HOTEL HAPPENINGS & PROGRAM PROMOTIONS – APRIL 2018

CSR TOUCHES YOUNG LIVES IN PROFOUND MEASURE
April is World Autism Month. In honor of the month, LEGOLAND^® Florida Resort, which already offers entertainment for children with a wide range of physical and cognitive disabilities, as well as food allergies and other dietary restrictions, has their carousel alight in blue. The theme park’s Guide for Guests with Disabilitie, available in printable PDF form, lists ride-by-ride safety requirements, including LEGOLAND Water Park, and outlines the accessibility features of on-site accommodations for overnight stays. The PDF Dietary Guide lists dining locations serving gluten-, dairy-, soy-, egg- and peanut-free items, as well as the availability of vegetarian and vegan items. Free park maps available throughout the resort have a “Time to Eat” guide to what’s served where. Maps are available in English, Spanish and Portuguese. All dining locations, including restaurants and outdoor carts, have binders with ingredients of every menu item. A no-cost “Blue Hero Pass” is offered specifically for guests on the autism spectrum and allows the guest’s entire group expedited access through the Hero Pass entrance of popular attractions. For guests with mobility challenges or using wheelchairs, the no-cost “Hero Pass” allows a LEGOLAND guest and one helper expedited access to popular theme park attractions. Meanwhile, the rest of the guest’s party will receive a reservation to return together at the designated time. There are designated “quiet rooms” where quests on the autism spectrum and their families can take a break. Noise-cancelling headphones, weighted blankets, squishy toys and LEGO^® building tables are some of the complimentary resources available. A similar space also is available within Guest Services at LEGOLAND Water Park. There are many other features that showcase what LEGOLAND does to serve an audience that doesn’t always receive positive attention.
www.legoland.com
HOT DEALS!
Summer is fast approaching. With cruises becoming one of the fastest-growing vacation industries, it’s never too soon to book your travel to exotic global destinations. Seabourn is offering a host of incentives for you to make one of their luxury cruise ships your portal to international travel. Book a cruise (not including airline) by June 12, 2018 for select 2018 and 2019 departures and you can receive these possibilities: complimentary two veranda suite or ocean view category upgrade; up to $500 USD shipboard credit per suite; up to $500 USD air credit per person; and 50% reduced deposit. Book a penthouse or premium suite and receive up to $1000 USD shipboard credit.
www.seabourn.com
Meeting Planners: earn 5,000 extra bonus points on each event you book through May 31 at any of the 4,400 participating hotels worldwide with the Hilton Honors Event Planner Program. Earn an additional 10,000 bonus points when your event includes at least 30 rooms as long as your event is completed by January 31, 2019.
www.HiltonHonors.com/terms

Save up to 35% off select international Meliá resorts and hotels when you book by December 31, 2018. Prices and rewards vary by the property, but here are a few examples. At the all-inclusive Meliá Nassau Beach, two kids stay free and parents earn $400 in reward credits. The Paradisus Palma Real offers $1000 USD in resort credit, one child is free, and you get up to 20,000 MeliáRewards points. ME Cabo will give you $150 USD in resort credits.
www. Meliá.com

DAYTONA BEACH HOTEL ROCKS IT HARD
Bikers, race car fans and college students on Spring Break. They each bring their own vibe to Daytona Beach, FL. Now you can add rock and rollers to the mix with the opening of Hard Rock Hotel Daytona Beach, a 200-room property fronting the Atlantic shoreline and which enables its guests to make music right from their room with complimentary use of Fender guitars and Crosley record players. As one might expect, the amenities are Rock-themed. There’s a full-service Rock Spa® and Salon, a Rock Shop® and a Body Rock® Fitness Center. The hotel has 20,000 sf of indoor and outdoor meeting space to host up to 590, including a versatile ballroom terrace. The fourth Hard Rock Hotel in Florida has a mid-century modern design. Each oceanfront room has a private balcony, while city-view rooms have floor-to-ceiling windows. All overnight guests receive free Wi- Fi, use of two beach chairs and umbrella, and complimentary self-parking.
www.HRHDaytonaBeach.com

ART MUSEUM OR PARKING GARAGE? YOU DECIDE.
There isn’t anything else like this in the Miami Design District. Sure, there are plenty of galleries and wall murals, but nothing remotely resembles the Museum Garage, a seven-story mixed-use structure featuring the work of five world-class architects and oh-by-the-way, sheltering ground floor retail spaces and up to 800 vehicles. Miami (FL) Design District developer and CEO of Dacra, Craig Robins, along with L Catterton Real Estate commissioned architect and curator Terence Riley to develop the concept of this project. In doing so, Riley curated the work of various participating international architects: WORKac, J. Mayer H., Clavel Arquitectos, Nicolas Buffe and Riley’s own architectural firm K/R (Keenen/Riley). Riley drew inspiration from the surrealist parlor game, Exquisite Corpse. Cadavre Exquis, as the game is known in French, involves a collection of images assembled by various artists with no regard or knowledge of what the other artists have drawn, producing one image whose components don’t necessarily match, but flow together as one playful composition. Each participating architect was assigned an area and depth to build out, and given free rein to create fully individual designs. Each of the five façades will have custom lighting designed by the London-based firm of Speirs + Major, assuring that the Museum Garage has a compelling presence at night as well as during the day. The five façades are the public face of the seven-story cast concrete parking structure designed and engineered by the Miami office of Tim Haahs. Infrastructures. Whether this is “your type of art” or not, you won’t be able to bypass this venue without at least stopping to gawk or snap a selfie.
www.miamidesigndistrict.net/;  /MiamiDesignDistrict; @miamidesigndistrict;  @designdistrict
BEST AND WORST AIRLINES
You’d have to have your head buried in the sand or be living off the grid not to be aware of all the animal deaths of late on airlines. Non-first class frequent flyers have likely noticed seat and leg space has narrowed, snacks have devolved to sometimes to items even a local convenience store would be embarrassed to carry, and finding new ways to stuff more into carry-ons lest your luggage doesn’t arrive when you do has become a necessary challenge. Just in time for the travel season ramping up for summer vacations, WalletHub has released its report on 2018’s Best & Worst Airlines, a survey that follows up on the company’s recent Best Frequent Flyer Programs findings (published in my Hotel Happenings & Program Promotions January 2018 blog). WalletHub has quantified things like delays, baggage issues, animal incidents, passenger complaints etc among the nine largest U.S. airlines, plus two regional carriers, In total, 13 categories were examined. They did consider costs in relation to in-flight amenities for the sake of fairness. For example, airlines with cheap tickets wouldn’t be penalized for charging for drinks. You can see all the details for yourself at. https://wallethub.com/edu/best-airlines/20916/, but here are some of the highlights. Best Overall is Alaska Airlines earned the highest overall WalletHub Score (74.18) for the second year in a row, followed by Delta Air Lines (72.57). Compare that to Spirit Airlines, which only scored 53.08. Delta Airlines scored for Most Reliable with the lowest overall rate of cancelations, delays, mishandled luggage and denied boardings. Last year that honor went to Alaska Airlines, followed closely by Hawaiian Airlines. Least Pet-Friendly goes to United and American had the highest incident rates. For Most Comfortable,  JetBlue’s complimentary Wi-Fi, extra legroom, and complimentary snacks and beverages wins but if you are looking for most improved in comfort, check out Hawaiian Airlines.
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 2017 – 2018 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.