Conference Centers
Planners call the shots when it comes to design
by Tony Bartlett
Meetings South, February 2005
Before the Doubletree in downtown Omaha, Neb., built a conference center, it hosted several focus groups to gauge what planners consider the necessary ingredients for a successful conference facility. Now, the property's literature promotes a structure "designed by meeting planners."
Opened in October 2003, the $3 million executive meeting center takes up the whole 19th-floor penthouse space previously occupied by Maxine's, a popular eatery.
The center at the Doubletree Hotel and Executive Meeting Center Omaha-Downtown has 7,000 square feet of conference space in nine meeting rooms, the largest holding 80 people, plus a lobby, business center, high-speed T1 Internet access throughout, and a technology room where participants may get online.
It also features a conference center staff, space for continuous refreshment breaks and glare-free writing surfaces, which are just some of the many requirements needed to join the St. Louis-based International Association of Conference Centers (IACC).
"Planners wanted LCDs that emerge from the ceiling and the latest technology," explains Matt Vinsand, the hotel's director of sales and marketing. "But they also wanted things like shipping, handling and receiving, and parking included in packaging, and we did that. They don't want to be nickled and dimed."
Now Vinsand fields calls about what an executive meeting center is all about.
"People call look-ing for rates, deals and space," he says. "In a second-tier city like Omaha they have never heard of the IACC concept. The nearest IACC property is an hour away."
The trick, he adds, was getting Omaha's corporate base to utilize the center.
"They get jazzed up about it and we get repeat business," he says.
Mark Podolski, CMP, director of sales and marketing at the new Estancia La Jolla Hotel & Spa in La Jolla, Calif., finds that many veteran meeting planners aren't familiar with the IACC concept, either. The West has fewer IACC-certified properties than the East, although the number there is growing.
The 210-room Estancia, managed by Destination Hotels & Resorts, opened last July. Close to beaches and golf, the sprawling, nine-acre resort features a 6,000-square-foot spa, a ballroom and a 23,100-square-foot, IACC-certified high-tech learning center.
"For meetings, people sit in banquet chairs, sometimes for eight hours, and they get fidgety," Podolski says. "Under IACC, we have to use $400 ergonomic chairs. We create luxury and comfort in meetings."
For years IACC has promoted its model of the true conference center, a self-contained facility in a distraction-free environment conducive to learning. But in response to the demand of a years-long buyer's market, IACC's 230 member properties in North America have pushed beyond those original IACC ideals in areas such as technology and packaging.
"Traditional hotels may have good physical plants, but ultimately it's the IACC concept and the service delivery for more productive meetings that sets us apart," says Jeff Farina, IACC 2005 president and chief development officer at Benchmark Hospitality.
Last May, the association began an inspection program carried out by an independent firm. According to Tom Bolman, IACC executive vice president, 20 percent of IACC's member properties were inspected in 2004, and by the end of this year, a total of 50 percent is expected to be completed.
Until early in 2004, IACC members were not mandated to meet the standards of new members (in just the last four years, 10 of the criteria have been added or updated). Now, under a new schedule, when property flaws are found during inspection, they are given time to get up to par.
The Ancillary Center
Bolman says the biggest membership growth in recent years has been in ancillary centers built at existing midsize hotels. Ancillary centers now account for 15 percent of IACC's members.
Of the 27 conference centers that joined IACC in 2003 and 2004, 10 are ancillary and five are Hilton brands. All of Hilton's ancillary centers are called "executive meeting center" and were built as additions or, like the Omaha Doubletree, were interior conversions.
The other new EMCs are the Hilton Long Beach in California; Hilton Alexandria Mark Center in northern Virginia; the Doubletree Hotel and Executive Meeting Center-Berkeley Marina [Calif.]; and the Doubletree Hotel & Executive Meeting Center Portland [Ore.]-Lloyd Center. A sixth, opened last August in Northern Virginia, the Doubletree Hotel & Executive Meeting Center-Tysons Corner, has IACC final approval pending. There are now 14 EMCs.
Dave Keys, Hilton Hotels' regional vice president, sales and marketing, northeast/mid-Atlantic, explains that the EMC designation is different than purpose-built IACC-approved conference facilities, such as the 395-room Hilton DFW Lakes Executive Conference Center in Grapevine, Texas.
"But the essential component is that people can concentrate on what they're there for: the meeting," he says.
All IACC properties under the Hilton umbrella, he says, have high-speed Internet access in meeting and guest rooms. (High-speed Internet access is still not an IACC requirement, although the majority of IACC properties do offer it.)
Ahead of the Game
Julius van Heek, vice president at The Gettys Group, a Chicago-based hospitality design and procurement firm, finds that designing a conference center to IACC standards presents a certain amount of rigidity.
"Each project is unique, but all successful conference design provides balance," he explains. "It marries two elements: streamlining the business meeting-making sure, for example, that groups are kept apart so they don't intermingle-with the aesthetic and decorative element.
"It is a simple concept, but it's amazing how often it's not implemented," he continues. "You have to know what markets you want to attract. Do you want social functions on weekends? Is it for high-level executives who will have a smaller group size than the typical meeting?"
He mentions the trends that need to be considered: people meeting in smaller, more informal breakout groups and the need to create an environment for interaction; the changing business center, with less equipment needed on-site; the cyber cafes that satisfy the need to plug in; the increase in high-speed wireless Internet access; and the increase in the size of the average meeting.
Jody Wallace, president of EMC Venues, a conference center rep firm and IACC affinity partner owned by Thayer Lodging Group, confirms the growth of the average group size, a trend since 9/11, along with the increase of regional meetings.
Planners are also demanding dedicated and larger spaces for their groups, which has compounded the situation, she says.
"There are more regional meetings of 30 to 50 people. Also, meeting planners want larger rooms; they don't want a divided ballroom. It used to be 700 to 800 square feet that was in demand. Now it's 1,200 to 1,500 square feet. It's a big trend," she says.
EMCVenues represents around 125 conference centers, up from 60 a year ago. About 80 percent of them are IACC-certified, almost all are independently managed, and all provide high-speed Internet service.
One member, the Emory Conference Center Hotel, with 23,000 square feet of conference space at Emory University, located eight miles from downtown Atlanta, is planning a remodeling and expansion project. The project will include increasing the number of guest rooms from 305 to 400 and building two additional meeting rooms, each approximately 1,500 square feet.
Karen Pendleton, Emory's director of sales and marketing, says there's a demand for the additional space.
"At one time planners would take 700 square feet of flat space for 25 people and now they want 1,000 square feet; it's a buyer's market," she says. "There's also a trend to interactive meetings. We have two amphitheaters, but there is less demand for them," she says.
"More innovative learning environments are surfacing that allow communication in a more free-form, stimulating setting," says Rich Cimilluca, director of sales and marketing at Benchmark's 171-room North Maple Inn at Basking Ridge, N.J.
"We see a demand. The question is how to design such an environment," he says. "With high expectations, it's all about staying ahead. We thought we were ahead of the game when we wired with T1 Internet access. Now we've just added wireless to the entire building and courtyards."
North Maple Inn, which, together with Dolce International's IBM Palisades Executive Conference Center in Palisades, N.Y., hosted an IACC best practices study tour in December, offers 20,000 square feet of conference space.
"We're constantly looking at how people are learning and including changes during renovations," says Mike Fahner, vice president, development and marketing, at ARAMARK Harrison Lodging.
He cites the 211-room Babson Executive Conference Center at Babson College in Wellesley, Mass. High-tech features, including one room with a pre-programmed robotic camera, were added during a 2002 expansion.
Wrap It Up
A hallmark of IACC properties is the required CMP (Complete Meeting Package), which includes lodging (except for day centers), three meals, continuous refreshment breaks, 24-hour meeting room access, and basic audiovisual equipment, including a computer and video display in the main meeting room.
EMCVenues, which provides a free one-stop shopping service for planners, has expanded on the CMP concept. (In addition to Emory, both the Omaha Doubletree and Estancia La Jolla are members). Its properties add CMP items such as an LCD projector in the main meeting room; name tags and table tents on request; shipping, handling and receiving; and vouchers for off-property dine-arounds.
"What we're hearing from planners is, 'Make my life easier.' They want inclusive packages. They ask, 'How much will my meeting cost?'" says Wallace, who believes the next step in packaging will be transportation.
Emory has already started providing the option of including transportation in its CMP, such as airport and off-site golf transfers.
"We've had good feedback. I'm a big believer in bundling; it means better service," says Emory's Pendleton. "With nine IACC properties in the Atlanta area, it is one way we can differentiate our product."
Last fall, North Maple Inn also made a move that, according to Cimilluca, "has been positively accepted and differentiates us."
The property launched an executive meeting package. An optional add-on to its standard CMP, the new package includes a range of extras, from dining and accommodation upgrades to the use of a high-resolution LCD and a golf putting machine included in the refreshment area.
New Developments
Benchmark's Farina sees growth in public-private ventures designed to IACC standards.
"Many secondary cities that are not appropriate for convention centers are looking at conference centers," he says.
The company's 202-room Chattanoogan Hotel and Conference Center in Chattanooga, Tenn., opened in 2001 and was funded with city revenue bonds.
New properties opening this year include the 265-room Hotel Contessa on San Antonio's Riverwalk. It will also be managed by Benchmark and will offer 13,500 square feet of conference space. Also, as part of a $45 million expansion and renovation, Benchmark's Lansdowne Resort near Washington, D.C., in northern Virginia will open a second golf course designed by Greg Norman in July.
Ancillary centers, too, will continue to crop up. Last fall, Thayer Lodging Group bought four Wyndham-brand hotels: Wyndham Peachtree Hotel & Conference Center in Peachtree, Ga.; Wyndham Colorado Springs; Wyndham Lisle/Naperville in Illinois; and Wyndham Miami Airport.
The Peachtree, the only IACC-certified Wyndham-brand property, will undergo a $10 million renovation this year. The other three will undergo renovations that will include the construction of new IACC-certified conference facilities.
Undoubtedly, they will be called executive meeting centers. Thayer was the first to use the EMC designation in 1996 at the Doubletree Hotel and Executive Meeting Center in Somerset, N.J., which it owns.
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