Smart Meetings

Hugging 70 miles of dramatic Pacific coastline, the destination tantalizes with extremes: Colorful, tightly packed marinas, topped by forests of swaying masts, are interspersed with secluded beaches along aquamarine waters. There’s the sensuous climate that tempers warm, dry air from the inland desert with the cool Pacific breezes, so you can play outdoors year-round.

San Diego is a host to 16 AAA-Four-Diamond-rated hotels, including one adjoining a major league ballpark. There’s the dizzying choice of celebrated restaurants, including nine AAA Four-Diamond options. Further, there’s San Diego’s abundance of world-famous attractions, innovative theater and a diverse culture to round out the destination’s winning package.

Once considered sleepy, downtown San Diego now dazzles. From its humble roots as a military outpost, it’s becoming an urban center that never sleeps.

The city’s pulse is the Gaslamp Quarter (gaslamp.org). Founded in 1867, the historic neighborhood has recaptured its vibrant ragtime-era heritage, enticing both locals and visitors with more than 90 restaurants, 100 shops, and 35 nightclubs and bars.

In 2004, 42,000-seat PETCO Park blasted onto the sporting scene as the San Diego Padres’ home in emerging East Village. A few months later, the San Diego Aircraft Carrier Museum opened along downtown’s picturesque Embarcadero near Seaport Village (seaportvillage.com).

Despite the advancing progress, however, San Diego’s sparking seaside charm and warmth is never overshadowed by high-rises. With a harbor setting that literally brings water recreation to the heart of the city, the relaxed nautical ambience continues unabated.

Beyond downtown, San Diego offers a matchless collection of vibrant residential communities that are also resort destinations in themselves. Both La Jolla (lajolla.com) and Coronado Island (coronadovisitors.com) have been praised for their scenic beauty since the early 20th century. Coronado is close at hand to the city, but with its 19th-century, small town atmosphere, it’s a complete world away. La Jolla is a bit further north from the city center, but well worth the visit for its wealth of fine resort properties, beautiful vistas and art museum, as well as exceptional dining and shopping. Snorkelers and scuba divers prize the 600-acre marine habitat of the San Diego La Jolla Underwater Park (a-zsandiegobeaches.com/lajollacove).

Between La Jolla in the north and the city in the south, there is a string of grooving coastal communities including Ocean Beach (oceanbeachsandiego.com), Mission Beach (missionbeachonline.com) and Pacific Beach (pacificbeachsandiego.com), all remarkable for the youth of their residents and the expanse of their boardwalk-edged beaches. The busy sidewalks of these beach towns feature surf shops, beach-y boutiques and intensely social outdoor restaurants. Mission Beach is augmented by the large aquatic playground of Mission Bay (a-zsandiegobeaches.com/missionbay), a saltwater beach-lined basin that is also home to SeaWorld San Diego. This spot is perfect for picnics and swimming along with jet skiing, water skiing, windsurfing and motor boating.

San Diego also lists 1,200 tennis courts and 92 golf courses countywide. Those preferring to watch their activities thrill to the NFL’s San Diego Chargers (chargers.com), San Diego Padres (padres.mlb.com) baseball, plus other seasonal sporting events. The region also brims with such treasures as the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park, Balboa Park, Old Town and Birch Aquarium at Scripps.

Over the past decade, the whole dining scene has undergone a metamorphosis. San Diego’s cuisine has become as diverse as the region’s population itself, with restaurants serving seafood to Mexican to Thai. And, with the weather on your side in San Diego, there are abundant outdoor dining options.

The San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau (sandiego.org) is staffed to help you create the ideal program from the overwhelming array of options.

A planner bonus, SDCVB’s iLead is an online, interactive, one-stop site selection process. Planners can handle every aspect of organizing and servicing meetings or conventions with a click of the mouse. As a start, you’ll definitely want to get hold of their annual 194-page, multi-tabbed Official Meeting & Convention Planner’s Guide.

Both planners and attendees will also appreciate meetmeinsandiego.com, a new web site launched by the San Diego Convention Center (visitsandiego.com). Designed to attract higher attendance levels, the site encourages convention visitors to plan pre- and post-meeting vacations. Its design reflects the city’s vibrant branding and the navigation helps showcase its ample offerings. The link can be integrated into client web sites pre-meeting to complement promotional efforts and timelines.

Hotel development highlights include the 235-room luxe Hotel Solamar that opened in East Village last year. Further upping the meeting and guest room inventory this fall will be the new 344-room Marriott Renaissance Hotel. The pace will continue in 2007 as the edgy Hard Rock Hotel San Diego rolls in next spring with 420 rooms. Following that debut, doors will open at the 185-room Residence Inn by Marriott Gaslamp and the upscale 250-room Spinnaker Hotel at downtown’s marina.

Then substantially beefing up meetings-centric properties, the 1,200-room Hilton San Diego Convention Center is slated to open summer 2008. The property will join an array of hotels surrounding the expansive San Diego Convention Center.

Situated within a mile of more than 9,000 hotel rooms and 10 minutes from the airport, San Diego Convention Center (sdccc.org) shines with 615,000 sq. ft. of exhibit space, 204,000 sq. ft. for meetings, and over 284,000 sq. ft. for pre-functions. Over a half million sq. ft. of contiguous exhibit space is divisible into seven halls. The Center’s architectural centerpiece is the 90,000-sq. ft. Sails Pavilion, a glass enclosed, column-free space ideal for everything from trade shows to gala events.

Mission Valley Regional Convention Center (towncountry.com) delivers more than 225,000 sq. ft. of meeting space and 50-plus meeting rooms ranging in size from 400 to 24,000 sq. ft. A luxury resort and convention facility rolled into one, the center is adding a new 41,000 sq. ft. Grand Exhibit Hall.

In the heart of San Diego’s yachting community, Shelter Island (shelterislandhotelgroup.com) provides 600 hotel rooms in four properties with a total of 50,000 sq. ft. of versatile meeting space. The area is also home to Humphrey’s Concerts By The Bay (halfmooninn.com), a 10,000-sq.-ft., open-air facility with a permanent stage and state-of-the-art sound and lighting.

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Getting There

Located only three miles northwest of downtown, San Diego International Airport (san.org) is served by more than 20 airlines and has nonstop flights from 38 airports nationwide. Back to Top

Not To Be Missed

The 2,967-seat San Diego Civic Theatre (sdcivic.org) is the region’s most diverse performing arts venue with its 7,300-sq.-ft. stage and orchestra pit. An outdoor plaza adds 20,000 sq. ft. of function space.

Visitors enjoy unlimited admission to over 35 top San Diego attractions and tours with the new Go San Diego Card (GoSanDiegoCard.com). Similarly, Balboa Park (balboapark.org) has introduced a seven-day “passport” providing discounted access to 13 of its cultural attractions.

Where To Be Tours (wheretours.com) has launched custom-designed team building scavenger hunts. Adventures focus on historical and hysterical aspects of San Diego and the Southern California lifestyle.

Old Town State Historic Park’s Bazaar del Mundo has been renamed Plaza del Pasado (plazadelpasado.com). Ten new historical-themed shops will feature items significant to San Diego’s golden era of 1821 to 1872.

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What's New?

Hilton San Diego Bayfront Continues Unhindered After Blast | The under-construction Hilton San Diego Bayfront, following a natural gas explosion that impacted...

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