Hotel Space Not Necessarily Competitors

If a hotel has the largest amount of dedicated meeting and exhibit space available in its area, the sales staff might find attracting groups easy. But with more than 2 million square feet of prime exhibit space at Orlando's Orange County Convention Center also nearby, how do hotels in the area compete?

“We don't,” said David Adelson, director of sales and marketing for The Peabody Orlando, just steps away from the convention center. “We partner.”

Juan Garcia, director of sales and marketing for the soon-to-open Hilton Orlando Convention Center, agreed. Garcia said the Hilton, which will be the first hotel physically linked to the OCCC, would work in tandem with the center after the hotel opens in summer 2009.

That isn't to say the hotels don't sell their own meeting and convention space. They just do it in a way that complements the OCCC's offerings, instead of pitting themselves against it.

“People buy hotels differently than they buy the convention center,” Garcia said. “Some of them may want a different food experience, and some of them may want a little more of an intimate experience than what the Orange County Convention Center has and offers.”

Garcia said the Hilton property currently had contracts with seven groups and was working with 37 others that need space for exhibits ranging from 40 to 250 8'x10' booths.

Because of new construction booming around the convention center and the sudden availability of hotel rooms in the area, the outlook for attracting business to Orlando is looking up.

The need for upscale and additional hotel rooms near the convention center has been on show attendees' minds for years, according to Gwen Wilson, public relations manager for the OCCC. “I think that's probably one of our biggest complaints from attendees,” she added.

She also said shows also use function space in surrounding hotels for educational sessions and other events, and some of the hotels in the area run out of space.

The Peabody Orlando had planned an expansion for several years before everything finally fell into place. Only in the past few months did crews finally break ground on a new hotel tower with 750 additional guest rooms, which will bring the total to 1,641. The expansion will add 145,000 sq. ft. of function space, for a total of 202,000 sq. ft. It's slated to open in winter 2010 or spring 2011.

Adelson said the expansion would “give us the ability not only to supplement (the OCCC's) shows, but open a new market for this hotel.”

Ninety percent of the Peabody's business involves group sales, and most of that is corporate and association groups. He added, “Those are the two segments that we probably end up doing our business alongside.”

But the new space will give the four-star, four-diamond property the ability “to keep up with the ever-changing group markets,” Adelson said, plus have the added bonus of being the only hotel in Orlando with those ratings attached to the convention center when the expansion opens.

Like the Hilton, the new Peabody function space will be connected to the North/South building of the OCCC, and Adelson said hotel officials were discussing building a pedestrian bridge over International Drive, which separates the hotel from the West Building, to connect to that.

Hotels near the convention center aren't the only ones that have function space and encourage groups to hold their events in Orlando.

Rosen Shingle Creek, which opened in 2006 less than four miles from the OCCC, will host the American Assn. of Aerosol Research Conference, scheduled Oct. 20-24 at the resort property.

“We selected Rosen Shingle Creek because the property was able to offer self-contained meeting space and a very competitive sleeping-room rate for a three-year eastern (U.S.) rotation for the years 2008, 2011 and 2014,” said Ann Mitchell, show manager at AAAR Conference with Mount Laurel, N.J.-based Assn. Headquarters, an association management company.

“Historically, the American Assn. for Aerosol Research has selected a hotel for its annual conferences, although they are outgrowing hotel venues as the conferences grow both from an attendee and exhibitor standpoint,” she added. In 2010, the conference is scheduled for the first time at a convention center, the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, Ore.

“To date, it has been a matter of pure economics,” Mitchell said. “The reasonably small size of this conference compared to some has allowed AAAR to utilize a hotel setting rather than a center.”

The show takes up about 25,000 sq. ft. for a showfloor with about 30 booths and 225 double-sided poster boards, Mitchell said. Plus, AAAR needs a general session room to accommodate 800 attendees with a stage and audiovisual capability, six breakout rooms for sessions and auxiliary rooms.

“As much of a challenge as all of this space is the fact that AAAR's conference is five days in duration,” Mitchell said. “With set-up time taken into consideration, many hotels will not commit either the space or the length of time for an annual conference which does not have excessive food and beverage revenue.”

She added hotels and convention centers both have pros and cons, but an annual conference the size of AAAR is better suited to a hotel.

“For the most part, hotels usually offer a one-stop-shopping experience,” Mitchell said. “This saves a planner a significant amount of time.”

For planners looking for a venue a little closer to a main Orlando attraction, Disney World surrounds the Bonnet Creek Resort, which includes The Waldorf=Astoria Orlando, the first one to be built outside of New York City, and the Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek, plus function space linking the two.

But don't get the idea that you'll have to see a lot of the park if you don't want to.

“We like to say that the only thing you can see from Disney is the fireworks,” said Michael Hicks, spokesman for the resort. “We know we're convenient to Disney, and our location speaks for itself.”

So far, Hicks said, the Hilton will do about 70 percent of its total business with groups, more than The Waldorf=Astoria. He estimated The Waldorf=Astoria will have about 50 percent group business, including national associations and corporate groups.

One of those groups is the Louisville, Ky.-based Assn. for Communications Technology Professionals in Higher Education, formerly the Assn. for College & University Telecommunication Administrators, which booked the Hilton Bonnet Creek for the ACUTA 40th Annual Conference & Exhibition, scheduled May 1-5, 2011.

“We were excited about the prospect of a new hotel in the area,” said Lisa Thornton, ACUTA meetings manager. “The Hilton and The Waldorf=Astoria are connected by shared meeting space, which means the total meeting space square footage is quite large.”

The show will use a ballroom for exhibits, another for general sessions and meals, and sections of ballrooms and smaller meeting rooms for other educational sessions and events, she added.

Like AAAR, ACUTA prefers hotel space rather than convention center space for financial reasons and convenience of attendees.

“Although there is a somewhat limited pool of hotels that can accommodate our meeting and exhibit space needs, we are committed to staying in hotel space as long as it is feasible,” Thornton said. “We view our exhibits as an integral component of our conference and want the hall physically located as close to all of our other events as possible.”