Great Lakes, Great Meetings

Economy and enjoyment combine in new and renewed space
BY MARC BOISCLAIR

Few regions offer planners a more well rounded meeting spot than the cluster of states hugging America’s best-known inland waterways. The swatch of sharp cities and lush countryside running from Ohio to Minnesota provides groups with an ideal and inclusive Rx for faith-based get-togethers. The region’s numerous attributes run deep and broad: good access, be it by air or auto; a variety of family oriented activities; incredible bang-for-the-buck; smartly designed conference and function space and an attitude towards business that’s at once efficient and down-to-earth. Great service comes naturally here as well, as planners interact with top-notch professionals while attendees receive the warmth and comfort they’d expect when invited into a friend’s home.

“The hospitality here is very, very good,” says Leslie Blair, CMP, with VIKTOR Incentives and Meetings in Traverse City, Mich. “The people are really friendly, very open and welcoming. They always treat you like you’re a member of the family.”

And where better to tote along the family – spouses, kids, even the pooch – than to a destination that brings value, convenience and fun activities to the meeting table. St. Louis Park, for example, is home to a Who’s Who of notable Minnesotans (including the state’s newest U.S. senator, Al Franken), and sits just four miles from the heart of Minneapolis. With the city’s skyline providing a striking backdrop, Illinois’ Church of the Living God brought some 200 attendees to town in July for their annual conference.

“Part of our appeal is that we’re just outside a terrific city, at the intersection of I-394 and SR-100, and offer a much lower tax rate than the surrounding area,” says Mike Kottke, director of sales and marketing at the Doubletree Hotel Minneapolis Park Place. Kottke cites several other draws for the churches – 300 guestrooms and 26,000 square feet of meeting space (“They had enough privacy and attention to feel like they owned the hotel,” he says), complimentary parking, an abundance of restaurants and great shopping, not to mention an array of attendee-friendly activities. “You can see downtown but you’re meeting in a very green area, with so many things right here that attendees can see and do, including biking and hiking paths.”

STAYING AHEAD OF THE GAME
Rather than the exception, Kottke offers a prime example of the consistent meetings thread that runs throughout the Great Lakes region. One of the major ways of maintaining that level of consistency comes from providing a steady stream of new and renewed products. While the economy continues its challenge to the hospitality world, planners can point to a slew of new and renovated hotels around the Great Lakes, as well as convention centers, attractions and arts and culture venues across the area, all part of an ongoing process designed to develop long-term group relationships.

Columbus, Ohio, feeling squeezed on both guestrooms and conference space, has launched a pair of major meetings-related initiatives that, despite the tough financial times, are planned to help meetings in the long term. Battelle Hall, the Greater Columbus Convention Center’s showpiece function area, is undergoing a $40 million facelift that will deliver it expanded, revamped and renamed (Battelle Grand). When completed by year’s end the new ballroom will be Ohio’s largest – about 52,000 square feet on the main level, with almost 25,000 square feet more on the mezzanine.

Come 2012, the Battelle Grand should wow even more attendees when Columbus’ new convention center hotel opens its doors, a $160 million, 500-room meeting property highlighted by 30,650 square feet of meeting space and a 300-car parking garage. “It’s going to make a dramatic difference because we’ll be able to condense more of our group room blocks around the convention center,” says Brian Ross, VP of sales for Experience Columbus. Construction should also begin soon on Grandview Yard, a $500 million mixed-use development set near the Ohio State University campus that will include a 123-room Hyatt hotel.

In Cleveland, where several thousand attendees just wrapped up the Jehovah’s Witnesses annual convention, convenience continues to play a key role in attracting group business. “The highway system is pretty good there, so it’s always been an easy destination to get in and out of,” says Paula Antista, events coordinator with Virtual, Inc., in Wakefield, Mass. “The hotels are also willing to spend more time with their customers. They understand that by keeping your current clients happy, you’ll keep them coming back.”

There’s big news by the lake as well: plans for a brand new $450 million convention center and medical mart near Tower City, with groundbreaking possible in the next year. Elsewhere, the Cleveland Museum of Art has just unveiled its new 139,000-sq.-ft. East Wing, the first of three new wings and a glass-enclosed atrium comprising an overall $350 million expansion and renovation that’s expected to be completed by 2012. New and improved hotels of note include the Double Tree Hotel Cleveland/Lakeside (formerly the Holiday Inn Lakeside), fresh from a $15 million redo, and the Ritz-Carlton, which has just wrapped an $8 million makeover of its own. The Cleveland Airport Marriott is finishing up a $20 million renovation of its guestrooms, public areas and meeting space.

Cincinnati, which expects some 20,000 attendees for the 2012 Choir Games, recently unveiled two new value properties – a 122-room Springhill Suites by Marriott and a 115-room Holiday Inn Express – as well as a pair of unique meeting venues: Blue Ocean Facilities (2,700 square feet) and Boost…for Meetings Sake (4,600 square feet). The Sharonville Convention Center, 15 miles north of Cincinnati, will more than double its meeting space (to about 115,000 square feet) by 2011. Marriott’s making quite a splash in Indianapolis, spending $425 million on four new properties – the JW Marriott Indianapolis, Indianapolis Courtyard by Marriott Downtown, Indianapolis Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott Downtown, and the Indianapolis SpringHill Suites by Marriott Downtown – that will total over 1,600 guestrooms when all are completed by mid-2011.

Chicago’s hopping with new and exciting projects. In May, the Art Institute of Chicago unveiled its $300 million Modern Wing, the new 264,000-sq.-ft. home for the museum’s 20th century European painting and sculpture, contemporary art, architecture, design and photography collections. Among the Windy City’s cool new digs: the 26-story, 216-room Dana Hotel and Spa; the 225-room Hotel Felix; and The Wit Hotel, a 27-story, eco-friendly boutique property.

PAIRING VALUE WITH FUN
While we all enjoy some occasional five-star pampering, reality dictates otherwise for most faith-based meetings. That said, the Great Lakes region continues to emphasize economy and enjoyment in its new products. Lansing, MI, provides a good example, sporting a new 95-room Staybridge Suites and a Holiday Inn Express in East Lansing. Renovated properties in Michigan’s capital include the Radisson Lansing Hotel and East Lansing Marriott. Name changes of note: the Lexington Lansing Hotel (formerly the Sheraton); the renovated Causeway Bay Hotel Lansing (formerly the Holiday Inn South); and the Lansing West Conference Center (from the Holiday Inn West).

New properties continue to sprout in Detroit. The 203-unit Doubletree Guest Suites Fort Shelby, fresh from a $90 million facelift, will focus on groups in the 150 to 250 range, with a 21,000-sq.-ft. conference center and Finn & Porter restaurant. The 453-room Westin Book Cadillac Detroit, a 1924 city landmark, has re-opened after a $200 million renovation.
Hotels are busy renovating in Milwaukee, where both the Hyatt Regency Milwaukee and Hilton Milwaukee City Center have completed major renovations. The new Aloft W Hotel Milwaukee is expected by year’s end, following the earlier area debuts of Crowne Plaza Hotel Milwaukee Wauwatosa, Staybridge Suites Franklin and Candlewood Suites Oak Creek.

In Minneapolis, site of this summer’s ELCA biennial conference, baseball will get a big boost next April with the opening of Target Field, the Minnesota’s Twins new stadium. College sports fans also have reason to cheer this fall when TCF Bank Stadium debuts at the University of Minnesota. Newly renovated properties around town include the Holiday Inn Minneapolis Metrodome, Holiday Inn Express Downtown and Hyatt Regency Minneapolis. Also sprucing up: the Millennium Hotel Minneapolis and the Ramada Plaza Minneapolis (formerly the Minneapolis Gateway Hotel/Four Points by Sheraton). And music aficio nados everywhere should appreciate the Minnesota Orchestra’s plans to remake its aging music hall to the tune of $40 million by 2013.

There’s good news coming from the Wisconsin Dells as Lake Delton is now back up and available for recreational use. That should please Tommy Bartlett fans (of whom there are legions) who plan their meetings and family vacations around the legendary Dells entertainer’s acrobatic aquatic extravaganzas. A $200 million renovation and expansion at the Chula Vista Resort has resulted in a new conference facility (the Wisconsin Dells Center) with 90,000 square feet of flexible meeting space, including two ballrooms, and a new, 200,000-sq.-ft. Exposition and Sports Center. The menu at the Kalahari Waterpark Resort Convention Center now includes a 110,000-sq.-ft. indoor amusement park, including a six-story Ferris wheel, laser tag, ropes course (think: team-building), a 24-lane bowling alley and a DJ booth and dance floor. And the new delights at the Wilderness Hotel & Golf Resort include go-karts, bumper boats and mini-golf.