HOTEL HAPPENINGS & PROGRAM PROMOTIONS – MARCH 2019

Eiffel Tower Lights shine across the sky on the Las Vegas, NV Strip.

WHAT’S OLD IS NEW AGAIN

It’s amazing how the new light show at Paris Las Vegas can illuminate even the neon-drenched Nevada skyline and add more than a little sparkle to a 541-foot gem originally erected on the Las Vegas Strip in 1999. Inspired by the Eiffel Tower’s illuminations in France, the $1.7 million light show will offer a free, recurring show featuring synchronized and choreographed twinkling and colored lights for visitors to enjoy nightly on The Strip. In partnership with Vision Sign Inc., Paris Las Vegas installed approximately 300 color washing light fixtures and more than 800 white strobe lights on the tower’s exterior. Guests can enjoy the nightly light show every 30 minutes on the hour and half hour from sunset to midnight. By May, the hotel’s renovation of their 1,600 rooms and new 140,000 sf of meeting space will be completed. The Paris Conference Center, modeled after the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles, includes the 85,204-sf pillar-less Paris Ballroom, which can host up to 8,000 guests. The 22,000-sf Chateau Nightclub & Rooftop is primo for viewing the Eiffel Tower and the light show.

www.caesars.com/meetings/locations/las-vegas/paris-las-vegas

Naples Grande Beach has completed a multimillion dollar renovation.

HOT DEALS!

Think of this as a celebration for which you, the leisure group or business meeting planner receives the gift. The Naples Grande Beach Resort (Naples, FL) completed a multi-million-dollar renovation and re-design to its meeting space and your gift for the celebration are a variety of perks if you book your 2019-2020 meeting by June 30, 2019. The beachside resort offers wellness programming, luxury spa, three pools, and 83,000+ sf of flexible indoor/outdoor function space. Besides room rates starting from $139, perks can include 50% off daily resort fee, one complimentary room per 40 rooms booked and used, and a $50 resort credit per stay to the individual guest folio.

www. ALHI.com/NaplesGrande

Sign a contract by March 31 for a minimum of 50 rooms on peak for meetings through December 31, 2019 and you can earn added concessions at San Diego, CA’s only beachfront hotel. Hotel del Coronado has 757 guest rooms, 52 meeting rooms, 65,000 sf meeting space and sits on 28 acres of oceanfront. Property code: SANQQ
salesleads@hoteldel.com; (619) 522-8011
There are 29 hotel chains within the Marriott collection. Many of them are participating in a special promotion. Book a meeting by June 30 and stay by December 31, 2020 and receive double points.

www.hotel-events.marriott.com/double-points/

Hotel ICON in Hong Kong

I must say this is the first time I have ever heard of a complimentary one-way private chauffeur ride from an airport as an incentive to book a hotel, and yet it is precisely the offer from Hotel ICON, an upscale Hong Kong hotel in the heart of Tsim Sha Tsui East. There is a catch, of course. The offer is only available for Suite or Club room bookings, and valid for bookings made directly with Hotel ICON on its website or other direct channels. To sweeten the deal, the hotel administration speculates the ride from Hong Kong International Airport will be in a chauffeured Tesla Model S. Multiple bookings on consecutive nights will only be entitled with one arrival transfer. Book the Suite or Club directly and get a 20% discount on the departure airport transfer by Tesla. (Original price HK$800)

www.hotel-icon.com;  (852) 3400 1688; events@hotel-icon.com

WHO HAS THE BEST FREQUENT FLYER PROGRAM?

WalletHub is a personal finance website that uses a variety of metrics to assess the “best of” products or social events (such as where people vacation). Their survey results may be of direct benefit to you, which is why I’m telling you about their report on 2019’s Best Frequent Flyer Program. They ranked the 10 largest domestic airlines based on 23 key metrics, ranging from the value of a point/mile to blackout dates for rewards flights. For the fourth consecutive year, Delta SkyMiles has the best frequent flyer program. WalletHub says the average airline rewards program gives frequent flyers up to 12% off their airline spending, while three of the 10 are offering more rewards in 2019 than they did in 2018. Who has the best rewards value? That would be Hawaiian Airlines, at $21.29 per $100 spent, followed by Alaska Airlines with $18.12 per $100 spent. Delta and JetBlue Airways are the only two of the 10 whose miles don’t expire due to inactivity. And how should you pay for your miles to reap the biggest advantage? The Barclaycard Arrival Plus and the Lufthansa Credit Card are 2019’s best airline credit cards.
www.wallethub.com/edu/best-frequent-flyer-program/25943/

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 2019 – 2020 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.