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HOTEL HAPPENINGS & PROGRAM PROMOTIONS – LATE JANUARY 2020

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Atrium at The Biltmore in Coral Gables, FL

HOT DEALS!

Associated Luxury International Hotels has rolled out a plethora of incentives for booking their properties across the United States. Rather than outline all the assets of each property, here’s a fast rundown of some of the options. The Biltmore in Coral Gables, FL just completed a $35 million restoration. Book a 2020 meeting and select three incentives, which includes everything from a one-hour beer and wine reception to 15% room block attrition. Promotion applicable to groups of at least 25 rooms per night. Book the Meritage Resort & Spa in NapaValley, CA by Mar. 31 through Dec. 31 and receive one complimentary upgrade per 25 rooms, as well as other incentives such as a 30% site fee reduction on the Estate Wine Cave, Vintner’s Room, Vineyard Deck and Vintner’s Rooftop or perhaps a complimentary spa treatment per 10 treatments booked. Offer valid for programs with 30+ room on peak.

www.alhi.com

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HOTEL HAPPENINGS & PROGRAM PROMOTIONS – JANUARY, 2020

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manatees

Ever swim with a manatee? Have you even watched them from a heated boat as they lazily swim in waters ranging from 72-74 degrees? Now’s your chance to see the sea cows up close and personal with River Ventures in Homosassa, FL. Multiple packages available. Use promo code E N E W S 1 0.

https://riverventures.rezdy.com

Ski and shop in Squaw Valley, CA.

I don’t ski. Way too clumsy and going up on a mountain atop a slim set of boards is riskier than when I thought I was a roller skater extraordinaire and slid the length of an elongated hill in my neighborhood, painfully removing most of the skin on my bared legs. However, I do recognize there are many of you far more agile and coordinated than me, so maybe you’ll be excited to know that Alpine Meadows/Squaw Valley (CA) has lift ticket packages ready. The company in charge says more than double the amount of snow from last year has already fallen, so the excitement has mounted (get my sly sense of pun-ish humor there?). There are multiple packages, so explore those options on your own.

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HOTEL HAPPENINGS & PROGRAM PROMOTIONS – NOVEMBER 2019

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Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows

HOT DEALS!

Time is running out to book The Village at Squaw Valley Lodging (Olympic Village, CA) winter sale and save 25% for stays from Jan. 6 – May 31, based on availability and only for Sun-Thursday and non-holiday stays. The majority of room have private balconies, fireplaces and kitchens. Standard rooms do not have those amenities.

(800) 403-0206

The Winter Escape Package being offered by Caribe Royale Orlando isn’t the luxury resorts only promotional package being offered. There’s one for Florida and Georgia residents and if you hurry, there’s a Fall program Read more

HOTEL HAPPENINGS & PROGRAM PROMOTIONS – OCTOBER 2019

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HOT DEALS!

Hyatt Regency Coconut Point Resort

This may be the gift that keeps on giving, all the way through December 31, 2022. Bring your meeting to The Beaches of Fort Myers & Sanibel and receive a $3 room rebate per actualized room up to $5,000. The Islands Incentive program created by the Lee County Visitor & Convention Bureau includes any new bookings that occur from May 1 to December 31 each year through 2022. To qualify, planners must book a meeting with a minimum of 150 room nights at one of these 14 properties. In Fort Myers: Crowne Plaza Fort Myers at Bell Tower Shops, Holiday Inn Fort Myers Airport at Town Center, Sanibel Harbour Marriott Resort & Spa, Drury Inn & Suites, and Luminary Hotel & Co., Autograph Collection (opening in 2020). On Fort Myers Beach: DiamondHead Beach Resort and Pink Shell Beach Resort & Marina. South Seas Island Resort and ‘Tween Waters Inn Island Resort are both on Captiva Island. The others include Embassy Suites Hotel, Estero; Gasparilla Inn & Club, Boca Grande; Hyatt Regency Coconut Point Resort and Spa, Bonita Springs; The Westin Cape Coral Resort at Marina Village, Cape Coral; and Sundial Beach Resort & Spa, Sanibel Island. The offer applies to meeting groups who may be considering other destinations besides Lee County. Read more

Part 6: ALPINE ADVENTURES EXCEED EXPECTATIONS – MUNICH, GERMANY

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IMG_9605 Russ really lost his head over this accordianist!

Russ really lost his head over this accordionist!

In Part 5: Mozart brought music to the world, The Sound of Music rang in our heads, and the Eagle’s Nest reminded us of the destruction that greed, hatred, and supreme power can enable.

Munich is the capital of Bavaria. There are roughly one-and-a-half million people living in the city, who proudly have their own nationalistic dialect, and think of themselves as from München Bavaria, not Germany. Munich is known for its beer, Oktoberfest celebrations, museums, and international companies like the headquarters of BMW.

Where we stayed:

Eurostars Book Hotel must have been designed for people like me: readers and/or writers whose imaginations propel their lives. From the first moment we stepped inside Read more

Part 5: ALPINE ADVENTURES EXCEED EXPECTATIONS – SALZBURG, AUSTRIA and BERCHTESGADEN, GERMANY

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IMG_9413 This is the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born here.

In Part 4: Neither the Prince of Liechtenstein or Heidi was around so instead we visited a mountain in Innsbruck and a centuries-old museum of Tyrolean farms.

SALZBURG, AUSTRIA

Where we stayed:

Imlauer Hotel Pitter Salzburg has been owned by the Pitter family since 2007. The hotel was renovated in 2014. It has a beer cellar and Imlauer Sky – Bar & Restaurant rooftop restaurant. The buffet was diverse and carries many regional dishes. Staff was friendly and professional.

What we saw:

One of my grandfathers was from Salzburg (which means salt fortress), so I was Read more

Part 4: ALPINE ADVENTURES EXCEED EXPECTATIONS – LIECHTENSTEIN and AUSTRIA

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Vineyard near Heidiland (Maienfeld) in Switzerland.

MAIENFELD, SWITZERLAND (OR HEIDILAND TO DEVOTEES!)

In Part 3: A toe dip into Stresa, Italy and a relaxing cruise around Lugano, Switzerland that explored many ancient and diverse communities.

Before leaving Switzerland behind and crossing into Vaduz, the capital of Liechtenstein, we stopped in the border town of Maienfeld, Switzerland. For such a small area, Majenfeld holds two great distinctions of world import.

It’s the birthplace of Heidi, a story written in 1881 by Johanna Spyri.  The story may have been a work of fiction, but try telling that to the international tourists who flock here to visit a theme park-like area called Heidiland to see Read more

Part 3: ALPINE ADVENTURES EXCEED EXPECTATIONS – STRESA, ITALY and SWISS COMMUNITIES OF LUGANO, BELLIZONA, ASCONA, MARCOTE and GANDRIA

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Driving through the Simplon Pass connecting Italy and Switzerland.

In Part 2: A relaxing boat ride and two cogwheel trains later, we’d risen over 10,000 feet to gape at the Matterhorn.

We took a toe dip into Italy before re-entering Switzerland, where we would be staying in Lugano for a few days. I say a toe dip because we left the mountains briefly for Stresa, Italy, an internationally acclaimed resort town snuggled up to Lake Maggiore, and because similar to a toe dip, we weren’t invested in full immersion.

Before arriving in Stresa, we took a roadside pause on the Simplon Pass, where Napoleon had constructed a road Read more

Part 2: ALPINE ADVENTURES EXCEED EXPECTATIONS – ZERMATT

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View on our ferry ride to Andermatt.

In Part 1: Trains, boats, a fierce storm atop Mount Pilatus… and this was just the beginning of the tour!

On our way to a boat ride that was part of the day’s transportation to Zermatt, the alpine city from which many mountaineers venture to tackle the Matterhorn, we bussed through the small village of Vegas, where once Russian composer Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff lived. The gentle one-hour 45-minute minute journey on Lake Lucerne aboard the Flüelen ferry began in Vitznau, which also has the oldest cogwheel train still running. Lake Read more

Part 1: ALPINE ADVENTURES EXCEED EXPECTATIONS – LUCERNE

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The scenic natural beauty of Switzerland.

It was the trains that did it.

The idea of trains snaking slowly up to mountain peaks 7,000 feet or higher along ancient cogwheel tracks exhilarated my any-excuse-to-take-a-train husband, Russ. My stomach roiled pondering multiple train rides chugging along steep inclines, thinking about how I got nervous even holding onto the railing on the Empire State Building’s upper floor and tried looking down. He buttered me up about taking the Odysseys Unlimited Alpine Splendor tour by painting a picture of the scenic beauty we’d encounter in five countries: Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Liechtenstein, and Germany. By then, I remembered we’ve climbed glaciers and volcanos, ridden cable cars up 5,000 feet, and never once did I pass out in fright. My fears morphed into anticipation.

Ride along with me on this soaring Alpine Adventure which concluded with an extension trip to Read more