & Winery and Ponte Family Estate Winery.

Riverside, home of a new University of California campus, can offer groups the opportunity to dine inside a C-141 cargo plane at March Field Air Museum. Or, if casino action and entertainment are more your speed, try Pechanga Resort & Casino.

 

PALM SPRINGS

Also going through an exciting period of growth is the Palm Springs area, reflected in a whopping $1-billion investment in the hospitality industry, from newly opened properties to renovated properties and new amenities—with more on the books. “The desert is changing quite rapidly,” says Mark Graves, spokesperson for the Palm Springs Desert Resort Communities CVA, which oversees Palm Springs and Palm Desert, plus Rancho Mirage, Indian Wells, Cathedral City, La Quinta, Desert Hot Springs and Indio. The upswing reflects “a sign of the times,” he says—pent-up travel demand and hotelier response with a “let’s move forward” vision.

The result is a destination that not only offers planners 110 golf courses, mountain vistas and a relaxed ambience, but also a reinvigorated meetings scene. For example, along with newly completed renovation of Desert Springs, A JW Marriott Resort in Palm Desert, and a new ballroom at the Miramonte Resort & Spa in Indian Wells, construction is in progress on Agua Caliente Casino’s hotel in Rancho Mirage and Hard Rock Hotel (hardrock.com) in Palm Springs. The landmark Palm Springs Riviera Resort will now reopen with a hotel concept, Graves says, and the SilverRock golf course will be renovated in time for the 2008 PGA tour.

MEETINGS VENUES

The Palm Springs Convention Center is still enjoying the buzz about its $33-million expansion, which debuted in 2005. At 261,000 sq. ft., nearly double the size of the original, it now encompasses a 20,000-square-foot ballroom and 120,000 sq. ft. of exhibit space. Plus, the center is conveniently located within walking distance of 2,700 guest rooms.

There’s also a little pocket oasis in Indio, Graves says, of the Fantasy Springs Special Events Center, which has a 250-room resort and can host up to 3,700, and right nearby, the new Spotlight 29 Casino, which is scheduled to have a $100-million, 200-room hotel.

UNIQUE VENUES

Scrambles, shotguns, twilights—they’re all here and reason enough to bring your golf clubs. So are spas and natural hot springs, both relaxation options worth adding to your agenda.

A third Palm Springs icon is the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, which features the world’s largest rotating tramcars. Board the tram and you’ll zip up more than a mile to Mount San Jacinto, where you can go cross-country skiing or snowshoeing in winter. In summer—when it’s 40 degrees cooler than down in the valley—you can trek on 54 miles of hiking trails or take a guided nature walk with spectacular views.

Another option is holding an event at The Living Desert, a museum-conservation center-wilderness park that showcases the ecology of the desert, including special exhibits that demonstrate how the desert comes alive after the sun sets.   

 

ORANGE COUNTY

For planners, Orange County is a microcosm of Southern California, with a picturesque coast, beachside cities, metropolitan areas, convention centers and, of course, theme parks for on-sites (surprise!) and off-sites. Altogether, there are more than 55,000 hotel rooms county-wide. And, thanks to television, it has more name recognition than any time in the past: among its more famous destinations are Anaheim, Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Huntington Beach and Costa Mesa.

“We are located in the center of Southern California and offer meeting planners and attendees a tremendous variety of entertainment options and unique venues,” says Charles Ahlers, president of the Anaheim/Orange County Visitor & Convention Bureau.

Coastal communities have their charm as well. Take walkable Laguna Beach (Laguna Beach Visitors & Conference Bureau), for instance, with an artist village ambience and its renowned Pageant of the Masters, celebrating its 75th anniversary this year.

Newport Beach (Newport Beach Conference & Visitors Bureau) has its fans, as well. Doug Wheeler, principal of Summit Performance Group in Rancho Bernardo, has brought groups to the coastside town and to the Marriott there several times. “In the last five years, Newport Beach has emerged as its own meeting and incentive destination,” he says. “It’s up-end, safe, with good shopping and restaurants, plus John Wayne Airport has pretty good lift.”

He likes the Marriott because of its meeting facilities and the recent $61-million renovation that “put it somewhere between a Marriott and a JW,” he says. “They have a great team there, a great spa, a good location and it’s easy to get to. It’s a great business hotel.”

MEETINGS VENUES

The Anaheim Convention Center is another of the West’s updated, expanded meeting facilities, offering more than 1.6 million sq. ft. of meeting and exhibit space. This past fall it completed a $4.1-million landscape renovation that also included new outdoor event space for up to 4,500.

In Costa Mesa, the 160-acre Orange County Fair & Exposition Center can accommodate groups of 250 to 5,000 in 11 event areas, the largest of which is 36,000 sq. ft.

UNIQUE VENUES

It’s hard to imagine a more unique venue than Disneyland, the quintessential theme park that also welcomes meeting groups of up to 20,000 (that’s a buyout). The Disneyland Resort’s three hotels offer a total of 200,000 sq. ft. of function space, and the parks themselves have numerous venues for after-hours events, like Disney Animation in California Adventure, and also dedicated private event spaces like Stage 17, a 10,000-square-foot venue for groups of up to 1,100.

Knott’s Berry Farm—which long ago morphed from a berry farm with a train ride into a 160-acre theme park—can also host groups in various restaurants and picnic areas.

Or take your attendees out to a ballgame at Angel Stadium, home of the Los Angeles Angels baseball team. Dine at one of several group-friendly restaurants, picnic or just flash your group’s name on the scoreboard before the 7th-inning stretch.

New on the scene is Crystal Cove, a formerly private enclave of old-time beach houses and restaurant that’s now restored and part of the California State Parks system. With 3.5 miles of beach and 2,000 acres of undeveloped wetlands, it’s a real find.

 

SAN DIEGO

No less an expert than Pleasant Weather Rating Service ranked San Diego as Best Year-Round Weather in the United States. For planners, that says it all, except perhaps, for the fact that the county has 70 miles of coastline and 54,249 guest rooms, including hotels, casino resorts, country inns and other properties. The area’s diversity extends not only from meeting options but also to recreational and entertainment options, often on the water.

The city itself (San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau) has a smorgasbord of options, including a downtown core with more than 11,000 hotel rooms with easy access to the San Diego Convention Center, San Diego International Airport, and Mission Bay, with its bayside/waterfront resorts. Construction of new hotels, such as the Hard Rock Hotel San Diego, opening soon, and the Hilton San Diego Convention Center Hotel, opening in late 2008, continues at a rapid pace.

San Diego North, which begins in La Jolla and heads north, is “San Diego’s resort area,” says Cami Mattson, president and CEO of San Diego North Convention & Visitors Bureau. It’s an “area all to itself,” she says, but has access to all the San Diego amenities—plus it’s easily accessible to San Diego, Ontario and Orange County airports.

After a site visit, Renee Larsen, CMP of CalTrans in Sacramento recently held a training meeting at the Hilton Del Mar. “(North County) is not as far as I used to think. It’s not even a 20-minute ride from the airport, and we do that in Sacramento all the time,” she says. An added plus was “all the great things North County has to offer,” from the flower fields in Carlsbad to art galleries and wide, sandy beaches.

MEETINGS VENUES

The light-filled San Diego Convention Center occupies a prime location on San Diego Bay, in the heart of downtown. After a $216-million expansion, it now delivers more than one million square feet of exhibit and meeting space, including the architecturally striking Sails Pavilion, which has 90,000 sq. ft. of column-free space.

PETCO Park, also on the waterfront, is a must-do on every baseball fan’s list for its design and newness. Go there for a game or, if your group is large enough, book the park when the Padres aren’t in town. And there’s the University of San Diego,which has numerous facilities for conferences plus lodging during the summer.

For a resort experience, check out Town & Country Resort & Convention Center, located in Mission Valley. Last February the resort (1,000 rooms) added a 41,000-square-foot exhibit hall to its 165,000 sq. ft. of meeting space.

Or, try the California Center for the Arts in Escondido, which includes a conference center, concert hall, theater and a 34,000-square-foot lawn. Also along the coast, the Del Mar Fairgrounds (sdfair.com; 180,000 sq. ft.)––home of the San Diego County Fair––is well-suited for trade shows, conventions and other gatherings.

UNIQUE VENUES

Theme parks offer myriad event and dining venues, and you can't beat the backdrop. Choose your theme––animals (San Diego Zoo, San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park), marine-life (Sea World Adventure Park) or toys (Legoland)––and take it from there.

On the water, there's Charter Connection and Hornblower Cruises and Events (hornblower.com) for dining and cruising. Or hold your event for up to 3,000 on the flight deck of the USS Midway (midway.org), the longest-serving aircraft carrier in U.S. history.

The renowned Marine Corps Air Station Miramar is also available for group functions (up to 70,000 sq. ft. of banquet space), including the Miramar Officers’ Club, where scenes from Top Gun were filmed.

NEWS

• L.A. Live, the $2.5-billion entertainment/retail/hotel project in Downtown Los Angeles, continues to progress. Ground broke last month on the 1,001-room hotel/224-room residence tower that will serve as the project’s anchor; it will encompass a JW Marriott, The Ritz-Carlton and The Ritz-Carlton Residences.
• Ontario International Airport changed its name to LA/Ontario International Airport earlier this year. The airport now has 250 daily flights and new jet service by ExpressJet (expressjet.com).
• Palm Springs and its nearby desert resort areas are on a building spree, adding new hotels, upgrading and renovating existing properties, sprucing up golf courses and expanding spas—to the tune of $1 billion.
• Two of Anaheim’s major meeting properties are undergoing extensive renovation. The Hilton Anaheim recently broke ground on a $50-million renovation that will include the guest rooms, ballrooms, meeting rooms and all public areas. The first phase of the Anaheim Marriott’s $40-million renovation—a 25,600-square-foot ballroom addition—was completed this spring. The second phase, including renovation of all guest rooms, will be completed in early 2008. In news of another type, Disneyland opened its newest attraction—Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage—last month, and you can incorporate a nifty submarine ride based on the Disney/Pixar film as part of your event.
• San Diego’s building spree continues as well, with two long-anticipated openings this fall: The Grand Del Mar,  just east of La Jolla, with 249 rooms and 30,000 sq. ft. of flexible meeting space; and the Hard Rock Hotel San Diego, with 420 rooms and 40,000 sq. ft. of indoor/outdoor function space.

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Getting There

LOS ANGELES COUNTY
Los Angeles International Airport is served by approximately 80 passenger carriers, including all major airlines. You can get here from pretty much any city in the country.

Bob Hope Airport in Burbank (the San Fernando Valley) is served by Alaska, American, Delta, JetBlue, Skybus, Southwest, United and US Airways.  

Amtrak has numerous stations throughout Southern California; see amtrak.com for schedules.  The drive market can access Southern California via Interstates 5, 101, 15 and 10.  

INLAND EMPIRE
LA/Ontario International Airport,  convenient to Ontario, Riverside and San Bernardino, offers service to every major U.S. city with 250 daily flights on most major airlines.  Among them: Alaska,  Continental,  Delta,  ExpressJet,  JetBlue,  Southwest and United.

PALM SPRINGS
Palm Springs International Airport is served by 14 airlines, including American, Continental, Delta and United, and provides direct jet service from 15 U.S. cities.

ORANGE COUNTY
John Wayne Airport is served by 11 major airlines, including  American,  Continental,  Delta,  United and Southwest.  

SAN DIEGO
San Diego International Airport, located three miles west of downtown San Diego, offers service by 23 carriers, including  Alaska,  Continental,  Delta, ExpressJet,  JetBlue, Southwest and United. It’s within easy access of Interstate  5.  Back to Top

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