Baltimore is buzzing and attendees want a taste of Charm City when they travel there for business. From Inner Harbor and Fort McHenry to Lexington Market, the destination is filled with historical settings and innovative developments. Smart Meetings asked the hospitality experts at Renaissance Baltimore Harborplace Hotel for tips on how to bring that Monumental City culture into the conference room.

Stay Local

When you source a hotel partner that is located in the middle of the action, getting to all the local attractions is much easier. When in Baltimore, an Inner Harbor location puts guests in walking distance of The Gallery, where visitors can discover Anthropology, Lululemon and boutique treasures; National Aquarium’s more than 20,000 aquatic animals, including Blacktip Reef; and Oriole Park at Camden Yards, home of the MLB Baltimore Orioles.

Stage a Revolution—in the Lobby

The recently renovated Renaissance Baltimore Harborplace hosts regular Evenings at Renaissance programs that feature local craft brew tastings and sampling of the city’s signature lemon peppermint stick treats and regional artist’s demonstrations. The city—and Inner Harbor in particular—is known for its eclectic musical scene. Bring artists into the welcome reception or take the group to a concert at nearby Power Plant Live! Or MECU outdoor arena.

Food Forward Perspective

Local-centric staff can plan menus that incorporate The Avenue’s famous Poppay’s Rolls, enormous buttery soft bread, crab cakes made from local blue crabs and Bergers fudgy cookies. Or let guests dine in the signature restaurant Watertable and take in the harbor views along with chef David Cutos’ take on Baltimore crab cake (hint, it includes a mustard wine sauce). And the next morning, attendees will find a taste of home since Starbucks beverages are served at The Ground Floor Cafe & Bar.

Advance the Cause

Modernized rooms at Renaissance Baltimore Harborplace include new entertainment packages with phone-to-TV Bluetooth connectivity, 55-inch HDTVs and all the power and USB outlets they could want. Nearby, the 24-hour fitness center offers flexibility any time. And 30,000-square-feet of versatile event space is an inspiring setting for meetings of all sizes.

Conventions need convenience, and we’ve got the keys. With flexible space, high-tech features compatible with advanced event technology, a central downtown location, and accessible onsite amenities, the Huntington Convention Center of Cleveland is a convenient solution for modern events.

Key #1: Flexible Space

Located in the heart of downtown Cleveland, The Huntington Convention Center of Cleveland connects meeting planners to 410,000 sq. ft. of flexible space, including a 225,000 sq. ft. Exhibit Hall, the 32,000 sq. ft. column-free Grand Ballroom, an 11,000 sq. ft. Atrium Ballroom, and 140,000 sq. ft. of breakout and pre-function space. Our flexible space conveniently gives planners the keys to design a unique event experience.

Need more space? No problem! Planners have access to connected facilities such as the Hilton Cleveland Downtown and Public Auditorium, collectively offering over 100,000 square feet of additional space. Our one-million-square-foot convention center campus is capable of hosting everything from executive meetings to large-scale conventions and tradeshows.

Need more space? No problem! Planners have access to connected facilities such as the Hilton Cleveland Downtown and Public Auditorium, collectively offering over 100,000 square feet of additional space. Our one-million-square-foot convention center campus is capable of hosting everything from executive meetings to large-scale conventions and tradeshows.

Key #2: Tech-Features

With a network capable of hosting over 15,000 devices simultaneously at speeds of 1 billion bits per second, redundant Cisco core network components, substantial infrastructure, streaming and video conferencing capabilities, and many more tech features, configuring advanced event technology with our network and features will never be more convenient.

Key #3: Amenities

Whether your attendees are craving a Mocha Frappuccino from Starbucks, have business needs that require our onsite UPS Store, are a nursing mother in need of our Mamava Pods, or even want a shoe shine, attendees can conveniently meet these needs using our in-house amenities.

Key #4: Location & Accessibility

Accessibility and location are key elements to consider when selecting a venue. Conveniently, our center is connected to the 600-room Hilton Cleveland Downtown and has a central downtown location. We’re surrounded by roughly 5,000 hotel rooms, over 200 exceptional restaurants/dining options, sports stadiums, the second largest theater district in the U.S., the Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame, and the naturesque Lake Erie – so planning offsite activities comes with ease.

With panoramic views of our tropical pool and a natural light setting option, TI’s new $6.5 million event facilities expansion redefines meetings on the Las Vegas Strip.

Easily accessible from any guest room floor elevator, the 30,500-sq.-ft. bi-level meetings and event space offers two distinct ballrooms. Opt for the 11,808-sq.-ft. pillarless Treasure Island Ballroom, with full production stage, or the new 8,000-sq.-ft. Antilles Ballroom, bathed in natural light thanks to the optional panoramic pool view. These spaces are designed to offer the utmost in flexibility and services with our award-winning catering and audio/visual teams poised to accommodate any request or budget.

Deluxe rooms and modern suites feature floor-to-ceiling views of the Las Vegas Strip and/or surrounding mountain ranges, spacious bathrooms with marble flooring and spa amenities, high speed Wi-Fi for unlimited devices, convenient refrigerator, private safe, HDTV, and 24-hour room service.

Culinary delights range from gourmet comfort foods to white linen dining experiences. Prime cuts and pastas are served at Phil’s Italian Steak House, and fresh seafood makes daily appearances at Seafood Shack. Gilley’s BBQ offers down home cooking, and it’s always a fiesta at Señor Frog’s. The Corner Market Buffet features new American dishes, and Pho – Vietnamese is served alongside The Coffee Shop with 24-hour service of any meal at any time. Quick bites are offered at the Golden Circle Sports Bar, Richie’s SUB Shop, Pizzeria Francesco’s, Malena’s Yogurt Plus, and two Starbucks Cafés.

Dynamic nightlife includes mechanical bull rides at Gilley’s Saloon, live DJs at Señor Frog’s, and nightly drink specials at the Mojito Bar, Margarita Bar, Golden Circle Sports Bar, High Roller Lounge, and Breeze Bar. TI Casino features over 90,000 sq. ft. of 24-hour live gaming action, including the state-of-the-art Race & Sports Book.

Elegant wedding chapels and the luxurious Oleksandra Spa & Salon offer unmatched experiences. The tropical outdoor TI Pool & Cabanas are surrounded by towering palm trees, and full service bars including the Island Pub featuring ice-cold craft beers.

Free parking is always available at the connected self-parking garage along with a free tram running daily to and from The Mirage. Convenient pedestrian bridges also connect TI to the Fashion Show Mall and Grand Canal Shoppes at The Venetian and Palazzo, and it’s just a short walk to the Sands Expo, Encore and Wynn Las Vegas.

Entertainment abounds with Mystère™ by Cirque du Soleil®, the original, must-see Las Vegas production show featuring a multi-award winning cast of over 60 acrobats, dancers, singers, and musicians. Catch live performances by a diverse lineup of headliner comedians like Bill Engvall, Jo Koy, Whoopi Goldberg and more in our intimate 1,600-seat Treasure Island Theatre. And for entertainment of heroic proportions, visit the new Marvel Avengers S.T.A.T.I.O.N., where guests of all ages dive deep into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

TI truly offers the ultimate value and services for those that prefer to be within walking distance of all the best dining, shopping and entertainment available on the Las Vegas Strip.

Sometimes your own backyard is a discovery. So it was on a recent weekend stay in San Francisco, which is only the span of the Golden Gate Bridge away from Smart Meetings HQ. The weekend’s focus: sustainability and community.

It began on Alcatraz, on an Alcatraz Cruises Night Tour. Against a clear night sky with the city skyline poignantly illuminated just across the bay, the former federal lock-up immortalized as The Rock was extra spooky. But the unexpected surprise was learning the sustainability story of the island and the boats that ferry Alcatraz visitors to and from.

Alcatraz Cruises has pioneered the use of hybrid ferries that use a combination of solar, wind and diesel power (for which carbon offsets are purchased). Alcatraz itself has no electrical or water lines connected to the mainland, so the National Park Service has installed solar panels and a battery system to supply much of the needed electricity; gardens are irrigated with captured rainwater, and toilets are flushed with saltwater.

More: SFO Water Bottle Ban to Begin on Tuesday

The next day, a tabletop session at Hilton San Francisco Union Square—its hashtag is #hotelwithaheart—brought together nonprofit organizations that work with local hotels, restaurants and neighborhoods to advance sustainability in the city and improve the lives of people in need. They included:

Food Runners of SF, whose volunteers pick up “remaindered food” from not only hotels and restaurants, but also grocery stores, bakeries, company cafeterias, events and food festivals and deliver it to free-meals centers, senior centers, group homes, after-school programs and other hungry residents.

SCRAP, short for Scrounging for Creative Repurposing of Art Products, whose mission is stimulating creativity and environmental awareness in children and adults through the creative reuse of materials that are usually discarded as waste.

Code Tenderloin, which prepares those struggling in the city’s hardscrabble Tenderloin district and elsewhere for jobs, offering courses in successful job interviewing, workplace etiquette and other survival skills.

Tenderloin Walking Tours, which offers custom group tours and regular guided tours through the “much-maligned, often avoided and almost always overlooked neighborhood,” as the organization puts it on its website.

A delightful evening was spent at SF Jazz Center, created in 2013 as the permanent home for a nonprofit that is a world leader in “jazz creation, presentation and education.” The 36,000-square-foot center is the nation’s first stand-alone structure built specifically for jazz, and its main concert-hall-quality performance space, which seats up to 700 people, is also available for Ted talks, company gatherings and other meetings.

A sold-out performance by Bobby McFerrin was bookended by dinner at Urban Tavern, on the ground floor of Hilton San Francisco Union Square, and a nightcap in the clouds, at the hotel’s Cityscape Lounge, with its superb city views on the 46th floor.

Perhaps the most astounding meetings venue of the weekend came to light the next morning. Sustainability was still the theme—and artists are the potential beneficiaries. Gregangelo Museum is a Mission-style house in the placid St. Francis Wood district that has helped dozens of talented artists sustain themselves and their art by creating fantasy-scapes in 26 rooms with wildly colorful paintings, mosaics and furnishings. The house can accommodate up to 40 attendees for events, which can be further enlivened with costumed artists, thanks to Gregangelo Herrera, who owns a circus in addition to running the museum.

Club Med pioneered the all-inclusive vacation for families and couples – but did you know that we’ve also become experts in group getaways? With 40 years of experience hosting more than 900 events a year, expertise is guaranteed. With our comprehensive approach, Club Med offers customized support from planning your event, to booking flights, to managing every detail during your stay. Regardless of the size and scale of your event, you’ll discover remarkable destinations ready to make your next event unforgettable.

What if you could transform uninspired meetings into innovative team building moments? Meetings, incentives, conventions… each corporate event at Club Med is tailor-made and offers a variety of original activities for your group with over 70 destinations to choose from. Our dedicated experts will take your meeting beyond the boardroom with team building activities such as CREACTIVE by Cirque du Soleil and personalized excursions, where your group will build team spirit and create bonds with one another, ensuring company success. It’s time to discover the perfect balance between work and entertainment with “worktainment” – only at Club Med.

Discover our newest luxury worktainment destination – Club Med Michès Playa Esmeralda. Immerged in the forests of the Dominican Republic, this hidden gem is surrounded by a lush palm grove and boasts 2,000 feet of unspoiled beach. Our first Exclusive Collection resort in the Americas contains four meeting spaces with a maximum conference capacity of 180 guests and a dedicated private terrace, perfect for incentive travel. After a full day of meetings, your group will enjoy a variety of more than 25 unique activities, such as excursions on the island or winding down with five different types of yoga in our treetop wellness canopy.

At Club Med Miches Playa Esmeralda, groups can expect to enjoy upscale accommodations, refined dining, modern lounge spaces, and a resounding message of sustainability at its core. Guests will enjoy peace and quiet in our two boutique villages exclusively for adults: Archipelago for those seeking the ultimate luxury experience, and Emerald Jungle for health and wellness lovers. This resort also offers a variety of dining options, featuring three restaurants – a gourmet international buffet, a trendy steakhouse and a secret chocolate room in the family restaurant – as well as four bars, 3 wine cellars, and even a coffee shop!

It’s time for your group to discover the unparalleled beauty of the Dominican Republic at Club Med Michès Playa Esmeralda – opening November 23rd, 2019.

Meetings participants and others traveling to and through Florida during Labor Day Weekend, usually one of the busiest travel times of the year, should expect delays and cancellations due to the impact of Hurricane Dorian, which could begin blowing into the Florida coast as early as Saturday night and subsequently make landfall as a Category 4 hurricane.

Dorian had seemed to be heading toward Florida’s eastern coast, but updates on Wednesday indicated the storm track was trending further south, toward Miami-Dade. Its future path is very uncertain, according to the National Hurricane Center.

“It is essential to not underestimate the possible impacts of this storm and residents should prepare their homes now,” said Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber in a statement. “The City is planning for the worst and hoping for the best—and we implore our residents do the same.”

Groups and individuals traveling to the Florida coast area are encouraged to take precautions, such as  allowing extra time to make connections and monitoring available ground transportation. Planners who have arranged meetings also can minimize the impacts of the hurricane by taking several steps to deal with issues including power failures and staff shortages at properties.

Airlines Issuing Fee Waivers

On Thursday morning, Airlines were offering fee waivers for changes and cancellations for trips to Caribbean destinations, but few included Florida waivers. Most airlines are expected to update their waiver policies to include Florida airports, though. Those who want to cancel trips should reach out to their airlines, cruises, hotels and tour operators.

Royal Caribbean and Carnival cruise lines have shifted cruise itineraries to avoid the storm. Itineraries for MSC Cruises and Norwegian Cruise Line remain unchanged.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency Wednesday afternoon for 26 counties in the storm’s potential path. He said that people in areas that could be affected should keep monitoring the storm.

“I will continue to monitor Hurricane Dorian closely with emergency management officials,” he said in a statement. “The state stands ready to support all counties along the coast as they prepare.”

Dorian’s Projected Path

An update from the National Hurricane Center on Thursday morning showed that the Category 1 hurricane could upgrade to a Category 2 during on Thursday. Nearly all the intensity models indicate Dorian will become a stronger hurricane in the next couple of days, when it passes near or to the east of the Turks and Caicos Islands as well as the Bahamas on Friday and Saturday.

Current projections suggest that Dorian will turn into a Category 4 hurricane by Friday, with maximum sustained winds of 130 mph, and become a weak Category 4 when it comes ashore in Florida on Monday morning. It would be the first Category 4 or higher hurricane to land on Florida’s east coast since Andrew, a Category 5 storm, ripped through the Miami area in 1992. Andrew was blamed for 61 deaths and caused about $27 billion in damage. Dorian could drop to a Category 1 as it crosses Central Florida.

The Bahamas, Florida and other parts of the Southeast may see heavy rainfall over the weekend and into early next week. This could result in life-threatening flash floods, surf and rip current conditions.

Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands escaped what some forecasters expected to be major devastation when Dorian cleared them on Wednesday. The U.S. Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority was still working to restore electricity to some areas of St. Thomas and St. John on Thursday, but USVI Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. lifted a curfew, saying roads have been cleared of all debris.

This fall, Qantas will launch the first flights to be airborne for more than 19 hours. How will passengers manage? That’s what Qantas wants to find out.

The current longest flight, from Changi International Airport (SIN) in Singapore to Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) in New Jersey, flown by Singapore Airlines, lasted at 18.5 hours. Although Qantas’ flight, dubbed Project Sunrise, is intended to discover if humans can handle such long flight times, experts don’t expect that an hour difference will have a huge impact on the body and mind.

The trip—which will be from both New York City to Sydney and London to Sydney—will take place in October, November and December—one per month. These test flights will have up to 40 people on board, consisting of crew and other Qantas employees.

In theory, longer flights should mean less layovers—the bane of not only planners’ existence, but many others—and more time to make face-to-face connections. International meeting professionals know the pressure of waiting between flights—the constant checking of the clock—when you have a meeting at, say, 3 p.m., but your flight doesn’t land until 2:30 p.m.

“Flying nonstop from the East Coast of Australia to London and New York is truly the final frontier of aviation,” said Alan Joyce, CEO of Singapore Airlines.

Qantas hopes to come to a final decision by the end of the year on whether to offer more of these long-distance-flights, based on how employees handle the trips. If it all goes to plan, the company will begin servicing these flights in early 2020.

On Monday, U.K.-based Thomas Cook travel agency and airline shut its doors. A somber statement on its Twitter account offered a link redirecting its former customers to a site operated by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), the British aviation regulator.

The collapse left some 150,000 travelers stranded abroad, but CAA quickly secured planes globally to carry out what is being called the biggest peacetime repatriation in U.K. history. The program will run through Sunday, Oct. 6, after which time customers who are not ATOL protected—a CAA guarantee of financial protection for those who purchased vacation packages and flights from a U.K. member tour operator—will have to buy their own return airfare. The first of such flights left from New York City to return 300 passengers to Manchester on Monday.

The aviation regulator said, “We are doing our best to minimize the impact on passengers, but we do expect there to be significant disruption and delays to travel plans.”

In addition to the significant costs associated with bringing travelers home, 21,000 Cook employees face unemployment. However, conversation around #thomascook on Twitter suggests that many group tour operators are still assisting travelers and carrying out their duties despite not being sure they will be paid, or in some cases, how they’re getting home.

Meantime, employees and customers of the German airline Condor, a profitable Thomas Cook subsidiary based in Frankfurt, got at least a temporary reprieve when the German government agreed to loan the airline $415 million to keep it operating for the time being. Even this welcome development was not without turmoil, however, as social media erupted after a video showed Condor employees clapping and cheering over news of their reprieve even as thousands of Thomas Cook workers were not so lucky.

“Enjoy your celebration while I struggle to feed my family,” one of them wrote on Twitter.

A Cook History of Tourism

The collapse of the company is lamented for its place in history as well as its sheer stamina; the 178-year-old package tour division was the extension of its namesake, Thomas Cook, who in 1841 organized his first group journey for 570 temperance supporters to attend a meeting in Loughborough.

By 1873 Cook had made his own around-the-world tour and began offering global package travel arrangements for 200 guineas. In 1924 his business became a private limited liability company, and in 1948 the shares were acquired by the British Transport Commission.

Competition in an Uncertain Industry

In July, the company announced that its largest shareholder, Shanghai-based Fosun Tourism Group, would make a substantial new capital investment to carry languishing financing through the historically quiet winter season.

The company called the operating environment in the EU “progressively more challenging,” and the Fosun deal was not enough to save the company.  A request for a bailout from the British government was denied.

Industry observers say the company was unable to keep up with today’s tech-forward environment, with travelers preferring affordable, a-la-carte booking options over travel agencies and package deals.

Caesars Entertainment Corporation announced Monday that it plans to sell Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, an off-Strip property in Las Vegas, to an affiliate of Imperial Companies for $516.3 million.

Customers aren’t likely to see any immediate changes at Rio. Caesars will continue to operate the property for at least two years and pay $45 million in annual rent to Imperial, a New York-based real estate investment, development and management firm. Imperial has the option to pay Caesars $7 million to extend the lease for a third year and may request Caesars to continue to manage Rio or provide transition services.

The deal is subject to regulatory approvals, but is expected to close by the first quarter of 2020.

The 2,500-suite Rio will continue to be part of the Caesars Rewards network during the lease term. The World Series of Poker—a two-month event that draws thousands of competitors and fans—still will be hosted at the Rio in 2020 and Caesars Entertainment will subsequently retain hosting rights.

“This deal allows Caesar Entertainment to focus our resources on strengthening our attractive portfolio of recently renovated Strip properties and is expected to result in incremental EBITDA at those properties,” said Tony Rodio, CEO of Caesars Entertainment in a press release. “The retention of the World Series of Poker and retention of Caesars Rewards customers are all factors that make this a valuable transaction for Caesars.”

The sale of Rio was not a surprise. Caesars was expected to sell the hotel for several years and when the company announced it would provide $600 million in upgrades to several properties, it wasn’t included. Reno-based Eldorado Resorts Inc. is in the process of buying Caesars for $17.3 billion, and in June, Eldorado CEO Thomas Reeg announced that one or two of Caesars’ nine Las Vegas properties would likely be sold as part of their deal.

The June transaction stipulated that shareholders of Eldorado Resorts Inc. will hold about 51 percent of the company’s outstanding stock, with Caesars Entertainment Corp. shareholders holding the other 49 percent. The enlarged company will be called Caesars, but be based in Reno, Nevada, where Eldorado is currently located.

Hyatt Sells 5 Service Hotels

Hyatt Hotels Corporation announced the sale of five hotels and entered into a franchise agreement that will allow purchasers to retain their existing Hyatt Place branding. The properties are located in Texas, North Carolina and South Carolina and were sold for a total gross sale of $53 million. Continue reading “Hyatt Sells 5 Service Hotels” →