HOTEL HAPPENINGS & PROGRAM PROMOTIONS – OCTOBER 2017

HOSPITALITY GROUPS STEP UP THEIR CHARITABLE GIVING AFTER NUMEROUS NATURAL DISASTERS

Here’s a unique way of aiding victims of the devastating earthquakes in Mexico while also enriching your personal knowledge of the country’s rich cultural history. Book the last two places available on Journey Mexico’s Escorted Group Day of the Dead Tour in Oaxaca and the travel company will donate 50% of the $4,377 trip fee (per person) to relief efforts in the Isthmus. The 14-member tour group trip is set for October 28 to November 4.
www.journeymexico.com
LEGOLAND^® Florida Resort is donating 18,000 theme park tickets to the UNICEF Kid Power Schools program and 2,000 tickets to Citrus Center Boys & Girls Clubs in Winter Haven, Haines City and Lake Wales.  “As a resort built for kids, we felt compelled to do something special for Florida’s children after Hurricane Irma, which left so many households facing months of recovery,” said Rex Jackson, general manager of LEGOLAND Florida Resort. “While we can’t turn the power back on for those families, we can put smiles on their faces.” In conjunction with Merlin’s Magic Wand, the global charity of LEGOLAND parent company Merlin Entertainments, the total donation is valued at more than $1.8 million. It represents the largest ticket giveaway in the Winter Haven resort’s nearly six-year history and is intended to brighten the lives of the storm-battered state’s youngest residents. The UNICEF Kid Power Schools Program, is a teacher-led experience that incorporates lessons and activities with the world’s first Wearable-for-Good^®. More than 80 percent of students reached with the UNICEF Kid Power program in Florida are eligible for free or reduced lunch. LEGOLAND Florida Resort features more than 50 rides, shows and attractions inspired by popular LEGO^® and DUPLO^® brands, as well as a water park and on-site accommodations.
www.LEGOLAND.com/florida
HOT DEALS!
No need to freeze when Brocket Hall thaws out its corporate event rates for new business booking from October 1 through March 31, 2018. The 18^th century English estate in London has three venues with six meeting rooms, professional butler service, and a team of chefs to service meetings and events. When set up theatre-style, the Library can accommodate 50, the Boardroom 150, and Dining Room, 70.

events@brocket-hall.co.uk; 01707 368728
Confess. How many cups of coffee do you drink during the course of your conference? At least with Hilton Sandestin Beach Golf Resort & Spa’s new “Beach Break” promotion, neither you nor your group will have to ponder paying for the next cup of joe. Book your next meeting in South Walton, Florida’s largest full-service beachfront resort hotel on Northwest Florida’s Gulf Coast to occur between January 1 and March 31, and your group may earn a complimentary coffee break overlooking the beach.  With the Beach Break, attendees will enjoy a 30-minute coffee break on an outdoor deck overlooking the Gulf of Mexico, with freshly brewed Community Coffee, herbal and regular teas, and whole, fresh seasonal fruit with a choice of assorted granola and power bars or freshly baked cookies and brownies. Hilton Sandestin Beach can accommodate 2,000+ with the resort’s 40,000 sft of flexible, indoor meeting space and 20,000 sf of outdoor event space. Meeting planners must book a minimum 50 nights and minimum of $3.500 in F&B by December 31 and used by March 31, 2018 to qualify.
http://www.hiltonsandestinbeach.com/beach-break; (877) 705-6641

COMING SOON TO A CITY NEAR YOU!
AccorHotels has five new hotels opening by the end of 2017. Fairmont Austin will directly connect to the Austin Convention Center when it opens by late fall of 2017.  The 37-story luxury hotel will have nearly 140,000 sf of total meeting space, 1,048 guest rooms and suites with picturesque vistas of Lady Bird Lake and the Texas State Capitol. October 1 was the projected opening date for a four-hotel complex in Seoul, Korea. The hotels are Grand Mercure, Novotel, Novotel Suites and ibis Styles in the heart of the Seoul Dragon City, overlooking Yongsan. The four-hotels total 1,700 rooms, 11 bars and restaurants, 17 meeting rooms, and two ballrooms.
www.fairmont.com/austin/meetings-weddings/meetings; www.accorhotels.com;
PROPERTIES DRESS UP FOR THEIR CLOSE UPS
The DoubleTree Resort by Hilton, Myrtle Beach Oceanfront has completed a refresh of its 8,700-sf Exhibit Hall and redesigned its 35,000 sf of indoor meeting space with hues reflective of its coastal setting. The Exhibit Hall fits 48, 8×10 booths or 33, 10×10 booths. New paint, upgraded lighting, increased number of power outlets, and being directly tied to the property’s three oceanfront ballrooms via the lower level of the three-story meeting complex makes the space user-friendly.  Divisible into 19 meeting or breakout rooms, this meeting complex offer flexible space for up to 1,000 guests, while the outdoor areas add an additional 50,000 sf of function space for both lawn and deck activities. The refurbished indoor meeting space now dazzles with indigos and sand dollar whites, natural stone, modern lighting and seaside accents www.myrtlebeachresort.doubletreebyhilton.com; (800) 770-7198

The historic Century Plaza Hotel, located in the heart of Century City in Los Angeles, CA is getting both a facelift and a new name. When the $2.5 billion mixed-use development reopens in 2018 it will be called Fairmont Century Plaza. There will be 394 guestrooms and 63 branded residences within the original iconic building, along with two new 46-story luxury residential towers with 290 luxury residences, and approximately 100,000 sf of boutique high-street shopping and expanded parking facilities.
Two other Fairmont properties are also receiving massive renovations. The Fairmont Empress on Vancouver Island have returned the Queen to its architectural heritage. The Fairmont Empress has more than 23,000 sf of meeting space and over 96,000 sf when combined with the adjacent Victoria Conference Centre. The meeting facilities received a makeover and are equipped with state of the art audio-visual equipment and modern facilities. Guestrooms have been updated. Q at the Empress is a new restaurant and bar. In Montreal, Canada, the multi-million-dollar transformation of the Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth hotel has reinvented its business spaces enabling versatile open-plan layouts. 35,000 sf of convention space has been added to the existing 85,000 sf, making it the second-largest capacity of its kind in Montreal.
www.fairmont.com
Karen Kuzsel is a writer-editor based in the Orlando area who specializes in the hospitality, entertainment, meetings & events industries. She is an active member of ILEA and MPI and is now serving on the 2016 – 2017 MPI Global Advisory Board for The Meeting Professional Magazine for the second consecutive year. Karen writes about food & wine, spas, destinations, venues, meetings & events. A career journalist, she has owned magazines, written for newspapers, trade publications, radio and TV. As her alter-ego, Natasha, The Psychic Lady, she is a featured entertainer for corporate and social events. karenkuzsel@earthlink.net; www.ThePsychicLady.com; @karenkuzsel; @thepsychiclady.