Smart Meetings

Headlines: October 2007

October 2007

Departments

Have You Been Cleared?

No more waiting in the long lines at the airport security gate—Fly Clear has created a membership program that prescreens frequent travelers, allowing them to pass through security checkpoints at a separate entrance in participating airports. Applicants must provide two forms of government-issued I.D. and background information, and they also must follow up with in-person enrollment procedures (including a retinal scan). Once approved, the Transportation Security Administration will mail a Clear Card to the applicant to indicate that he or she has been officially prescreened. Baggage scanning and passage through the security X-ray gate are still necessary, but from an expedited line. Airports already using this system are located in San Francisco, San Jose, Calif. and Reno, Nev. Visit the website for a full list.

  Build It and They Will Come

HEI Hotels & Resorts has its eye on a one-acre site in Bellevue, Wash.—perfect for a full-service hotel close to the city’s business district. HEI, a hospitality investment firm, is currently negotiating with Marriott to use the company’s brand name for the new 14-story hotel, which is still in the planning stages. With an anticipated opening in 2010, it will feature 13,000 sq. ft. of meeting space, 378 guest rooms and a fitness facility.

  East Meets West Meets Green

A new eco-friendly hotel is going up in Torrance, Calif. The seven-story, 208-room property, which broke ground in July, will represent a mix of Japanese-style amenities and Western hospitality. In addition to the three conference rooms, banquet space and business center equipped with high-speed Internet access, the hotel will feature Japanese-style soak tubs and room key-operated controls that turn off the lights and TV when occupants leave the room. The Japanese-concept restaurant and a full-service shiatsu-specialty spa are also in alignment with the hotel’s health and eco-conscious theme. The new lodging, dubbed Miyako Hybrid Hotel will open in spring 2009.

  Vancouver Gets Ready

With the 2010 Winter Olympics just around the corner (in “developers’ time,” anyway), Vancouver, B.C. is amping up its hotel inventory. Kor Hotel Group will open its first Canadian-based hotel this fall—Loden Vancouver, which will have 77 deluxe guest rooms, including six suites, and a boardroom that accommodates up to 17 people. The 1,600-square-foot penthouse will also be used for corporate function space. Voya, the property’s restaurant, will provide seating for 80 or private dining for 18, with a 50-seat lounge—all available for buyouts.

 

Also, the Shangri-la Hotel, to be completed in 2008, will become the tallest tower in Vancouver, with 61 floors. Located in the heart of the city, the boutique hotel will have a business center, work stations, boardrooms and a canopied terrace for open-air events. Total meeting space will be about 5,000 sq. ft.

 

Talks of a Ritz-Carlton going up in Vancouver are in the works, with a proposed completion date in 2011, or maybe sooner, in time for the Olympics. The hotel will occupy the first 20 floors (with residences above those) of the new 58-story twisting tower, which would be the second tallest in the city, located downtown.

 

And now there’s more ways to travel to and from Vancouver. WestJet will offer a new direct flight to Kona, HI starting in January. The “red-eye” will fly twice per week between the island and the mainland. Additionally, Air Canada will provide more daily flights to Vancouver from Los Angeles and San Francisco, plus Sacramento’s nonstop service through winter.

Registration Made Easy

Next year, the ease of event management will extend to even more meeting planners and attendees staying at Crowne Plaza hotels. In 2008, the Crowne Plaza will implement Passkey in more than 250 hotels in the U.S. and Canada. Passkey, a web-based group reservation solution that allows planners to efficiently manage events online, will benefit both the planner and attendee. Planners will be able to use a customized event-specific hotel reservation website where they can upload rooming lists, track reservation status through real-time reports and automatically link reservation information to IHG hotels. Attendees will have the convenience of managing their reservations online.

  Positive Focus on Food

Hotels are becoming more in tune with the needs of guests and the environment. Many are offering menus and meal programs that cater to guests’ tastes all the while supporting the local market. For example, in September Wyndham Hotels and Resorts introduced a new breakfast program called “Fields & Sun,” featuring organic ingredients, regionally grown seasonal produce and made-to-order eggs. Breakfast customers will receive a complimentary fresh-fruit smoothie sample prior to ordering from a daily drink menu.

 

Meanwhile, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts is dedicated to providing not only menus that will highlight sustainable, organic products for guests, but also sourcing where the food came from. In fact, the hotels’ award-winning environmental program, Fairmont’s Green Partnership, encourages guests and employees to buy locally when traveling—such as trying organic wines and shopping from local purveyors.

 

Sofitel San Francisco Bay has incorporated a health-driven aspect to its banquet services, as a way to showcase the newly renovated conference and pre-function space. Meeting planners can look forward to “Banquets of the Future,” featuring menu options such as fresh fruit smoothies, sushi and other products that are local and organically grown. The new program includes “oxygen breaks” and “sports breaks” that promote more productivity through health-conscious team-building activities like yoga, basketball or badminton games.

JUST FOR FUN Planning for an event, no matter the size, takes a great deal of multitasking and a hearty sense of humor. Not everyone understands the skills involved in coordinating a successful meeting, but business humorist Todd Hunt has a pretty good idea. In fact, his booklet “What Time is the Noon Lunch?” recognizes characteristics that separate you from the masses. Here are 10 ways to know if you’re a meeting professional. We’re sure you can think of at least 10 more.   

You’re a Meeting Professional if you:

1. Can tell an 8-top from a 10-top at 50 yards.

2. Know that a podium and a lectern are two different things.

3. See right through fancy descriptions such as Chicken Provençal.

4. Are on a first-name basis with the midnight shift at Kinko’s.

5. Can’t help thinking of vacations as site visits.

6. Scour the fine print on room-block contracts, deleting charges for daily newspaper delivery, fitness center access and in-room safes.

7. Read a sign and wonder how it was produced.

8. Know precisely how much time is saved by presetting the dessert.

9. Can’t stop the flood of speaker videos and hotel press kits into your office.

10. Add a 10 percent walk-in factor for your family Thanksgiving dinner.

 

Business humorist Todd Hunt speaks for organizations that want to add fun to their meetings and send members back to work smiling, with tips to improve communication and success. Meeting professionals from MPI, SGMP, PCMA and other groups have enjoyed his insights. For a complimentary copy of “What Time is the Noon Lunch?” visit toddhuntspeaker.com.