Kathy Nelson

A portrait of Kathy Nelson. She is a white woman with shoulder-length blonde hair and a pink sweater

Nelson was promoted to dual president and CEO of both Visit KC and Kansas City Sports Commission and Foundation. For the past ten years, Nelson maintained her role as president and CEO of Kansas City Sports Commission and Foundation. She has also been director of Women’s Intersport Network for Kansas City (WIN for KC) and spent a decade in marketing management positions at Time Warner Cable, Metro Sports Center and more.

Ariane Hiltebrand

A portrait of Ariane Hiltebrand. She is a blonde white woman with straight hair and a black blouse

Miami Beach Convention Center (MBCC) appointed Hiltebrand director of marketing and external relations. Hiltebrand has spent more than 25 years in travel, marketing and hospitality leadership. Most recently, she was content and digital committee chair at Visit California. In addition, Hiltebrand has worked for Sonoma County Tourism as director of marketing planning and insights, among other roles, marketing manager at Intrepid Travel, director of global marketing at Suntrek Tours Inc. and more.

Artesha C. Moore, FASAE, CAE

A portrait of Artesha C. Moore. She is a black woman with greying hair in a knot and a pink blouse

Association Forum named Moore president and CEO of the Chicago company. Moore has more than two decades of association management experience, most recently working for American Geophysical Union (AGU) in Washington, D.C. as vice president of affiliation, engagement and membership. She has also held leadership positions at Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) and more.

Alan Noone

A portrait of Alan Noone. He is a white man with short brown hair, tortoiseshell glasses and a dark suit

Noone, the U.K.’s 2019 Concierge of the Year, joined The Stafford London as executive head concierge after 13 years as head concierge at The Berkeley Hotel in London. Noone brings 25 years of industry experience and, early in his career, also served as assistant head concierge at London’s The Connaught Hotel.

Edward Diano

A portrait of Edward Diano. He is a South Asian man with combed black hair and a blue suit

Diano is director of sales at Hotel Citrine, Palo Alto, a Tribute Portfolio Hotel. For nearly 20 years, Diano has been a hospitality sales leader. Most recently, he was director of sales and strategy at blinkpad, a job matching platform for those in the employment process, in Saratoga, California. Diano has also been associate director of sales at Hotel Nia, Autograph Collection in Silicon Valley, director of West Coast sales at Teneo Hospitality Group in the San Francisco Bay Area and has held sales management roles at properties such as The Ritz-Carlton, Half Moon Bay; Battery Wharf Hotel Boston Waterfront; Fairmont San Francisco and others.

Cheryl Twiss

A portrait of Cheryl Twiss. She is a white woman with dark wavy hair and a grey suit jacket

The Chanler at Cliff Walk in Newport, Rhode Island welcomed Twiss as director of sales. Twiss, a 40-year sales management veteran, was previously director of community relations at Benchmark Senior Living in Rhode Island. She has held leadership positions at multiple hospitality companies and hotel brands, including vice president of sales at Newport Hospitality Group (NHG) and senior sales manager at Hotel Viking, Newport Marriott and Hyatt Regency Newport Beach, among others.

Pascal Forotti

A portrait of Pascal Forotti. He is a tan man with dark combed hair and a blue suit

Pendry Washington D.C. – The Wharf hired Forotti as general manager. Forotti enters the role with over 25 years of luxury hospitality management experience. He has held hotel and general management positions throughout the U.S. and in Costa Rica, England, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Canada. Forotti was most recently managing director at The Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C.

J. Felipe Garcia

A portrait of J. Felipe Garcia. He is a man with short combed hair, a stubbled beard and a dark suit

After serving as its interim president and CEO, Visit Tucson has officially appointed Garcia to the position. Garcia was also recently elected vice president of the Délice Network, a collaborative effort to develop food and gastronomy tourism internationally. Prior to joining Visit Tucson in 2004 as its vice president of community affairs and Mexico marketing, Garcia was economic development specialist for the City of Tucson.

Amanda Armstrong, CMP, CED

A portrait of Amanda Armstrong. She is a white woman with highlighted wavy hair and a black suit jacket

Armstrong is now senior vice president of brand and community engagement at Encore, the event tech company in Illinois. She joins the team from Enterprise Holdings Inc. in San Diego, where Armstrong was previously assistant vice president of global travel and meetings. Armstrong presently serves on the business recovery task force at Events Industry Council and was seated on the board of directors at Meeting Professionals International.

Travis Lunn

A portrait of Travis Lunn. He is a white man with combed black hair, a stubbled beard and a blue plaid suit

Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City welcomed Lunn as its president and COO. For over 20 years, Lunn has been a leader across the U.S. hospitality scene. Most recently, he was president and COO at Beau Rivage Resort & Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi. Lunn has held management and executive roles at The Palazzo at The Venetian Resort and MGM Grand Las Vegas, among others.

Nobu Hotel Caesars Palace is taking a page from Japanese design history in the recreation of 182 redesigned rooms and suites. The refurb is part of a multimillion-dollar renovation of the luxury boutique hotel ensconced within Caesars Palace Las Vegas complex and is available to book now with more improvements rolling out this spring.

A hotel room in Nobu Hotel Caesars Palace with a yellow accent wall, large glass sliding doors and grey carpet
Photo credit: Barbara Kraft

Why We Love It: Rockwell Group has taken one of Japanese design’s most fascinating concepts—kintsugi, the art of gold reclamation work—and developed it into a theme for the new rooms, suites and hallways. Kintsugi means “golden seams” or “golden repair” and was developed in Japan in the 16th and 17th centuries to reclaim shattered or cracked pottery. Putting gold into broken places to make a more beautiful object than before is a life lesson that makes a stunning theme for Caesars’ boutique gem.

How Meeting Planners Can Use It: Nobu Caesars Palace refurb includes the Hakone, Sake, Nobu Penthouse and Nobu Villa suites—all prime accommodations for VIPs and CEOs. The property also has a private conference room and an eight-seat table available for hourly or daily rental. Caesars Palace itself offers 300,000 sq. ft. of meeting space nearby.

More Nobu to Come: A new Nobu restaurant will open in Paris Las Vegas in early 2022, followed by the opening of Nobu Hotel Atlantic City and restaurant within Caesars Atlantic City this summer. In 2024, Nobu Hotel New Orleans and restaurant will open within Caesars New Orleans, which is currently under construction.

Tri-State Transformation

A guest room in Hyatt Regency Morristown with grey walls and furnishings, a desk and a view of a forest

Hyatt Regency Morristown, a 40-minute drive from Morristown, New Jersey to New York City, located within Headquarters Plaza has debuted a multi-million-dollar renovation. The hotel’s guestrooms, lobby, food and beverage offerings and indoor meeting spaces have all been refurbished by Gensler, a global design firm with local, Morristown roots.

Check out last week’s news: New and Renovated: Hard Rock Hotel New York; Hybrid-Friendly Outdoor Options

The property’s 31,000 sq. ft. of conference space have been updated, including flexible meeting rooms and the Terrace and Plaza ballrooms. Groups will now have the availability to host events at a new outdoor venue at adjacent Pioneer Park courtyard beginning in April. The hotel’s former restaurant has been converted into a new meeting venue and all spaces include updated lighting, new furniture, and modern artwork.

The theme of the renovation evokes Morristown’s unique Revolutionary War history, with military blue and brass predominating.

The hotel’s double rooms have been converted to queen rooms with two queen beds, and king bedrooms have been outfitted with modern glass showers. The hotel’s 50 studio suites were redesigned to provide more spacious accommodations with comfortable and well-appointed seating areas including sleeper sofas.

The property is a quick, 30-minute drive from Newark Liberty Airport. Train service is also available to NYC.

Cali Coastal Redux

A rendering of the lounge of VEA Newport Beach. The floor, ceiling and chairs are earthtones, while couches and rugs are dark teal

Newport Beach Marriott in California has been renovated and rebranded as VEA Newport Beach, a Marriott Resort and Spa under the ownership of Eagle Four Partners and Lyon Living.

The property will now include over 60,000 sq. ft. of indoor/outdoor event space. The spaces include an ocean-facing event lawn, an outdoor lawn adjacent to the ballrooms and an indoor/outdoor flex event space overlooking the California coast.

The redesign, by HBA, Gensler, Burton Studio and Houston Tyner Architects, is evocative of coastal woods, wind-washed muted neutrals, marble and open-viewing glass.

Other amenities will include firepits in some premium rooms, Frette robes and bath towels, Molton Brown bathroom amenities and Nespresso machines.

More in California: New and Renovated: These Spaces are Made for Meetin’…

Four-Bedroom Group Suites feature a full kitchen with Bosch, Fisher & Paykel, U-Line and Perlick appliances, and a living room with views of the Pacific Ocean. Wellness/Mindful-Focused Suites were designed with soft, muted colors and natural elements like wood, marble and stone.

Bourbon Boutique

A hotel room in Cambria Hotel Louisville Downtown-Whiskey Row. One wall has faux-exposed brick. Furnishings are white, yellow and blue

Louisville, Kentucky’s entertainment district is now the home of the new 128-room Cambria Hotel Louisville Downtown-Whiskey Row.

The Cambria offers 1,965 sq. ft. of total event space accommodating up to 160 people. The 1,475-square-foot ballroom can be divided into two smaller meeting spaces: Backstretch and Homestretch (named for the fact that the Louisville Slugger baseball bat was born here). The Jockey boardroom offers 490 sq. ft. for small groups and breakouts.

Whiskey Row is the original home of the Kentucky Bourbon industry, a theme you’ll see in the property’s Jackdaw Coffee & Bourbon Bar and on the menu at the Magnum Moon Hayloft Bar & Grill which sports a model of its namesake, a full-size replica of the winning racehorse of the Kentucky Derby.

The Cambria is in walking distance of Museum Row, Louisville Slugger Field and Kentucky International Convention Center. It is also close to Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory and the Muhammad Ali Center.

Beth Shaffer, CMP and Danna Lilly

Two portraits of Beth Shaffer and Danna Lilly. Shaffer is an older white woman with light wavy hair and a cheetah print cardigan. Lilly is a white woman with light chin-length hair and a black blouse

Tourism bureau Experience Columbia SC hired both Shaffer and Lilly as sales managers.

Shaffer has spent over two decades in tourism and hospitality sales. Most recently, she was sales director at Resort Lifestyle Communities in South Carolina, a hospitality company that provides resort-style living options for its retired residents. Shaffer has also been association and corporate sales manager at The DeSoto Savannah in Georgia, sales manager for Embassy Suites by Hilton Charleston Airport Hotel & Convention Center and more.

Lilly has been in hospitality, tourism, event management and sales for 15 years. Lilly was previously owner of End-N-Mind Destination and Event Management in South Carolina. In her prior career, she was executive director for Meet, a South Carolina company, director of sales at Visit Myrtle Beach and convention sales manager for Kingston Plantation Resort.

Daniel Gibson

A portrait of Daniel Gibson. He is a white man with short dark hair and a blue polo

Gibson is now director of resort experience at Hawks Cay Resort in the Florida Keys. He enters the role after serving as entertainment director at Carnival Cruise Line, where he’s held multiple positions throughout his more than 30 years in hospitality. Before that, Gibson was entertainment technical manager and production manager at Carnival Corporate and its Cruise Line. Gibson also has years of food and beverage experience, having worked as kitchen manager and in other restaurant management positions in New Hampshire.

Tiffany Alves Hafer

A portrait of Tiffany Alves Hafer. She is a young brown woman with long dark hair and a blue collared shirt

Dallas hospitality management company Makeready added Hafer to the team as director of global group sales. Hafer has served in sales and event management and marketing for the past 15 years, most recently as director of group sales at The Beekman, A Thompson Hotel in New York City. She has held senior and leadership roles at Hard Rock International, BR Guest Hospitality, GrandLife Hotels and more.

Steve Maritz and David Peckinpaugh

Two portraits of Steve Maritz and David Peckinpaugh. Maritz is an older white man with combed white hair. Peckinpaugh is a white man with combed greying hair

Maritz, the professional services company in St. Louis, appointed Maritz to executive chairman and Peckinpaugh to president and CEO.

Maritz assumes the role of executive chairman after serving 25 years as CEO and chairman of the family business.

Peckinpaugh spent the last 11 years as president of Maritz Global Events and will continue to hold this role in addition to his next. He brings 40 years of event leadership experience to his new executive title, having previously been director of sales for Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, CMO for Conferon Global Services (now Experient), president and CEO of San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau, director of PCMA and more. Peckinpaugh has also held board and leadership committee positions at U.S. Travel Association, Meetings Mean Business Coalition, PCMA Education Foundation and Chautauqua Institution in New York.

Kimberly McCarden Foster, CTE

A portrait of Kimberly McCarden Foster. She is a South Asian woman with long highlighted hair and a patterned blouse

Visit Greater Palm Springs welcomed Foster as director of Palm Springs tourism. With two decades of marketing and management experience with DMOs, Foster enters her new directorship following her tenure at Grapevine Convention & Visitors Bureau in Texas as director of marketing and brand management. Foster has served as president of Border Art Residency’s board of directors and been advertising and communication manager for Destination El Paso in Texas.

Bree DiBernardo

A portrait of Bree DiBernardo. She is a white woman with wavy brown hair and a pink sweater standing in the snow

 

The Gant Aspen in Colorado promoted DiBernardo to sales manager. DiBernardo was previously event manager for The Gant and has over a decade of event and hospitality management experience at a long list of hotels and resorts. She was catering and conference services coordinator before becoming catering sales and conference services manager at Manor Vail Lodge by Destination Hotels for several years. DiBernardo was later group sales manager at The Ritz-Carlton luxury hotel company and Viewline Resort at Snowmass, Autograph Collection by Marriott.

Ryan Grande

A portrait of Ryan Grande. He is a white man with shaved brown air and a blue plaid collared shirt

Grande rejoined Four Seasons’ Jackson Hole Resort as general manager. With more than ten years of hotel management experience, Grande was most recently hotel manager at Four Seasons Hotel Seattle and has held management roles at several other brand properties, including Four Seasons Resort Costa Rica at Peninsula Papagayo, Hotel Vancouver and more. During his previous time at Jackson Hole Resort, he also served as front office manager, director of rooms and residences and hotel manager, among other roles.

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The Buzz

“If you listen to the narrative in the country right now, it’s about testing. Testing must be a component of our events. As a country we’re deficient on tests, we got so focused on vaccines we forgot about the testing component.”

-Michael Dominguez, president and CEO of Associated Luxury Hotels International (ALHI) at Smart Meetings’ 2020 Hospitality Predictions webinar

Covid-19 Updates

The White House announced on Jan. 10 that at-home Covid tests will be required to be covered by private insurance. Starting on Jan. 15, 2022, people covered by a health insurance plan who buy an FDA-approved, over-the-counter diagnostic test for Covid-19 will have eight of those tests a month covered by insurance.

Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a release that the Biden administration would be purchasing half a billion at-home, rapid tests to send for free to Americans who need them. “This is all part of our overall strategy to ramp-up access to easy-to-use, at-home tests at no cost,” he said.

Free Seating Up for Grabs at Southwest?

Southwest’s incoming CEO Robert Jordan told AP in an interview conducted in December but published this week, that the airline is not considering changing its “no bag or change fees” policy. Jordan, however, said that one of Southwest’s most popular features, open-seating might be slated for change. “I do put assigned seating sort of in the never-say-never bucket,” Jordan said.

Southwest is also offering passengers the option to buy discounted CityHealth RapidReturn test kits before or after purchasing tickets. The kits contain a CDC-approved Rapid Antigen test and a virtual appointment with a CityHealth testing specialist who will supervise the test and who are available 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week. The kit does not require an app but does require a Wi-Fi connection and a video-enabled device (smartphone, tablet, laptop). A secure link to the digital health certificate is sent via email shortly after the test is completed, about 2-3 minutes. Tests are available to Southwest passengers at a discounted rate of $50. Kits are available at CityHealth..

JetBlue Sustainable Travel Partners Debuts

JetBlue has announced the launch of a new sustainable travel initiative aimed at helping corporate travel customers lower their business travel emissions and meet corporate sustainability targets. The new program will give corporate travelers personalized data that will help them track and lower their carbon footprints. The program includes offering JetBlue-generated sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) certificates, complimentary carbon offsetting on all domestic flights operated by JetBlue, personalized travel data and analysis for accurate emissions reporting, consultation and tools for custom planning and target setting to make more sustainable travel choices.

“As our business customers return to the skies, they increasingly have been asking for our support in meeting their net zero and sustainable travel goals,” Sara Bogdan, director of sustainability and environmental social governance for JetBlue, said in a statement. “JetBlue has extensive expertise in decarbonizing air travel thanks to our early and leading commitments and supply agreements. We’re now extending these options to our corporate customers so that, for the first time, they can play a direct role in enhancing the sustainability of their air travel when flying with JetBlue.”

MGM Resorts Reinvents Loyalty Program

MGM Resorts is revamping its loyalty rewards program, MGM Rewards, on Feb. 1, 2022.

The new program will allow non-gaming customers the benefit of earning MGM Rewards Points, redeemable for complimentary food and beverage, entertainment, hotel stays and more. All members now may earn points on almost all expenditures at MGM Resorts destinations. Customers playing slots will also earn “Slot Dollars.” The five existing member tier levels—Sapphire, Pearl, Gold, Platinum and NOIR—will remain in place.

New marquee benefits include waived resort fees (Gold+), Tier Achievement Travel Credit to Las Vegas (Platinum+), complimentary tickets to MGM Rewards concerts (Pearl+), advanced suite upgrades for up to three nights (Platinum+), access to exclusive tier appreciation events and experiences (Gold+) and 4 p.m. late check-out (based on availability; Platinum+). MGM Rewards Points and Slot Dollars will also not expire for Pearl+ members due to account inactivity.

This Week’s Takeaway:

CES and PCMA have happened with participants adhering to masking, distancing and other rules. The White House promises to make testing easier, cheaper and more available. Flight cancellation rates and Covid-rates went up hand-in-hand but a sense of outlasting the Omicron variant with good sense and good science is infusing meetings, webinars and planning sessions with a guarded optimism.

One New Year’s promise planners can count on is that hybridized events have become the driving force in the industry. The Omicron variant poses its own unique threat to in-person events. But the past two years of digital innovation in event tech and event services, along with new partners from outside the industry have prepared us for Covid combat. As meetings and events become more and more hybridized, resources are getting smarter, building software for stronger virtual and in-person connections. Regardless of the present slow waning of the pandemic, these planning resources improve health and event safety and management—for every meeting format.

Cvent DoubleDutch

Cvent has a suite of virtual services to help guide your gatherings. DoubleDutch is an integrated platform that plugs remote attendees right in, making it an ideal resource for hybrid, large-event management, communication and participation. The platform prides itself on its ease of connection, whether you’re attending the live event in person or virtually.

Bizzabo Event Experience OS

Bizzabo, a tech company powering conferences, launched its comprehensive event management operating system in October. The system functions much like a large platform for organizing your in-person, virtual and hybrid events. In real-time, its AI software keeps meetings and events punctual, engaging and easy to follow. The platform also lets you download your own current favorite event planning apps and digital tools into the system for quick access.

Bluewater Testing with BELLA Health

Event tech company Bluewater Technologies has partnered with BELLA Health to bring at-home testing to event attendees, planners and personnel from their mobile phones. Attendees are supplied the tests either through the mail or at a nearby pick-up location and guided through the procedure in the BELLA Health app, where they can then log their results and vaccine information. The app lessens the cost of events for planners and the time it takes to test at the start of events.

MeetingPlay

This platform is a tool for meeting planners with attendees from all over the globe. MeetingPlay measures audience engagement and behavior and tracks attendance—even when some attendees are behind screens and others in seats. The meeting planning and management platform simplifies hybridized gatherings. And it offers real-time messaging, surveys and translation and more.

Cvent Event Diagramming

Another timely tool developed by Cvent, the Event Diagramming platform is a place where planners can digitally reorganize a space with safety in mind. The platform lets you design your meeting and event spaces according to social distancing laws and recommendations. Planners can even virtually visit the site with 3-D imaging, and set-up designs are shareable across platform with other planners and event personnel.

Thimble Event Insurance

Thimble’s Event Insurance policy is an accessible, easy, speedy and Covid-safe way to make sure your event is covered in case of the unexpected. Planners can purchase a policy in-app from a mobile device or online. The company provides general liability, professional liability, equipment and commercial property insurance for parties, corporate events and more.

Event Scan

Event Scan is an in-house and mobile testing service that offers both rapid and PCR tests for events of any size. The company’s services are flexible and designed to meet the needs of whatever type of testing is necessary for your event format. Thermal scanning stations are also available for rental.

PREVENT

Another Covid-conscious company is PREVENT, an FDA-cleared and medical grade option for event testing. PREVENT can help planners with temperature screening and on-site testing of attendees and event personnel. It can even provide private aviation options for VIP personnel, such as speakers and performers.

Just as virtual meetings can’t replace in-person events, the Metaverse won’t replicate real life. But they are improving on in-the-flesh experiences in some key ways. Both digital solutions bring advances that can teach real-world lessons to meeting professionals looking to improve their experiences.

Smart Meetings asked Liesl Leary-Perez, vice president of corporate marketing with the virtual and hybrid event platform Hubilo, for lessons that will make all engagements more, well, engaging. She shared the results of a recent survey of event planners about the trends that will impact events in 2022.

Meta-agency

“The Metaverse isn’t so much about playing 3D poker with Mark Zuckerberg,” Leary-Perez said. In addition to the immersion offered by virtual reality and augmented reality, digital environments give people agency to write their own adventure. “People are looking to participate in meetings in a more exploratory fashion,” she said.

Instead of expecting attendees to follow an agenda, smart event planners will figure out how to give people the opportunity to explore and find solutions for themselves, without being told—the same way they search a gaming environment for clues and interesting activities. “Events will have to provide that sense of discovery in the future,” she said.

The ability to personalize will touch every aspect of the event, including language. Hubilo offers 10 language choices to let people decide how they want to hear the content. But as events expand to larger geography, the power they offer to customize information delivery will become even more important.

Enhanced Engagement

A hand tracing a purple line against a black backgroundThe pandemic and subsequent shift to virtual meetings opened attendee eyes to the limitations and inflexibility of physical events. When live events first returned, people were excited to be together, but traveling and walking the show floor can be exhausting. Some may want to make the first day live and the rest virtual, to give everyone a break.

When they are physically in the audience, don’t make them give up the interactive tools they have gotten used to using, warned Leary-Perez. They don’t want to be passive listeners.

“I remember my first live conference back,” she shared. “I was sitting in a live meeting thinking I wanted to comment and be part of the conversation. It was less engaging, even though I was in the ballroom.”

Give people the opportunity to interact in the ways they are doing now at home through live chats shown on the big screen on-stage, emoji comments and contests. “Everyone loves winning something,” she said.

In any platform, having a good host is worth its money. She brought in some great drag queens that really livened things up on virtual meetings. One host explained her job as “caffeinating through the screen.” That energy is essential.

Increasingly Asynchronous

A majority of Hubilo’s survey respondents (65 percent) said hybrid platforms are necessary, and that was before Omicron was in the headlines. “There are a lot of letters in the Greek alphabet, and I am fairly certain we aren’t out the woods yet for variants. An event platform is an insurance policy,” said Leary-Perez with a wink.

The trick, she said, is not to treat the digital platform as a back-up. And when it’s hybrid, don’t treat virtual attendees as second-class citizens. Invest some thought in their experience.

When used creatively, streaming content can be even more powerful than a keynote on a stage in a massive ballroom. “We have been hosting a lot of events in the studio with a green screen. That way it is less about event planning and more about broadcasting,” she said.

See also: What the Most Popular Speakers in the World Have in Common

When a presentation is better produced than your average webinar, a surprising thing happens. People pay attention. “People have been shocked to see presenters standing up. Just seeing people’s feet is pretty adventurous these days,” she laughed.

Once you go digital, time is relative, however, and everyone defines hybrid differently. Once a customer produced a travel show over three weeks, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The event included 321 exhibitors, over 1,000 global buyers, 21,000 meetings, 231,000 networking interactions and 94,000 message exchanges. “It just makes sense when you have people from all over the world, letting them interact when it is convenient for them,” Leary-Perez pointed out.

Even in the United States, she noted that Gen Z may not be tied to 9-5 workdays and would appreciate the flexibility of letting them engage on their own schedule. Traditional boundaries of time and place are out. “People will attend when they want and for the content they want,” she said.

Asynchronous content delivery with recording and on-demand viewing times staggered to account for time zones can solve for a lot of those challenges.

Hint: Not anytime soon. metaverse

Since Facebook changed its name to Meta, you can’t escape media coverage on the metaverse. It’s the Next Big Thing in tech.

In case you don’t already know, the metaverse is a digital construct that mirrors the real world. Using a VR headset, you can enter a digital room that looks like a real room, where your avatar will interact with other avatars representing other real people. If you ask Mark Zuckerberg, we’ll all be working in the metaverse shortly. He may already be there.

All the media coverage has meeting and events pros wondering what the metaverse means for their world. Will physical events move to the metaverse? Should they cancel that site visit to Vegas?

A portrait of Gilles Bertaux, author of this article. He is a white man with black hair and a beard, with a black t shirt
Gilles Bertaux

The answers, respectively, are not for a long time, and definitely not. I’m the founder of a company that specializes in online video events, and I’m still viewing the metaverse with a lot of skepticism.

For almost two years, most of the world has been working remotely. Employers have implemented all kinds of technology such as video conferencing and Slack, to the point where we are constantly connected—possibly more so than we worked in individual cubicles and offices at our headquarters location, sometimes going hours or even the whole day without a physical interaction with anyone else.

As a result of all that, screen fatigue is real, and people need the occasional break. The metaverse will exacerbate screen fatigue in a big way. It relies on VR technology, which lets you completely immerse yourself in a digital world. To me, this seems overly intrusive. Are you giving your staff the option to work remotely or not? VR/metaverse solutions seem like a means to put staff back in that office box, defeating the purpose of giving them a choice in the first place.

I believe Augmented Reality (AR) is more realistic. A step below VR, AR lets you place digital objects around yourself in the real world—think Pokémon Go. Using AR in a meeting from home or wherever they are working, employees could project keyboards, lights, whiteboards and other tech accessories they need at any time. They could feel they are in a meeting with others, but after that meeting they can be back in their own workspace. This would be the more palatable experience for the majority of employees, especially non-technical employees.

The same applies to events. Imagine attending a trade show online, from home. Do you want to be immersed in the show floor in Vegas for hours on end, wearing a headset, or pick and choose which virtual booths to enter? I think the majority of attendees would pick the latter.

We learned during COVID that employees want control over where they work. Forcing them into the Matrix for meetings seems like a giant step back.

I can definitely see applications for the Metaverse right now for immersive experiences, such as concerts, travel or a show. Events that provide an escape from reality are more suited to the metaverse than a business meeting. There are companies that enable this today.

So for now, keep that site visit to Vegas, and be prepared to host in-person events for a few more years.

Gilles Bertaux is co-founder and CEO of Livestorm

It is hard to believe that Hard Rock Hotel & Casino brand is now 50 years old. Although the brand is centered on music and nostalgia, the vibe at Hard Rock properties is eternally young and an evergreen celebrity magnet.

When Hard Rock Hotel New York opens in April 2022, it will draw on a rich legacy of experience and memory that has been a touchstone of cool for half a century. The Hard Rock brand, like many other hotels and restaurants, was forced to close some of its properties temporarily during the first wave of Covid-19. The hotels have been reopening since Covid- 19 restrictions eased and will continue their comeback with a vengeance with the opening of this flagship property.

Hard Rock Hotel New York

A guest room at hard rock hotel new york. There is a gold accent piece above the bed and a musician's portrait on the bathroom door

New York’s “Music Row” will be the new home to the 446-guest-room Hard Rock Hotel New York, set to open in April 2022.

The property is located on Midtown Manhattan’s 48th street where music studios and stores once thrived. The hotel is set to host live music across all its public spaces and will also feature a dedicated entertainment venue for live concerts and celeb/media interviews. The RT60 Rooftop bar and lounge is the star of this hotel’s food and beverage operation, with views from the 33rd floor cheek-by-jowl to Rockefeller Center. Other food fare includes the upscale dining venue NYY Steak and seasonal cuisine with a music theme at Sessions.

The hotel is designed by Jeffrey Beers International with the brand-infused blend of music and memorabilia which has been Hard Rock signature for 50 years.

Meeting Here Means: Booking an event in the hotel’s Venue on Music Row, a flexible entertainment space that holds up to 400 guests. Hard Rock venues are also celebrity draws so meeting participants may find themselves rubbing shoulders with visiting music world and other celebs.

Guests can also access the vibe through on-request Crosley record players and Fender guitars to play in their rooms.

Book the C-Suite: The Rock Star Suite on the 34 floor is a bi-level, glass-enclosed penthouse with 360-degree NYC skyline views, one-of-a-kind pieces of music history and one of the largest terraces for entertaining in New York City.

Downtime With: The Hard Rock’s signature Rock Om program fusing the practice of yoga with the rhythm of a custom DJ-curated soundtrack for on-demand in-room sessions. Building on the existing offering, Hard Rock Hotel New York will introduce a series of unique-to-property transformative experiences, including rooftop moonlight yoga sessions.

A Walk Away: The hotel is within walking distance of Radio City Music Hall, Rockefeller Center, the famed Today Show street-level viewing area, Times Square and Broadway.

Conrad Nashville Opens with Indoor/Outdoor Options

A render of an outdoor lounge at Conrad Nashville. Chairs are arranged around a table on turfIn Nashville, another music mecca, Conrad Nashville debuts this spring. Located in the heart of the country music capital’s downtown in the Broadwest development area, the hotel is close to restaurants, shopping and, of course, Grand Ole Opry.

The 234-guest-room property features 11,422 sq. ft. of event space with 6,370 sq. ft. as the largest meeting room for a total of nine meeting rooms, a 500-guest ballroom and the Adagio, Opus and Area breakout/boardrooms available for meeting planners. Outdoor space includes the event terrace, close to the indoor ballroom and a good choice for Covid-safe meetings.

Sheraton San Diego Hotel and Marina Debuts Upgrades with Hybrid-Friendly Options

A boardroom at Sheraton San Diego Hotel and Marina. Chandeliers are above the table with grey office chairsOn the west coast, Sheraton San Diego Hotel and Marina, a waterfront resort at San Diego harbor, just completed the first phase of a $88-million renovation, upgrading and refurbishing 97,000 sq. ft. of meeting space. This comprises two main ballrooms, a new outdoor pavilion, a lower-level ballroom/foyer and multiple breakout rooms.

The hotel is facilitating hybrid meetings by partnering with local AV integrator, Fluid Sound, creating a Zoom Broadcast Room which allows users to join a meeting by typing in a meeting code. There will also be an 85-inch Samsung Flip screen (doubles as a whiteboard), and AV equipment for remote collaboration. Other meeting rooms also feature this hybrid-friendly technology.

Covid-19 fixes include outdoor space in a new 20,000-square-foot pavilion with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the harbor and downtown San Diego. There will also be a new bipolar ionization filtration system, water bottle filling and hand sanitizer stations.

A River Runs Through It: Montage Big Sky Montana Opens

A lounge in Montage Big Sky Montana. The cabin wall is glass, showing the mountains outsideIn Big Sky country, the 139-guest-room Montage Big Sky Montana recently opened with over 12,000 sq. ft. of flexible meeting space. The nature-grounded space features a large boardroom, multiple executive rooms and a 5,080-square-foot ballroom with signature double fireplaces. Outdoor spaces include the Gallery Terrace which has views of the nearby Spanish Peaks and a s’more-friendly crackling fire pit. Other outdoor spaces include two large event lawns, promenades, breakout-friendly terraces and a well-appointed foyer.

The property was concepted by Hart Howerton with interiors designed by BraxtonHuges Design Studios. The feel is American West meets casual luxury.

Expansive food and beverage options include six dining venues with the signature Backcast Bar & Grille opening in Summer 2022 with classic BBQ and smokehouse cooking options for outdoor-inspired dining.

Take advantage of the location to access nearby Big Sky Resort, three world-class Blue Ribbon fly-fishing rivers (A River Runs Through It was filmed in Montana’s world class fly-fishing rivers) and a private 18-hole golf course designed by Tom Weiskopf.

Featured image: RT60 Rooftop bar and lounge at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.

That dependable shelter on the road, Courtyard by Marriott, may look a little different when your Uber arrives for your next business trip. More than 375 Courtyards that were part of the brand’s initial footprint in the 1980s and ‘90s are modernizing their exteriors with a streamlined, fresher look. Smart Meetings sat down with Diane Mayer, vice president and global brand leader with Marriott’s Classic Select Brands to talk about what the change means for meeting professionals.

In the Beginning

Courtyard was considered innovative when J.W. “Bill” Marriott opened the first property in Atlanta in 1983. The hospitality landscape was filled with full-service hotels fronted by suited doormen and an abundance of amenities. Budget hotels without much more on offer than clean rooms dotted city streets. Courtyard carved out a space for business travel and small meetings that offered guest-room quality of a full-service hotel without the pricey amenities business travelers didn’t really need. “We were born to enable business travelers to pursue their objectives, but have evolved to be that and more,” Mayer said.

About 375 of the brand’s 1,200 global properties (1,000 in North America) are two to three decades old and while they have added features such as made-to-order breakfast, Starbucks coffee shops and bars inside, the curbside has not always reflected the evolution.

Marriott research surveying customers and those who had never stayed in a Courtyard before found that once inside the building, their image of the brand was strong; as much as 5 to 10 points higher for those who hadn’t been inside before. “The exterior just didn’t look like something that a millennial traveler would think is relevant,” Mayer said.

“We think it is important that the outside of the building communicates something to guests that will meet their needs inside,” she added. That is why the global brand asked franchise owners to make an investment to transform their exteriors to be more commensurate with the modern, upscale experience guests will get once they step inside the hotel.

New Look

A before and after picture of the front of a Courtyard by Marriott location

The updates started before the Covid-19 pandemic at Courtyard by Marriott Cincinnati Airport. About 40 percent of the first- and second-generation properties are in the process or complete. Each one takes about two months to complete depending on supply chain issues. Mayer estimated that all the target properties would be refreshed in a few years due to budget challenges of some hotel owners right now.

Mayer shared a few tells for planners who are wondering whether the property their attendees are staying at has been updated. The first thing to look for is a significant transformation of the porte cochere and facade. The early Courtyard properties featured a lot of peaked roofs with a more residential look. New design squares the overhang and provides a “skinnied down” look compared to the chunky, weighty originals. The materials are modern with more organic wood backgrounds. Lighting and a new logo make clear it is a Courtyard and acts as a beacon.

Many properties are also taking the time to update their landscaping with extreme pruning to ensure people can see the improvements. Many are switching out to more regionally appropriate, sustainable plants. “It will all make for a much stronger first impression of a more modern brand,” Mayer said.

A Travel Rebound

Many of the updates will be just in time to welcome visitors back after the pandemic slowdown. Mayer shared that while historically 60 percent of Courtyard guests are business travelers and 40 percent are leisure, coming out of the pandemic, reservations reflected the reverse of that. “We are optimistic we will see a return to traditional balance in 2022,” she said.

Mayer reported that groups are returning now to the 100 Courtyard hotels with more than 5,000 sq. ft. of meeting space. The pace is different as booking windows aren’t as long as they were in the past, but it is improving.

“Travel is incredibly resilient. People want to get back to business and Courtyard is ready for them,” Mayer said.