Almost 500 years ago, a document was written that was considered blasphemous, earned its author a death sentence and changed the face of the Christian faith forever.

On October 31, 1517, a former monk nailed his “95 Theses” to a church door in Wittenberg, Germany. With that simple act, Martin Luder (his birth name) opened the vault to a piercing view of the religious doctrines and practices of the powerful Roman Catholic church, and the Reformation was born.

Flash forward about half-a-millennium and today you’ll find faithful followers of Martin Luther’s doctrines (as well as history buffs and culture junkies) making their way through what’s now known as “LutherCountry,” an area that encompasses the neighboring states of Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. Located between Berlin and Frankfurt, this part of Germany evokes a fairytale feeling with its castles, palaces and forests while simultaneously embracing all the modern comforts of city living.

Meeting and event planners looking for a special destination to hold their next conferences should consider a trip to LutherCountry, especially given the opportunity to participate in some of the events planned for the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation.

One notable city for events is Eisenach. Towering above the city center is Wartburg Castle, where Martin Luther translated the New Testament into German while in hiding. Inside the castle (the only one in Germany to hold UNESCO World Heritage Site status), you’ll find the magnificently decorated banquet hall. With approximately 1,150 square feet of space running the length and width of the palace, meetings and special events are often held here. In the town center, the 127-room Steigenberger Hotel Thuringer Hof (with eight conference rooms that can accommodate up to 200) offers a basic conference package that makes meeting planning simple. For a night out, conference attendees can walk to the Lutherstuben restaurant inside the Hotel Eisenacher Hof to enjoy a candlelit meal typical of what Martin Luther would have eaten in his day.

Considered Luther’s spiritual home, Erfurt is where he studied, became a monk and lived in an Augustinian monastery. He was also ordained as a priest there. Each year on November 10, Erfurt holds its annual St. Martin’s festival, but the city is spectacular any time of year. Nicknamed the “Rome of the North” due to its gorgeous steeples and spires, the city center is one of the best-preserved medieval sections in Germany. With 68 rooms and suites, Victor’s Residenz-Hotel offers eight conference rooms that can accommodate up to 400, and offers packages at various price points.

Aside from those in Eisenach and Erfurt, LutherCountry offers a variety of meeting venues. One especially worthy of consideration is the Kurhaus in Wiesbaden, which can accommodate up to 3,000. With its antique-style foyer and soaring cupola, it’s considered one of the most extraordinary conference centers in Germany. And while not technically in LutherCountry, the 218-room Jumeirah Frankfurt (within 20 minutes of the airport and easy walking distance of the underground station) is a spectacular new addition to the hotel scene. Planners looking for top-notch accommodations in the heart of the city will be delighted with its 2,000-sq.-ft. Crystal Ballroom, which features thousands of crystals embedded into the ceiling, and four meeting rooms.

Taxes
Canada’s Foreign Convention and Tour Incentive Program  offers reduced tax incentives for international groups that hold their meetings in the country. For rebate information, requirements and forms go to the FCTIP website.

Passports
Passports are required for any air travel outside the U.S. and its territories. They’re no longer cheap (for adults, $135; for kids under 16, $105), can take up to two months to process, and first-timers must apply in person. For forms and info, go to travel.state.gov/passport.

Mobile Phones
The new iPhone 4S is a world phone. It can be bought from AT&T, Verizon and, for the first time, Sprint. Even if you get your iPhone 4S from Verizon, whose CDMA network is incompatible with the GSM networks used in most other countries, you’ll still be able to make calls overseas, either through Verizon or by inserting another carrier’s SIM card. Whatever mobile phone you use, you should call your wireless provider to make sure it is ready to make and receive calls in a foreign country. You can also check with your carrier for the exact rates in the countries where you’ll be traveling. Calls will be charged on a per-minute basis. For subscribers with U.S. cell phone service, domestic voice, text message or data plans do not apply when traveling in another country. SMS text messaging is typically the cheapest way to communicate with people in the country where you’re traveling and also with people back home in the U.S.

Attendee Info
Create your own international tip sheet for attendees and include with event information.

Online Resources
The State Department posts current travel warnings and alerts on its site at travel.state.gov, which also has passport information. While the customs process has become more streamlined there are still certain restrictions and requirements. For specific dos and don’ts, choose “Tips for Traveling Abroad” on the international travel page. Lonelyplanet.com is also a useful site for international travelers. Users can click on the world map for information on global destinations, including crime and practical concerns.

<< Return to International Understanding

“We spend a lot of time talking with planners about why they might want to take their meeting to Canada,” says David Whitaker, president and CEO of Tourism Toronto. Besides the value and curiosity factors, Whitaker and his team have found a number of other reasons why U.S. associations might consider it. “Their mission may no longer have [geographic] borders and may now include a global context,” he says. “If you’re interested in a global agenda and content then why not be interested in a place that’s as comfortable, convenient and appealing as Canada?”

That said, Canada does present the chance to meet someplace truly international but with most of the comforts of home. Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, British Columbia, offer attendees a healthy dose of familiarity (in fact, all have repeatedly served as American locations in films and TV) along with a sense of being somewhere quite different. Each comes with built-in and distinctly international cultural, educational and business networks, as witnessed in everything from restaurants and museums to the plethora of ethnic neighborhood and festivals.

The best example of that foreign/familiar combo can be found in the charming provincial capitals of Victoria, British Columbia, and Quebec City, Quebec, where—given those cities’ art, architecture, cuisine and language (in Quebec’s case, it’s Quebecois, a variation of French)—attendees might be forgiven for thinking that they’d landed in either Westminster, London or the Normandy Coast. And yes, even in the most Old World cafes and shops of Quebec, English is commonly heard.

EASY ACCESS, PLENTIFUL SPACE
Attendees also will discover that Canada’s cities are as accessible as many of their American counterparts. Air service between the countries is competitive in terms of price and frequency, with many direct and non-stop flights from major carriers. And depending on the destination, travel times can be quick—Quebec, Toronto and Montreal, for example, lie within a two-hour flight of most Northeast and Midwest cities.

Once in town, attendees should find Canada’s meeting spots decidedly user-friendly. “You can walk from end to end of our downtown in about 20 minutes,” says Erin Lee, business development for meetings and conventions at Meetings and Conventions Calgary. Alberta’s largest city also features a light rail transit system (free in the downtown core) and 10 miles worth of climate-controlled passageways for cooler weather. Montreal, Toronto and Edmonton, Alberta, are equipped with their own systems of enclosed, weather-proofed walkways and passages, in some cases with tie-ins to local mass transit stations.

In Canada, planners also can count on the quality and quantity of meeting and exhibit space that they’ve become accustomed to in the states. From British Columbia to Halifax, the list of major centers runs long and deep, with many of the major Canadian cities also providing additional venues and facilities designed to accommodate industry-specific (e.g., agriculture, technology, automotive) trade shows and exhibitions.

FOUR SEASON FUN
Attendees love to toss around the term “added value” and Canada, fortunately, comes with plenty. For starters, consider Canada’s seemingly endless natural beauty and outdoor recreation, much of which is a short trip from downtown meeting spots. In the west, Vancouver provides an easy jumping-off point for group adventures on Vancouver Island (think sailing, kayaking, hiking and deep sea fishing) and is a two-hour drive or train ride south of Whistler, British Columbia’s premier mountain meetings resort town.

In Alberta, planners can hold meetings in Calgary and Edmonton, then send attendees out for terrific teambuilding and group recreation in the Rocky Mountains around Jasper, Canmore and Banff, a combined resort town and national park where human visitors stroll side-by-side with elk and deer. Summers here bring golf, rafting, horseback riding and mountain biking, while winters are truly a wonderland, with dogsledding, snowshoe hiking, and downhill and cross-country skiing.

The winding, cobblestone streets of Quebec’s walled-in Old City and the nearby historic Plains of Abraham battlefield are ideal for group day trips or free-time exploration. A local and tourist favorite winter sight in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada’s elegant and historic capital city, is the graceful stream of ice skaters gliding along the landmark Rideau Canal. Prince Edward Island is home to spectacular beaches, the world’s best mussels and one of youth literature’s best-known and favorite characters, Anne of Green Gables. Tremblant, just outside of Montreal, is a year-round, all-encompassing resort where indoor activities like shopping and dining hold their own against outside fun on the ski slopes and forest hiking trails.

For a truly memorable teambuilding experience, it’s hard to beat what Canada offers at its former Olympic sites. To wit, groups can visit and experience first-hand gold-medal thrills, revel in memorable moments, and even hold a luncheon or private reception at the country’s former Olympic venues in Vancouver, Whistler, Calgary and Montreal.

Two major highway systems provide fast and easy transport between downtown and other parts of the city, including the Gerald R. Ford International Airport. Meeting spaces abound in the four corners of the city surrounding downtown. Each area offers its own unique personality, from an outdoor adventure-oriented northwest corner to a southeast corner dominated by one of Michigan’s busiest commercial districts.

Grand Rapids has earned international recognition as an arts destination. Every autumn, the city hosts 2,000 artists and 300,000 spectators for ArtPrize, the world’s richest art competition. Frederik Mejier Gardens & Sculpture Park has been named one of the world’s top 30 must-see museums, while downtown is jam-packed with outdoor public art. The city is also adept at the art of dining, thanks to a renowned culinary school and a rich agricultural bounty that ensures fresh, delicious, farm-to-table cuisine.

Other major attractions include Lake Michigan, named one of the world’s top 25 shorelines; Michigan’s Adventure Amusement Park, home to one of the world’s top 10 wooden roller coasters; and John Ball Zoo, a classic urban zoo just five minutes from downtown.

A city with an enduring faith tradition, Grand Rapids is home to such belief-based organizations as Zondervan, Family Christian Stores and  IFCA International. It’s a very comfortable site for religious meeting planners and attendees, as evidenced by the city’s acclaimed hosting of RCMA 2009.

For more information, click here or call 800-678-9859.

This is a special advertising post. 

GrapeFest, the largest wine festival in the Southwest, began in 1986, and its People’s Choice Wine Tasting Classic is the largest, consumer-judged wine competition in the nation. This year’s competition featured 119 wines from 33 Texas wineries. In addition to wine tasting and judging, GrapeFest featured a grape stomping competition, in which the winning team of two pounded out 39.76 ounces of juice to claim the coveted Purple Foot Award.

Attending GrapeFest not only opens visitors’ eyes to new wines, but it introduces Grapevine’s surrounding attractions, shopping and authentic Texas-style restaurants. Grapevine’s newest additions, Legoland Discovery Center and Sea Life Aquarium, attract visitors of every age. Legoland combines fun with education about how Legos are built and used. Sea Life features more than 30 displays of marine life, including 11 sharks in the main Ocean Tank. The two attractions are located at Grapevine Mills Mall, which has more than 180 stores and the newly restored Palace Arts Center, which is home to the Grapevine Opry and hosts a number of performing arts groups throughout the year. The city’s a boon to meeting planners even when the festival isn’t in town: There’s more than 800,000 square feet of meeting space at venues including the Gaylord Texas Resort and Convention Center, Great Wolf Lodge and other area hotels.

Proceeds from GrapeFest benefit the Grapevine Heritage Foundation’s restoration and program development at Nash Farm, where groups learn about the history of the North Texas settlement, farming technology and more. Multiple venues on the farm can be rented for special events.

Unlike many resorts, there hasn’t been a recent upswing in bookings of faith-based meetings at the Edgewater Beach and Golf Resort and Majestic Beach Resort, both managed by the Resort Collection of Panama City Beach, Fla. “Panama City Beach has always been a favorite destination for religious retreats and faith-based groups,” says Steve Bailey, director of group sales. “Our resorts have always been hot spots for these groups, and this is, in fact, our largest market segment.” He adds that while faith-based business has been steady for more than 20 years, it has grown significantly since the Edgewater conference center was expanded in 2000 to 32,700 square feet. The Majestic resort added a conference center that increased the total meeting space for both resorts from 6,000 square feet prior to 2000 to the current 45,000 square feet.

“We love this market as they tend to be very loyal, appreciative and easy to work with,” says Bailey, adding that the Resort Collection markets aggressively to religious meeting planners through print advertising, trade shows, direct sales and word of mouth. The sales staff is fully trained in working with faith-based groups, and a page on both resort websites is dedicated to religious meetings. Bailey says the resorts’ beach environment appeal to youth groups—their largest faith-based segment—and Panama City Beach is an easy driving destination for groups located in much of the Bible Belt. Summer is the peak season since school is out, but Bailey says the resorts offers specials and incentives during shoulder seasons.

Gaylord Resorts

Gaylord Hotels’ properties are mega-resorts that serve as true one-stop shops for meetings. There are four properties: Gaylord Opryland in Nashville, Tenn.; Gaylord Palms in Kissimmee, Fla.; Gaylord Texan in Grapevine, Texas; and Gaylord National in National Harbor, Md. A fifth resort is planned for the Denver area. The Gaylord Opryland is the company’s flagship property, but each resort offers between 400,000 and 600,000 square feet of flexible meeting space and between 1,406 and 2,881 guest rooms. Each family-friendly resort features a multi-acre glass atrium that includes indoor gardens and other attractions, in addition to a spa, dining, shopping and entertainment options.

“I think for faith-based groups, as much as any other meeting groups, networking and building community and culture is as important as the content,” says Randy Miller, vice president of sales at Gaylord Opryland. “When you go to a downtown convention center and you bus people at three or four different hotels, you kind of lose that ability to create a networking environment. All four of our Gaylord properties have these big atriums, a multiplicity of restaurants, and we’ve got the meeting space to accommodate everything under one roof. For faith-based groups, it’s all about people. To allow those people to interact—that’s the environments we create.”

Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort and Spa, Phoenix, Ariz.

Wild Horse Pass is located on a 300,000-acre Native American reservation and was opened in 2002 by the Gila River Indian Community, which comprises the Pima and Maricopa tribes, after the lifting of a 100-year gag order imposed by a chief in the late 1800s forbidding the tribes from speaking about their history and culture with the outside world. “Everything from the decor to programming to resort staff is intended to reflect and be sensitive to that culture,” says Stephanie Heckathorne, director of public relations and social media strategies. Guests can explore on their own using the resort’s meta-tag readers or podcasts, or join guided cultural tours offered by cultural concierge Ginger Sunbird Martin. “She acts as a liaison between cultures,” she says, providing heritage presentations and activities for groups.

“You could throw a stone in any direction in Phoenix and Scottsdale and be at several luxury resorts,” says Heckathorne. “That’s not to disparage them, but [rather] to make the point that high-end dining or spa or golf or a luxurious bed is one thing—we have all of that, [plus] at this resort the sense of pride in family and community. I think that really resonates with [faith-based] groups.” The resort works closely with the Phoenix CVB on outreach to the religious community through its Faith in Phoenix initiative.  “With the economy changing, I think it’s really the time to encourage people to look outside of where they typically have,” Heckathorne says. She says planners might be scared of a AAA Four Diamond resort and its Forbes Five-Star award restaurant, thinking the resort might not fit into an event budget. “These are new times when everyone is reinventing their business mix and customizing things to make it possible for groups to get in and experience this part of the Sonoran Desert. Just because you might not have been able to afford it in the past, you should not rule it out right away,” she adds.