Typecasting
Hotel, resort, conference center: Which one fits your profile?
By Monica Compton
Selecting the proper venue for your meeting can be a daunting task. While some meetings can be flexible to any type of property, others have specific requirements that only certain venues can provide. Location and accessibility can be the first barometers for narrowing down your choices. If your agenda is tight and there is little time to transfer attendees, an airport property or traditional hotel in a metropolitan area would work best. If your program allows for little leisure time, a conference center can provide the best focus for your educational agenda. Meetings that include off-site excursions might work best for a resort property. Tailoring your request for proposal to your program’s needs will further define the type of property that will give you the greatest success.
Traditional hotels
Often located in city centers or close to airports, traditional hotels are usually the most accessible to mass transit and provide the shortest commute for your attendees. Because they are often located in the heart of a metropolitan area, they allow your delegates to experience the destination and provide a myriad of off-site activity and group dining options.
“Traditional hotels often provide a true-life glimpse into the unique character of a destination,” says Steven Spivak, director of sales and marketing for the new Loews Atlanta Hotel. “Many traditional hotels are woven into the fiber of the great cities in which they operate, providing luxurious accommodations and amenities within walking distance of renowned museums and theatres, world-class shopping, and a wealth of dining options.”
While traditional hotels offer this direct access to activities and off-site functions, they are still focused on the meeting’s needs, providing flexible function space, complete audiovisual packaging and all the technology support you need to make your program run smoothly. And, while resort properties offer expanded off-site activities and leisure appeal, and conference centers provide a focused environment for the meeting, the traditional hotel can meet both needs.
“With a traditional hotel, you get the best of both worlds and more — a flexible workspace for any type of function, access to recreational activities at the hotel or the surrounding area, and the opportunity to be within the heart of a downtown area,” says Jeff Webster with Charleston Place Hotel in Charleston, S.C. While many planners feel a resort is better suited for incentive meetings, traditional hotels can offer the same team-building and group activities that a resort can offer.
“We’ve been able to flip the mindset that you need to be based at a resort to enjoy the recreational activities of a destination,” Webster says. “The fact is that a golf outing, fishing excursion or other function makes up a very small portion of a meeting/conference agenda.”
When creating a request for proposal for a traditional hotel, Webster says it is important to communicate your specific needs beyond availability, rates and space requirements.
“It’s important for clients to outline any special needs upfront,” Webster says. “If a group is interested in a structured meeting with learning as the focus, we can provide that. Conversely, if there is a client that wants a healthier balance of meeting and free time, we can create a unique itinerary that will meet those needs.”
Since location is key to booking a traditional hotel, make sure your request for proposal asks how far the property is from the airport and the commute time from nearby cities. Include the off-site attractions you are considering, and ask for the driving and walking distance from the hotel. “Traditional hotels are all about versatility and taking care of the customer’s specific and individual needs, thus allowing them to readily accommodate any type of meeting,” Spivak says. “Be it an intensive seminar, an intimate board meeting or an elaborate incentive trip, a traditional hotel in the perfect location truly has something for everyone.”
Conference Centers
Specializing in small- to medium-sized meetings, conference centers are often located in suburban areas and evolved from the need for distraction-free meeting and learning environments. The conference center meeting room is dedicated to meetings and only meetings. Rather than standard banquet chairs and tables, conference center furniture is ergonomically designed to be comfortable all day long. Tables have clean, hard surfaces to make writing easier as opposed to plywood banquet tables covered with linen that perform multiple duties at a traditional hotel or resort. Conference rooms are also soundproof to decrease distractions and maintain privacy of the meeting’s content.
“A conference center has a pure meeting focus, which means it is not trying to be all things to all people,” says Karen Pendleton, director of sales and marketing for Wyndham Peachtree Conference Center in Peachtree City, Ga.
The International Association of Conference Centers (IACC) certifies conference centers according to their ability to meet a set of standards including: a minimum of 60 percent of meeting space is dedicated, single-purpose conference space; 60 percent of the meeting rooms must have ergonomically-designed chairs; lighting and climate levels must be controlled from within the meeting room; conference rooms must have acoustical privacy; and standard audiovisual services and support must be available on site. The IACC segments conference centers into five types: Executive conference centers are designed to cater to executive-level meetings; resort conference centers must have at least one major amenity such as a golf course or ski area adjacent to the property; educational conference centers are located in a college or university and lease their facilities to private corporations; nonresidential centers are completely equipped for meetings, but do not offer sleeping rooms or leisure activities; and ancillary conference centers are part of a large hospitality complex such as a floor or a wing of a traditional hotel.
The Woodlands Resort and Conference Center in Houston, Texas, is an example of a property that provides a dedicated meeting environment as well as resort activities. Tory Enriquez, director of sales and marketing for The Woodlands Resort and Conference Center suggests that planners search for IACC-approved facilities. 
“These facilities must follow the current practices and criteria of the conference center industry,” Enriquez says. “Dedicated meeting space separates living and leisure areas from conference rooms for a more private meeting environment.” Conference centers typically offer the Complete Meeting Package, which provides a per person price for hotel accommodations, meals, meeting space and audiovisual services. The package pricing allows planners to know their complete costs upfront and reduces the amount of banquet event orders planners need to review and confirm. Because food and beverage breaks are continuous, agenda timing can be flexible.
“The simplicity of planning at a conference center is key to the overworked planner and also to the novice planner,” Wyndam’s Pendleton says. “[There is] no nickel and diming.” Pendleton corrects the misconception that conference centers are not as strong in their food and beverage offerings as traditional hotels and resorts. She says breaks are actually more plentiful and complete than a la carte menus, and producing top-notch cuisine is a goal for all conference centers. The Wyndham Peachtree Conference Center’s chef was awarded the IACC Copper Skillet Competition National Championship title and placed third in the International Competition.
“His cuisine features farm to table menus as he purchases as much as possible from the local growers,” Pendleton says. “Our chef emphasizes healthy living with signage noting the best food for energy, brain foods, and foods to improve muscle and growth.” When creating a request for proposal that includes both conference centers and traditional hotels, it is important to compare all pricing elements and equate the difference between the conference center’s CMP plan and the hotel’s total a la carte items. “Too many planners stop their comparison at room rate and end up spending much more when all the food and beverage and audiovisual comes into play,” Pendleton says. “Make an apples to apples comparison by comparing all elements of the meeting you will need.”
Resorts
Unique to their destination, resort properties are usually located outside of city centers, providing a full gamut of leisure activities and amenities. Ideal for incentives and corporate retreats, resorts can offer a choice of sleeping room accommodations, from traditional hotel rooms to two- and three-bedroom villas or condominiums. Many resorts add a fee on top of the sleeping room rate that provides access to leisure activities, from the pool to the exercise room. Others include complimentary activities as part of the rate. 
“Our complimentary amenities and free activities include bicycle rentals, tennis court time, the fitness center, and canoe and kayak rentals,” says Lela Coker, marketing and public relations for Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort in Destin, Fla. “This helps occupy free time without costing the group or attendee.”
Perhaps the greatest benefit of a resort is the outdoor space that can be booked for private functions, group dinners and team-building events. By the nature of their location, resorts often offer limited access and exclusive entrances for their guests. This creates an intimate, “VIP feel” for each and every attendee.
“A resort can be located on a beach, mountain or golf course [giving] a unique sense of place,” says Eric Kuester, director, national accounts for North Carolina’s Pinehurst. “Incorporating the indigenous surroundings to your outdoor function space can tap into the senses of an attendee and create a memorable event.”
Although resorts are best known for attracting incentive events or meetings that require a leisure component, these properties have fully-equipped meeting space that can accommodate any type of program. On-site audiovisual and conference services support is available and flexible function space can accommodate everything from a 15-person board meeting to a sit-down dinner for 1,000 people.
“Traditionally, incentive-based events have been a great profile for resort properties because of the reward component,” Kuester says. “But we see a range in meeting DNA: small executive leadership retreats and mid-size regional sales meetings to large-scale national forums.” When creating a request for proposal for a resort property, request dates that are outside of peak season to get the best rates. If your event leans more heavily towards the leisure component, try to negotiate the resort fee by adding or subtracting amenities depending on your group’s use of resort facilities.
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