HOT DEALS!

Just looking for a getaway and a peek into the history of innovative giants Thomas Edison and Henry Ford? Come to Fort Myers, FL and take advantage of this offer from Luminary Hotel & Co. for their Edison and Ford Estates & Museum Package. This package includes accommodations in a King Room, two self-guided tickets to explore the Edison and Ford Winter Estates, valet parking and one breakfast for two in Ella Maes Diner. The legendary innovators and their families spent winters in Florida. Explore a 15,000-sf museum showcasing their inventions. This includes the fully restored botanical laboratory where Edison, Ford, and Harvey Firestone worked side by side. Enter Promo Code: ARN

https://www.luminaryhotel.com.

Inn on Fifth & Club Level Suites, a luxurious AAA Four-Diamond, Forbes Four-Star boutique hotel in downtown Naples, FL says their Weekday Wanderlust package provides $50 hotel credit, waived resort fees, complimentary valet parking, and compliment use of beach chairs and private golf cart transportation to/from the beach, five blocks away. Weekdays only and there is a minimum two-night stay. Readers of Travel + Leisure magazine voted it No. 14 among the “15 Favorite Resort in Florida of 2023”.

(239) 403-8777 or click here to book online.

Book 100+ peak rooms for stays through December 2023 at Luminary Hotel & Co. (Fort Myers, FL) and receive a complimentary one-hour reception and the choice of triple Marriott Bonvoy points or a $2.50 rebate to master.* *Conditions may apply.

https://www.luminaryhotel.com

Book a meeting by July 31 with Vail Resorts collection of unique mountain resorts and receive great rewards including discounted resort fees, attrition up to 20%, and more!

https://www.snow.com/info/meetings-and-events.aspx; groups@vailresorts.com

You have plenty of time to book the Wyndham Grand Clearwater Beach for your group and still be able to take advantage of benefits offered. Book your new meeting by December 31, 2023 and actualize by December 31, 2024 to receive benefits such as 5% off all Master account charges, reduced resort fee to $20. per group room, or a complimentary basic WiFi up to 3 mbps in the meeting space. The more rooms booked, the more benefits accessible. The hotel has 343 guest rooms, 22,000 sf of meeting space, and the area’s largest ballroom.

https://www.wyndhamgrandclearwater.com/meetings?; (727) 281-9500

I don’t pretend to know who books private villas for personal or executive group use, nor do I know which aspect of the many offered by

would appeal to you, but the variety of homes available during the late December holiday period is wide-ranging, from urban to in the midst of a rainforest. Check them out for yourself.

www.journeycostarica.com; +1-619-819-5111.

Bowling anyone? If you’re in the Orlando, FL area this summer and have an urge to bowl with friends, family, or teammates, Boardwalk Bowl has daily promotions. Mondays are 50% off for hospitality members. Sundays have a family package price. Daily food, game, and arcade offers.

www.boardwalkbowlfun.com; (407) 384-0003

Christmas in July kicks off promotional discount packages for booking rooms and/or ICE! at any of the five Gaylord Hotels. Save up to 25% off Christmas packages and room nights and up to 30% off ICE! tickets. Gaylord Opryland (Nashville, TN) has The Polar Express Christmas November 10, 2023 – January 1, 2024. Gaylord Texan (Grapevine, TX) has Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, November 10 – December 31, 2023. A Charlie Brown Christmas is at Gaylord Palms (Kissimmee, FL): November 17, 2023 – January 3, 2024. Gaylord Rockies (Aurora, CO) features A Christmas Story from November 17, 2023 – January 1, 2024. Gaylord National (National Harbor, MD) showcases Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer from November 19 – December 31, 2023. More than 2 million pounds of ice transform into colorful, larger-than-life, story-driven holiday showplaces featuring characters and scenes from beloved Christmas classics.
www.ChristmasatGaylordHotels.com or go the individual hotels’ sites.

Summer is arriving and with it comes special promotional prices, such as this package by Mystic Country, CT’s Mohegan Sun. The resort has 275K sf of meeting space, 1,600 guest rooms, 40 restaurants, and 16 private dining rooms under the roof of a 5.5-million sf of space. free parking, free high-speed Wi-Fi, and coffee for just $51 a gallon. Book a mid-week group of at least 50 rooms for a stay from June through September and receive complimentary opening night reception with open bar & hors d’oeuvres, one suite upgrade per 20 rooms booked, and 10% off in-house AV equipment (but not labor).

https://meetings.mohegansun.com/

Book the Garden Villa in Winter Park, FL any day of the week in June, July, or August for only $1,000. (New clients only.) The Garden Villa at Florida Federation of Garden Clubs features a banquet hall, chef-presented food, spectacular gardens, professional planners onsite, and a relaxing ambiance. 125-person max. Weddings and corporate events.

Events@TheGardenVilla.com; (407) 745-5718

Visit Florida hotel/resort members have many promotional packages available. You can see the whole list here: https://www.orlandomeeting.com/plan/meeting-offers/?utm_term=Learn%20More&utm_campaign=TEST-Orlando%20is%20the%20%5Cu201CNatural%5Cu201D%20Choice%20for%20Meetings&utm_conten.

Through September 30, Visit Plano (TX) has a FREE and limited-time foodie pass! Accumulate points for checking-in at participating restaurants and redeeming coupons. Points can be cashed in for prizes. Once you check-in to 20 restaurants, you are automatically entered into the “Fit for a Foodie” sweepstakes, which includes a Chef’s Table Dinner Experience, amazing hotel stays, and up to $500 in restaurant gift cards!

www.visitplano.com/tasteofplano to register.

NEW AND COMING SOON!

Say au revoir to the Jubilee Tower at Horseshoe Las Vegas and bonjour to the Versailles Tower at Paris Las Vegas. Caesars Entertainment is investing more than a $100 million to renovate the Jubilee Tower at Horseshoe Las Vegas and integrate it into Paris Las Vegas with a new name, Versailles Tower. The renovation will introduce 756 redesigned luxury guestrooms and a pedestrian bridge connecting the Versailles Tower to the existing Paris resort. Caesars Entertainment offers more than 23,000 rooms across Las Vegas, and this renovated tower will showcase some of the largest standard rooms on The Strip, at 436 sf. In addition, select guestrooms will offer new 55-square-foot balconies with unmatched views of The Strip as part of the renovation. The enhanced rooms in the Versailles Tower at Paris Las Vegas are slated for completion in late 2023 with the pedestrian bridge to follow in early 2024.

https://www.caesars.com/meetings/

The addition of an & between “Seafood” and “Grille” is no small change when it signifies a menu evolution at Wyndham Grand Orlando Resort Bonnet Creek’s award-winning deep blu Seafood & Grille.  The restaurant’s reputation for fresh seafood creations is joined by specialties such as Burrata & Toy Box Tomatoes salad; Lamb Ragu, Seafood Fra Diavolo, Grilled Ribeye with Bordelaise, and seasonally inspired desserts like Spiced Chocolate Cake and Guava Panna Cotta.  are just a few of the new additions. The restaurant is under the direction of Executive Chef Cecil Rodriguez, who has spent the past two decades in the restaurant industry.

www.deepbluOrlando.com.

Station Casinos expects to open its newest hotel and Las Vegas casino by late 2023. The Durango Casino & Resort will have 83,000 sf of casino space and over 200 guest rooms and suites. There will be four signature F&B outlets as well as a food hall. There will be 20,000 sf of meeting and convention space and 40 electric vehicle charging stations.

https://www.stationcasinos.com/meetings/; (888) 319-4661

Bring on the bar foods. Guy Fieri’s Flavortown Sports Kitchen has opened in Horseshoe Las Vegas. Check out dishes such as The Crispy Cheese, a burger patty sitting on a crispy cheese skirt, with super melty cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion and pickles, and served with his Donkey Sauce and a garlic butter toasted brioche bun branded with the official Flavortown logo. The Quesa-Birria Mexican “pizza” is a cheese-crusted quesadilla served with braised beef, pico de gallo, crumbled cotija cheese, cilantro, and lime crema with a side of birria consomé. The Sports Kitchen seats up 279 throughout the 6,540 sf. It has 30 TVs, including a 32-foot video wall, and a decorative wall made of reclaimed wood flooring from a basketball court.

www.caesars.com/horseshoe-las-vegas/restaurants/guy-fieris-flavortown-sports-kitchen

I wouldn’t typically write about the addition of bike tours, except the Electric Dirt Bike Tours being offered by Moab Adventure Center (Moab, UT) are the only e-dirt bike tours in the entire state of Utah and the first for the outdoor tour company. “The e-bike trend is quite impressive,” says Brandon Lake, co-owner and CMO of the Moab Adventure Center. ”Industry forecasters predict a leap from $37.47 billion in market size in 2022 to $119.72 billion by 2030, according to Fortune Business Insights. (https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/electric-e-bike-market-102022). Moab Adventure Center offers top-of-the-line SUR-RON (https://sur-ronusa.com/)  electric dirt bikes. These bikes are silent, have up to a 30-mile range, and are perfect for riding trails like the popular Shaffer Trail that parallels the Colorado River. Moab’s e-bike tours are led from March through October. Moab Adventure Center is a division of Western River Expeditions (http://www.westernriver.com/) an adventure travel company headquartered in Salt Lake City.

http://www.moabadventurecenter.com/; (435) 259-7019 or (866) 904-1163.

Eventeny has a deal for subscribers. Understanding that creating an accurate event map within hours can be challenging for many individuals, so they are granting free access to the company’s hassle-free mapping feature for 14 days. The Georgia-based company indicates that you will be able to design maps easily, assign single or multiple booth spaces with a few clicks, and guide attendees around the event with sharable scalable maps.

Tell Molly@eventeny.com you read it here.

SUMMER ROAD TRIP STILL DOABLE, BUT TO WHERE?

Personal finance software company WalletHub has published the results of their 2023’s Best & Worst States for Summer Road Trips survey. The company compared the 50 U.S. states based on 32 key metrics. The data set ranges from the number of attractions to road conditions to costs. The top five states are Texas, New York, North Carolina, Ohio and Idaho. The five “worst” are Montana, Hawaii, Connecticut, Delaware, and Rhode Island. California may not have scored in the top five overall but does have the highest number of scenic byways (66), which is 22x higher than Connecticut and Delaware. Mississippi has the lowest daily price for camping while Oklahoma charges the least for a 3-star hotel. Nancy G McGehee, Professor, Virginia Tech; Co-editor, Journal of Travel Research, recommends that to save money, “Look for ‘the road less traveled’: it is likely to be another record-breaking summer for travel so finding places that are not in demand is key. Small mountain towns, quaint seaside villages, and other off-the-beaten-path spots could result in lower costs.” She also said, “Rolling into a Mom-and-Pop cottage or locally owned retro motel and asking for a deal if there is availability can sometimes save you a lot! Of course, camping is always a good value if you have the right equipment. Shopping at grocery stores for dinner instead of restaurants can also save a lot! A cooler in the car and a kitchenette in your accommodation is a great return on investment. Check at local tourism/visitor centers for free or inexpensive attractions. They often have package deals as well.” With airlines busy and more expensive, road trips are on the rise. “The highways will be busy, so think about when you drive and when you want to stop for the day. Again, regional travel and local tourism has become more attractive, and communities are excited to have tourists visit,” said Robert M. O’Halloran, Ph.D., Professor; Director, School of Hospitality Leadership, East Carolina University.
https://wallethub.com/edu/best-worst-states-for-summer-road-trips/4648
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 International Live Events Association, Meeting Professionals International and the Society of Professional Journalists. She is now serving on the 2022-2023 MPI Independent and Small Business Owners Advisory Board. 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. Karen@KarenKuzsel.com;   www.karenkuzsel.com; www.ThePsychicLady.com; @karenkuzsel; @thepsychiclady.