The Business Journal’s Paul Hughes asked local hoteliers to talk about something in the meetings and conventions arena that they chose not to pursue last year due to limited time, talent or resources—and about those projects that they did pursue to enhance events. Here are edited excerpts of selected responses:
Rudy Alvarez
Director of Sales
Catalina Island Co.
Irvine and Catalina
We’d like to introduce two large projectors into beach parties at Descanso Beach Club for private meetings and events. Screens would display a dedicated hashtag with the name of each meeting group, for instance, so guests could share their experiences, livestream photos, etc., on social media in real time. This will be a way to engage guests and share the Catalina Island experience, and we’re working to improve our Wi-Fi capabilities to do this.
Something that’s been incredibly successful and that our guests greatly enjoy are post-meeting beach parties at Descanso. Companies often hold their meetings at Catherine’s Terrace at the beach club. Then the catered event, commonly including music and entertainment, moves to the beach for the club’s beautiful views and nighttime ambiance: delicious food and crafted cocktails in a relaxed environment.
Katie Green
General Manager
La Casa del Camino
Laguna Beach
We’re on a prime piece of land in Laguna, and this year one of our biggest desires has been to cater to the local small businesses—especially those involved in creative work—to offer our intimate, inspiration-inducing atmosphere for daytime retreats, brainstorming and strategy meetings.
Since we’ve been focused on our evening cocktail parties and such, we haven’t had the bandwidth to build out our offerings beyond having a unique location, which will allow folks to break away from the mundane daily office routine to get their wheels turning. It is one of our goals for improvement in 2018 in terms of meetings and conventions.
Michael Lorenz
SVP Sales & Marketing
Irvine Co. Resort Properties
Newport Beach
Pelican Hill, Fashion Island Hotel and Hotel Irvine include expansive views, coastal flair, and resort amenities—but group meeting guests also want to experience the destination beyond. We’ve not yet pursued the full potential of our Coastal Collection and its destination experiences—also Irvine Co.-owned—such as adding a Fazio-designed round of golf at Oak Creek or the electric boat cruises at California Recreation Co. in Newport Harbor.
We’ve wanted to strengthen each independent hotel while leveraging the proximity of the properties to activities for specific meetings’ needs—team-building or to reward top performers.
A group at Hotel Irvine, for instance, could retreat to The Spa at Pelican Hill for the afternoon and conclude the program with an evening at Fashion Island Hotel’s Oak Grill and Aqua Lounge.
The ideas to come integrate with our thinking about the next-generation traveler and the local business community, and recent efforts, including restaurant work at Pelican Hill’s Andrea, Pelican Grill and Coliseum Pool & Grill, and linking Fashion Island Hotel, through its recent name change, more closely with Fashion Island.
Heather Morgan
Group Sales Manager
Westin South Coast Plaza
Costa Mesa
We’re an innovative hotel that both creates and examines hospitality trends. One recent trend is the food truck craze as an alternative to a conference’s more traditional lunch buffets. We experimented with the food truck experience and found it didn’t meet our brand standards, so last year we decided not to have them at conferences.
Instead, the sales and marketing team worked with local meeting planners to find an alternative. We realized the real appeal of a food truck was to get a group outside for a fun, enjoyable, more experiential meal.
The Westin now offers a farmers market-style approach. The catering staff sets up outdoor booths poolside and on the surrounding terrace, each with different options; attendees grab a lunch bag and stroll through the marketplace, sampling, for instance, fresh fruit and vegetables, hummus and pita bread, a fresh juice bar, and barbecued chicken skewers, hot off the grill. All food is made in-house and served by our staff.
Response has been phenomenal, and the market keeps more revenue in the hotel.
John Philipp
Director of Group Sales
Paséa Hotel & Spa
Huntington Beach
One area of the meetings and conventions segment Paséa has recently focused on is philanthropic events. We started our time as the newest resort in the city, with 34,000 square feet of space, and focused our first two years of business on hosting a variety of industries, but few charitable organizations.
This has changed for 2018.
We had one big philanthropic event in 2017, in May, and always intended to pursue more, so we saw this one as an opportunity: We were the new kid on the block for OC resorts, and we had to make a reputation.
The event was well-attended by many influential OC leaders, and since then we have seen a considerable increase for other philanthropic meetings and events. When you establish yourself as a solid player in the community, it can open doors; people who work on, participate in, and attend events will tell others, “Hey, you may want to consider Paséa.”
The group from 2017 is coming again in May, and we have six or seven other big events this year.
With a new, independent resort and our ocean views, many clients are preferring us for galas, high-end fundraising, and foundation meetings. It’s a great niche market for us.
Michelle White
Senior Sales Manager
The Fifth at Grand Legacy
at the Park Anaheim
Many bookings at the Fifth, the hotel’s rooftop restaurant and lounge, start with requests for proposals from the companies holding an event through the convention center, Visit Anaheim or our website. Last year I wanted to get out of the office and hit the pavement more at the conventions themselves, and attend more OC networking events prior to the events. The intent was to focus on the conventions and get more receptions. I’d have liked to tap into that rather than relying on RFPs and waiting for people to come to us.
We do a ton of business to consumer events, and I’d have liked to tap into the B2B, which is very lucrative.
As busy as we were, we weren’t able to find the right sales rep or coordinator to fill the in-the-office shoes, so I’d still find myself doing both sales and coordination. Cold-calling and personal lead generating to after-hours and the usual suspects—Visit Anaheim, Meeting Planners International and other networking events.
After an insane holiday season full of events and parties, I’m happy to say we’ve hired that person. Now I’ve got more time to get out there, follow up with connections we make, and do more research to get to the core people at companies coming to upcoming conventions.
I look forward to getting out there. Cheers to 2018!
