Phil Aldax
Director of Food & Beverage Anaheim Marriott
We launched a Draft Nitro program in late 2017 that features full draft beer and nitro coffee programs for groups.
We believe we’re the only U.S. hotel offering such a combined program.
For the draft portion, the hotel offers 30 lines on a custom-built ‘kegerator’—refrigerated beer coolers—for all group and catered events. Nitro is a nitrogen-infused, cold-brew drip coffee; infusion gives the coffee a rich, creamy head.
The programs are popular with planners and groups because it’s a higher-quality product, connotes greater service levels, and taps trends—served cold. Starbucks, for instance, now has a popular nitro coffee offering.
Hotels, to this point, cannot execute correctly on draft beer or premium cold-brew coffee; usually they’re putting a standard keg in a huge bucket of ice, and coffee service is often still in urns.
This allows attendees to network and enjoy great coffee and local craft draft beers.
Lynne Difrancesco
Director of Sales and Marketing Renaissance Newport Beach
Renaissance was born from the former Fairmont in the last year via a $32 million redesign. Work included a new, 4,000-square-foot ballroom with soaring ceilings and natural light from 20-foot windows, part of an overall 32,000 square feet of space for functions with up to 750 people.
Part of the Renaissance brand is something called REN Meetings offering event planning and meetings with a personal touch curated to the destination.
R Life Live is an events platform that works with local musicians, artists and others to bring the best of Newport Beach to the client.
Experiential Sensory Meetings brings locally inspired beverage and food, and sights, scents and sounds that set the mood for a meeting. It includes interactive elements at the table to keep guests engaged.
Neighborhood Narratives add local touches to meetings through service personnel with deep knowledge of the area.
If guests have time to see the area, your Renaissance Navigator is the person to see. They will know all the best spots in town to hang out and the changes of scenery to inspire new ideas.
Robert Donahue
Director of Sales, Services
& California Tourist Sales Disneyland Resort Anaheim
We continue to be the area’s premier convention destination—two theme parks, three hotels, the Downtown Disney District and a variety of meeting spaces. This year we’ve worked in all of the areas for groups.
The three hotels have more than 200,000 square feet of meeting space. Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa has completed a hotelwide refurbishment, and Wi-Fi in rooms and meeting space have been improved.
Starcade is a new private event venue in Tomorrowland at Disneyland Park, a flex space for up to 200 people.
Downtown Disney offers Splitsville Luxury Lanes and The Void, a hyper-reality experience, as unique activities for groups.
John Ehlenfeldt
Executive Vice President of Sales & Administration Visit Huntington Beach
Huntington Beach is a destination with meetings-friendly properties and beachfront attractions, 100 years of surfing history, and a popular downtown—truly Surf City USA.
We have oceanfront AAA Four Diamond-rated hotels and resorts Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort & Spa, Waterfront Beach Resort, a Hilton Hotel, Pasea Hotel & Spa and Kimpton Shorebreak Huntington Beach Resort—as part of a newly launched HB Collection promoted as a single product: hotels, public spaces, unique amenities.
It’s a 10-mile stretch of uninterrupted Pacific Coast Highway coastline—no structures or homes to obstruct views—with 1,400 rooms and 185,000 square feet of flexible meeting space, including, at 20,000 square feet, the largest oceanfront ballroom in Orange County.
In-between is downtown, Huntington Beach Pier and new restaurant and boutique retail at Pacific City; beyond in close proximity are three regional airports, an ideal fit for many programs.
Sam El-Rabaa
General Manager Balboa Bay Resort
Balboa Bay Resort is well-known for its coastal elegance as Newport Beach’s only waterfront resort. It offers multipurpose venues that are both intimate and interactive for meetings and events of various sizes. Most recently, we’ve enhanced guestrooms with fresh furnishings, renovated our spa and pool, and added a Drybar for hair styling.
Meetings and events attendees can take a mixology class at our A&O restaurant and meet on our 128-foot, three-deck luxury yacht, The Ambassador.
For the first time, the resort earned a Forbes Four Star rating and joined Preferred Hotels & Resorts’ iPrefer program. We think that’s a commitment to a quality of product and service for guests.
Kathy Holt
Director of Sales Laguna Beach House Inn at Laguna Beach
This year our two hotels began working with local meetings venue Seven-Degrees to expand our meetings and events offerings. The hotels have their own meeting spaces—classroom-style, oceanfront terrace or an intimate boardroom setting—and now larger events at Seven-Degrees, which has 25,000 square feet of multipurpose indoor and outdoor spaces with canyon views.
We believe the hotels provide a true sense of place in the heart of Laguna Beach, among the finest art galleries, shops, dining and nightlife venues.
Joe Martino
Director of Sales & Marketing Hotel Irvine
This year we introduced our meeting planners to color-coded breakouts, where the entire breakout room is decorated in one color, from chairs to linens—even food and beverages.
These color-themed rooms are more conducive to creative brainstorming, think-tank sessions or presentations, because they add an element of fun to the meeting and its environment. Planners choose colors that represent their logos or branding initiatives for a more cohesive meeting.
Specialty waters are provided in the room’s color scheme: the yellow-themed room has lemon-infused water; red has apples and strawberries; green gets mint-infused; purple with grapes; and blue, blueberries.
We also introduced a cold-brew coffee station to our banquet menu options, which has been a big hit with meeting attendees.
Robert Marusi
Director of Sales & Marketing Resort at Pelican Hill
Our prospecting efforts this year included new perks for early program bookings, and offering value dates.
Examples of perks include hosted considerations for a reception, an upgrade on menu selections, or a waived venue fee. Value dates help programs stay on track with their budgets while planning a highly impactful and memorable experience.
We upgraded training and added and expanded sales roles. Now sales coordinators—previously assistants—support our efforts through site tours, requests for proposals and contracts. We also now have two dedicated sales directors to go after global business.
Our new approach in training and developing our sales support team strengthens the overall quality of experience we deliver to meeting planners and their clients—our guests.
