Trine Ackelman
Director of Sales & Marketing
Westin South Coast Plaza
Today’s convention and meeting planners may want less red meat on the dining menu for attendees—but they still want some sizzle to keep them engaged.
The Westin South Coast Plaza provides the latest in lighting, video projection, presentation and communications technologies and resources. Westin’s audio-visual offering is provided by (Long Beach-based) PSAV Presentation Services system, which offers high-definition video for multiple displays and video projection mapping to “paint” video onto any surface. New lighting, lighter microphones, and wireless USB devices for sharing content across computers are part of the package, too.
Westin SCP also has Tangent—workspaces pairing “smart” technology with innovative design—in a private area on the lobby floor, with Internet access, storage, office supplies, a refrigerator, floor-to-ceiling whiteboards, television and an Xbox.
Heidi Bergos
Director of Sales and Marketing
Hotel Irvine
The newly reinvented Hotel Irvine is plugging in to the needs of today’s travelers and meeting planners.
Guests have access to free high-speed Internet as soon as they walk in the door. They’ll see social “pods”—bright orange lounge chairs with electrical outlets and USB ports. Their rooms include desks designed with multiple USB ports and plugs in all the right places.
Hotel Irvine’s theater room, as part of a renovation of its conference facilities, now has a nine-panel flat screen and stadium-style leather seating for up to 120 people, with each seat having electrical outlets for laptops.
Interactive and/or digital touchscreen display boards give meeting guests information and directions to their events. A personalized “concierge” called Reach Me lets guests schedule wake-up calls and order a bottle of wine or tickets to an Angels game—all via text. Meeting planners can use it to work closely with hotel staff.
Chad Ceretto
Director of Hotel Sales
Newport Beach Marriott Hotel & Spa
Technology at the Newport Beach Marriott Hotel & Spa makes meetings and corporate events brilliant.
Meeting attendees can check in using the hotel’s new mobile app, and a meeting services app lets meeting planners manage their event without leaving their seats. Planners are connected to the hotel’s team in real time, 24/7, and can ask for everything by phone—more chairs, coffee refills or changing room temperature. Other features: special requests, shipping needs, communication in any of 20 languages, and managing their bills.
We brought on a new audio-visual company, (Arlington Heights, Ill.-based) Encore Event Technologies.
After renovating our event space, the lobby and meeting rooms offer touch-screen monitors with real-time event information, including a map of meeting rooms, local weather, information on local attractions, and they can be customized with client logos and video.
The hotel was rewired for faster Internet access.
Newport Beach Marriott Hotel & Spa also brings technology to the fore with a complimentary reservation link so groups can reserve their rooms online. Marriott’s “Meetings Imagined” website provides inspiration and tools to create exciting meetings and corporate events.
Anthony Hartwell
Food and Beverage Director
Irvine Marriott
Technology is changing how people interact with the world, and Marriott is bringing digital tools to bear on meetings and events to help our customers succeed—from inspiration to implementation.
The Irvine Marriott “Future of Meetings” approach focuses on people, with seven unique setup options, depending on an event’s focus. Elements include enhanced technologies, wireless, video conferencing, mobile device docking stations and “smart” whiteboards.
Marriott’s “Meetings Imagined” is a set of online tools offering access to tips and trends and an “inspiration gallery” that help plan innovative events, and our Red Coat Direct app connects planners with on-property event staff in real time so meetings clients can modify needs.
Marriott Rewards members can use the Mobile Guest Services app to make and modify reservations, check-in via a mobile device, and submit specific requests while at the property.
Karl Kruger
General Manager
Fairmont Newport Beach
Fairmont Newport Beach is pleased to offer two new technologies for clients through our PSAV audiovisual system and equipment.
The Mobile Meeting Manager (M3) is an app for smartphones or tablets that lets attendees track event details and times. Attendees or meeting organizers can build their own schedules so they don’t miss a thing. M3 helps optimize the event experience and makes the most of downtime with access to hotel specials, venue maps and other features. It eliminates the need to carry bulky event documents, and with a Web-based format, M3 requires no downloading.
As attendees rely more than ever on mobile technology, having a charged device is a constant concern. Fairmont Newport Beach and PSAV have addressed this issue with secure PowerStation charging areas inside lockers for different size needs.
It also recently rewired cables in the hotel’s north wing for clearer phone lines and faster Internet speeds. The new cabling has allowed us to create private networks for guests in rooms or meeting spaces with password-protected access and greater security overall.
Giuseppe Lama
Managing Director
Resort at Pelican Pelican Hill
The Resort at Pelican Hill has enhanced audio-visual technology for meetings with custom-designed high-definition projection screens; all-digital video transmission; and on-site broadcast production and editing equipment.
Our on-site business center now offers wireless printing and secure work stations featuring identity protection software. We’ve installed “green” technology with wireless LED decorative lighting, and we’re continuing wireless enhancements to guest rooms, public areas, and outdoor meeting spaces
Shaun Robinson
General Manager
Hilton Anaheim
One way Hilton Anaheim offers value to our meetings and convention partners that differentiates us from other hotels is through Connect+, a website launched late last year as a resource for planners. It includes five tools—SpeedRFP for planners to submit proposed needs; eMenus for food and beverage; ePlanner, a scheduling tool; LightStay—environmental technology planning for events; and “getplanning” by Hilton, a Web-based document storage tool.
That last one is one of Connect+’s most popular features. It’s a secure, cloud-based application only at Hilton Worldwide properties that lets planners share meeting information, initiate online discussions and assign tasks. Hotel staff, event planners, and third-party suppliers are on the same page—but without bulky binders. Our meetings and convention clients find this tool helps them plan events with exceptional outcomes.
New features Hilton plans to roll out increase attendees’ choice and control over their hotel stay, from choosing their exact room from digital floor plans to checking in and out on mobile devices. While here, they’ll be able to customize their stay by purchasing upgrades and making special requests for items to be delivered to their room prior to arrival.
Dan Shaughnessy
Director of Sales and Marketing
Anaheim Marriott
Marriott’s Meeting Services App lets planners manage events entirely online. It handles the details so they can get back to what matters most—the people—and relieves the stress of time, space, and language barriers by connecting planners and hotel teams on any Web-enabled device in real time, 24/7—creating more time to empower, showcase and personalize every event, from planning to billing.
The app offers a familiar platform with a distinctive brand experience. It’s available at managed and franchised hotels in more than 50 countries, including the Anaheim Marriott.
