Cooling off in the Atlantic Ocean at Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa.

Year after year, decade after decade, Florida ranks as one of the most prized meeting destinations in the U.S., especially during the winter. The Sunshine State offers a vast array of options, with a list of singular and unique individual destinations that offer something for every taste, from fashionable Palm Beach and fabled Amelia Island, to the world-renowned beaches of Sandestin, the sprawling metropolitan chic of Tampa/St. Petersburg, and the international appeal of red-hot Miami.

Amelia Island

When Houston-based commercial real estate firm Transwestern was looking for an upscale East Coast destination for its 225-attendee annual executive leadership meeting, which had been held on the West Coast for several years, Kim Croley, executive vice president, national marketing and communications, chose Amelia Island, near Jacksonville in the northeast corridor of the Sunshine State.

As her hotel for the April event, Croley selected the 1,350-acre, 404-room Omni Amelia Island Plantation Resort, which features a long list of recreational amenities including a spa, tennis courts and three Audubon International Certified Sanctuary golf courses.

“I have literally seen every major hotel in Florida that is big enough for us, from Miami to Jacksonville,” Croley says. “But for a number of reasons, we have very specific criteria when we’re looking at sites. Our decisions depend on a lot of different factors. For example, we like to have a good golf course onsite. We like to have a fairly good sized spa. We also take up a lot of ballroom space. And we like to have a plethora of recreational activities onsite. So when you take all of those things into account, our options are actually pretty limited.”

“We like to have a good golf course onsite. We like to have a fairly good sized spa. We also take up a lot of ballroom space. And we like to have a plethora of recreational activities onsite.” — Kim Croley

Recreational activities are very important to this particular meeting because “we have an entire afternoon of recreation,” Croley says. “And we typically offer five or six options that people can choose from, whether that’s playing in our golf tournament, or a spa experience, fishing or kayaking. All 225 of our attendees choose something to be a part of. And when you’re a group that large, you have to have a diverse list of things you can do on-property.”

The recreational component of the company’s most important meeting is an element of Transwestern’s corporate culture, Croley says, and the leadership meeting is considered critical to their overall success. “And we always bill it as including relaxation, networking and recognition,” Croley says.

Popular activities at Omni, in addition to the golf course, included a Segway tour of the vast resort. “The resort is large, so they give you a training lesson on the Segway and then they take you on a guided tour of the grounds of the property,” Croley says.

Another highlight was saltwater kayaking through the adjacent marshland.

Golf was a big hit. The company staged a shotgun tournament for about 95 people on the afternoon of the second day, during the same time other attendees enjoyed different recreational activities.

Other highlights of the meeting included an opening night reception that transitioned into an awards banquet.

The reception included heavy hors d’oeuvres with an open bar that featured high-end wines. “This particular group is a bunch of foodies and wine connoisseurs,” Croley says, “so excellent food and wine are very important to them. They want the best of the best.”

The sit-down dinner that followed was held in the hotel’s newest ballroom, completed as part of an extensive renovation when Omni took control of the property. Awards were given out to top-producing brokers, as well as a property manager of the year.

Croley also has high praise for the Omni Amelia Island’s 80,000 sf of meeting space. “The new conference center space they built is just phenomenal,” she says.

She also applauded the hotel’s F&B service. “It was one of the highlights of Omni Amelia Island for us,” she says. “ I would give it a five out of five.”

Sandestin

The resort community of Sandestin — located on Florida’s northwest coast along the Gulf of Mexico and hailed for some of the best beaches in the world — is revered among meeting planners who use it.

Jeff Williams, buyer for Gadsden, Alabama-based Dairy­man’s Supply, a distributor of building materials in the Southeast, has been hosting one or two meetings every year for the last eight years at the AAA Four Diamond, 602-room Hilton Sandestin Beach Golf Resort & Spa, which features 32,000 sf of recently renovated meeting space.

Williams plans meetings that each draw about 140 vendors and customers. The serious business element of the meetings takes place in a single four-hour session that includes exhibits in two ballrooms of products and supplies from 10–15 vendors represented by Dairyman’s Supply.

The rest of the four-day, three-night event, held last year in April and August, is intended for leisure and networking.

Given that purpose, Hilton Sandestin is an ideal venue, Williams says. “The area there is great. The beaches are great. And the Hilton Sandestin has just about unlimited entertainment including dining, tennis, golf. Once you arrive, you never really have to leave the property. Everything you could want is right there.”

In particular, the first and last days of the meeting are dedicated to recreation and relaxation.

Most attendees bring spouses, and many couples bring children. Dairyman’s Supply is a family-friendly company and that corporate culture extends to its meetings.

“On those first and last days, we really want people to get out and enjoy themselves and take advantage of what’s there,” Williams says. “We don’t want to make them be in meetings all day. Then the first night, we have a nice dinner with our vendors and customers.”

One reason why Williams and his attendees like Hilton Sandestin so much is that it offers a number of excellent dining options onsite: the AAA Four Diamond Seagar’s Prime Steaks & Seafood, Hadashi Sushi Bar and Barefoot’s Beachside Bar & Restaurant.

“The restaurants are wonderful,” Williams says. And because there are multiple options, for a group his size that means a dine-around can be done on-property.

“The F&B service there is just great,” Williams says. “The whole package, in terms of what they offer, is just seamless and excellent. And that includes their catering and their meeting space.”

Popular activities for attendees, and especially wives, include shopping at the nearby Silver Sands Premium Outlets mall, which features a roster of top fashion designers.

Despite the perennial popularity of the famous outlet mall, however, it is the beaches that are the star of the show. “The beaches there, to me, are the most beautiful beaches in Florida,” Williams says. “And the beach amenities at the Hilton Sandestin, like their beach restaurant and bar, are right there. And they have nice cabanas.”

Dairyman’s Supply also provides daily activities for children.

Nearby offsite venues such as Grayton Beach and Baytown Wharf, which offer dining and entertainment, are also popular with many attendees, particularly on opening night, when small groups of vendors and customers get together.

A big part of Williams’ long-running success with Hilton Sandestin, Williams says, is John Lovett, his on-property event planner for the past five years. “He has done an outstanding job every year, for us and for Hilton. The service we get is one of the main reasons we keep going back.”

Tampa/St. Petersburg

Located on the central west coast of Florida on the Gulf of Mexico, the Tampa/St. Petersburg metropolis is yet another of the state’s highly prized but not so well known meeting destinations.

St. Petersburg, located about 20 minutes from Tampa, features excellent beaches and a laidback ambience.

Kim Paszek, executive assistant to the president at TW Metals Inc. in Exton, Pennsylvania, chose the Tampa area — and St. Petersburg in particular — for the company’s four-day, three-night, 125-attendee global sales meeting last January. Attendees included senior executives and outside account managers from the U.S., as well as international attendees from China, United Kingdom, France, Poland, India and Brazil.

Paszek submitted RFPs to several Florida destinations, and the primary reasons for the selection of Tampa/St. Petersburg were value proposition and airlift, she says. “It was convenient for all of our attendees to get to Tampa, even those coming in from around the world.”

For her hotel, Paszek chose the AAA Four Diamond, 277-room Loews Don CeSar Hotel St. Pete Beach, which features 22,000 sf of newly renovated meeting space and 16,000 sf of premium outdoor event space, as well as Spa Oceana, and 24-hour fitness and business centers. Its flagship restaurant, Maritana Grille, was voted one of the top 10 seafood restaurants in the U.S. by Gayote Guide.

The decision to choose the hotel was instantaneous when she went on a site visit, Paszek says.

“As soon as I walked in the door, I knew it was the right property for the meeting. I knew it was the one I wanted. I have a great relationship with the Loews brand because they really are a relationship-based brand. But I didn’t know about the Loews Don CeSar. I had called my Loews rep and I said I wasn’t finding what I wanted in Florida, so she put me in touch with the property. And that was it. Once I saw the property, we were all set.”

During her meeting, Paszek received exemplary service.

“For me as a planner — and I stressed this to them beforehand — if something is not working, I want to know that before my people know that,” she says. “And they were very, very good at our room setups, because they knew they were going to be difficult, based on what we needed and wanted. But I was able to go in and talk about it and get things resolved before anyone was even on the floor. The level of communication with the service staff was just outstanding.”

She also gives strong reviews to Loews Don CeSar’s F&B service. “We do full, hot breakfast buffets, lunch and dinner onsite,” she says. “And everything was very smooth and on time. The setups were also great. They do a beautiful presentation with food and beverage. And they do everything a little differently with each meal just to step up the experience. And again, the service was right on point for every meal.”

A highlight of the meeting was an opening night reception in a ballroom located on the first floor. “It’s a totally unique room,” Paszek says. “It’s just spectacular. Our attendees loved it.” And the flow of the room, she adds, was important because networking is vitally important to this meeting.

Attendees also gave the destination and hotel rave reviews in Paszek’s post-meeting survey. “Everyone was very positive,” she says. “They loved the area and they loved the property.”

Palm Beach County

Last year, when West Caldwell, New Jersey-based Ricoh Americas Corporation was looking for a new destination for its annual three-day leadership meeting, which draws 175 attendees from the company’s chairman down to its top executives, Dayle Russell, senior manager, corporate events, opted for Palm Beach County.

Russell and her management were drawn to Palm Beach County because it’s a classic upscale Florida beach destination. “People recognize (the Palm Beaches) as a nice destination for a meeting,” Russell says. “ It’s also a great location for a meeting at that time of year.”

Because many of Ricoh’s executive attendees cherish their time on the golf course as part of the meeting, Russell selected the AAA Four Diamond PGA National Resort & Spa in Palm Beach Gardens. The resort features 39,000 sf of conference space and five golf courses including The Champion course, home to the PGA Tour’s annual Honda Classic.

The meeting kicked off with a round of golf, followed that evening with a buffet dinner at the outdoor Honda Pavilion venue. “The Honda Pavilion is a beautiful venue,” Russell said. “And the food was excellent. I can’t count all the people who came up to me and said, ‘That was a wonderful dinner.’ It was just a great way to get people mingling and talking with each other. It got the meeting off to a great start to a pretty intense business meeting.”

The next day consisted of intensive meeting sessions.

“Then that night, we did a dine-around,” Russell says. “And there are a number of great restaurants close to the hotel. The hotel also has some wonderful restaurants, but when you’re sitting in a meeting all day, it’s nice to get out and experience some other places.”

Russell used Boca Raton-based destination management company Ancomp to select Café Chardonnay, Carmine’s LaTrattoria, III Forks, Seasons 52, Spoto’s Oyster Bar, and Vic and Angelo’s as her area restaurants — and gave them all rave reviews.

She and her attendees also gave high marks to PGA National, which has completed a four-year, $100 million renovation.

“People loved PGA National,” Russell says. “The feedback I got from the leadership team was that we should absolutely consider coming back next year for the leadership. And we’re actually going back for a different meeting in October.”

Attendees were impressed by how smoothly the meeting went, Russell says. “And that means everything from the food and beverage to the setup and use of the meeting space. The service level was wonderful. And it wasn’t just the banquet staff that gave us great service. It was everybody, from the bell staff to housekeeping and shipping.”

She also singles out her sales manager, Robin Prakash, for praise. “I’ve been planning meetings for a long time,” she says. “And in all the years I’ve been doing this, he was one of the best sales managers I have ever dealt with. And he’s part of the reason we’re going back. I just can’t say enough about PGA. For me as a planner and for all of our attendees, you just go in there and you feel very comfortable. Everyone is very nice and the service level is just wonderful. And based on all that, it’s definitely a property that is now on our radar as one of our favorites for our meetings.”

Miami

Laurie Mayson, customer relations and communications specialist at Birmingham, Alabama-based Integrated Medical Systems (IMS), a medical instrument and repair company, plans a series of eight seminars held throughout the year for 35–40 decision-makers from hospitals.

By definition, the meeting requires a high-end resort property. And each year, all eight of the meetings take place at the same hotel, from January through November.

For the past several years, IMS had used a property in Fort Lauderdale.

This year, however, Mayson moved them to the 408-room Turnberry Isle Miami, a member of Marriott’s Autograph Collection. Turnberry Isle features more than 40,000 sf of meeting space, including a 12,080-sf Grand Ballroom. The Magnolia Courtyard is a 4,000-sf Mediterranean-style outdoor terrace that overlooks the famous 18th hole on Turnberry’s Raymond Floyd-designed golf course. The resort property also features a Bourbon Steak restaurant from celebrity chef Michael Mina and a Cascata Grill, which serves sophisticated Mediterranean fare.

Mayson and the other members of IMS’ site selection team visited Turnberry Isle last year. “We were immediately sold on the property and the staff,” she says.

A key factor in the decision was Turnberry’s range of meeting facilities and related amenities.

“We were looking for a resort-type venue,” Mayson says. “And one of the key selling points for us is that there are so many things to do on the property.”

Rest and relaxation for attendees is a key component of the meeting. “These are hospital employees that are in high-stress jobs,” Mayson says. “All they do is work, work, work. So this meeting is sort of their vacation. And Turnberry Isle is a place where in their free time they can play golf, or go to a great fitness center, or take a shuttle to Aventura Mall across the street.” The hotel offers free shuttle service to the world-famous Aventura Mall every 30 minutes. Turnberry also offers free shuttle service to their private beach club on the ocean, about 10 minutes away.

“The other selling point for us was the property itself,” Mayson says. “It’s just beautiful.” They also liked the fact that it is located away from the mayhem of South Beach and bustling downtown Miami. “You just forget about all of that while you’re there,” Mayson says. “It is a very quiet, peaceful and relaxing resort with spacious, inviting and comfortable hotel rooms. It feels like home away from home. The meeting room accommodations, the professional staff and the friendly hospitality are the reasons we continue to return to the Turnberry.” Mayson also singled out Turnberry for its well-known standard of service. “They go out of their way to make sure we are happy,” she says. “ They follow up really well with their customer surveys asking me how things went. And I always give them good reviews.”

New & Noteworthy

Central Florida’s Streamsong Resort, home to two golf courses, has announced plans to build a third course — Streamsong Black. Set to open in autumn 2017, the course will be designed by Gil Hanse, architect of The Olympic Golf Course in Rio de Janeiro and co-designer of Castle Stuart Golf Links in Scotland, among others.

Streamsong Black will be built directly southeast of the two existing courses, Streamsong Red and Streamsong Blue — designed by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw and Renaissance Golf Design (Tom Doak), respectively. With the addition of Streamsong Black, the resort will become the only location in the world where guests can enjoy three distinct courses designed by these four legendary architects.

The resort plans to add a second practice facility, clubhouse and restaurant to serve guests playing Streamsong Black.

In addition to world-class golf, Streamsong features a 216-room Lodge, with three casual and fine dining restaurants, conference and event facilities, a spa and infinity pool.

New events, attractions, meeting venues and hotel renovations in Jacksonville include renovations at the Crowne Plaza Jacksonville Riverfront, which will become a DoubleTree Hilton by August 2015; an 88-room TownPlace Suites by Marriott will be located next to a Hampton Inn & Suites; a Courtyard by Marriott is set to open late 2016 in downtown Jacksonville; and renovations have been completed on the new DoubleTree Hilton at the Jacksonville International Airport.

New meeting venues and renovations: The new Jessie Ball DuPont Center (formerly the Haydon Burns Library) in downtown Jacksonville is expected to open in June 2015 as a nonprofit hub. After a $21 million renovation, the building will house a conference center, a lecture hall, 12 meeting rooms, reception spaces, a catering kitchen and more, including plans for a green roof garden that will be available for special events.

George Aguel, president and CEO of Visit Orlando reports that they “expect that last year’s record demand for hotel rooms and near record occupancy of almost 74 percent pushed TDT (tourist development tax) for the full calendar year over $200 million for the first time in Orlando history. We haven’t seen this level of occupancy since 1996, when the Cowboys beat the Steelers in Super Bowl XXX.” Convention business is coming back strong. In 2014, Visit Orlando booked more than $2 billion in future conventions.

Hyatt Regency Orlando boasts new offerings including a new seafood-focused restaurant, spa treatments catering to the business traveler, and a new kosher kitchen offering specialized menus for meetings and conventions.

The Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Hotel, located in Orlando between Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios, is in the midst of the largest makeover in its history. The hotel launched a multiphase, multiyear, $125 million redesign project that will transform every guest room in the 758-room Swan Hotel and the 1,509-room Dolphin Hotel. The entire rooms project is scheduled for completion by the end of 2017. The transformation will occur without disruption of service as the majority of guest rooms will be available throughout the process. The hotel’s public spaces, restaurants, meeting rooms, shops, pools and recreational areas will not be impacted and remain fully operational throughout the renovation.

The Ocean Reef Club in Key Largo announced plans to begin construction on new meeting and function space, which is scheduled to open early February 2016. This new meeting space will feature a state-of-the-art 5,500-sf ballroom; five breakout rooms, all with natural light; a 3,000-sf interactive cooking school; and wraparound outdoor decks with breathtaking views of the marina. Total meeting facilities will then measure just under 30,000 sf of flexible indoor and outdoor space.

The focal point of the new complex will be the interactive cooking school, which will give groups an opportunity to add a new twist to their meeting agenda. Attendees will don chefs’ hats and coats and join in on the fun of learning how to cook a fresh Florida lobster or what “Farm to Table” really means.

Palm Beach’s luxurious Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa recently partnered with Jonathan Adler to completely redesign all 309 guest rooms, which feature new exclusive furnishings designed by Adler.

Inspired by its namesake spa, Eau Palm Beach Resort and Spa is situated on a private beach along the Atlantic coast. The 42,000-sf Eau Spa was just awarded five stars by Forbes Travel Guide, and is one of fewer than 50 spas around the world to earn the prestigious five-star rating. With more than 30,000 sf of meeting and event space, the resort accommodates groups from 10 to 1,000 and offers a wide variety of indoor and outdoor venues for private events.

The re-designed Sundial Beach Resort, recently named the “Best Full-Service Resort” on Sanibel and Captiva Islands invested more than $6 million in refreshed amenities. The resort features the new Resort Centre, which is the largest meeting venue on Sanibel Island. Boasting 12,000 sf of flexible space, the center accommodates up to 300 guests and features unique outdoor event space with water views. Newly renovated meeting facilities include nine separate event rooms all with expansive gulf views, a full business center and AV capabilities. Wireless Internet is available throughout all meeting rooms.

Sundial Beach Resort’s three brand new restaurants each offer their own unique culinary style and menus. Waterview provides ample space with floor-to-ceiling windows offering unbeatable views, and the Sea Breeze Café has a spacious bar, live music and an outside terrace.

Scheduled to open in spring 2016, The Henderson, a beachfront resort hotel in Destin, Florida, will be managed by Sheila C. Johnson’s Salamander Hotels & Resorts.

The 171 guest rooms and suites will include stylish furnishings, yet remain authentic to the local cultural surroundings. Larger than typical luxury resort guest rooms, they will feature custom furnishings, luxurious bedding, elegant bathrooms, and balconies or terraces.

The Henderson will feature 10,000 sf of indoor event space, including a dedicated meeting wing, a 5,400-sf ballroom, a junior ballroom, private boardrooms and nearly 30,000 sf of outdoor group options, including oceanfront function locations. C&IT