California's Reinvention

In Hollywood, reinvention is the name of the game. And, much like the film industry for which it is famous, California has been in a state of transformation in the past year — all in the hopes of not just meeting, but exceeding, the needs of future meetings groups. It shows. From state-of-the-art convention facilities and open-space meeting venues to exquisite hotel properties and unique teambuilding activities, there’s plenty to discover in the Golden State. Here’s just a brief overview of what you’ll find.

Few cities in the country have invested as much as Long Beach has to prepare itself for the future of meetings. 

In December 2012, Long Beach Airport debuted the results of its $140-million renovation and modernization, giving it a resort-like feel with the addition of a brand-new, 35,000-square-foot passenger concourse. The new concourse is partially powered by solar energy, and offers travelers free Wi-Fi, a peaceful atrium and garden, and upgraded concessions like Food Marché, a wine bar complete with outdoor fire pits and heat lamps. A new parking structure, renovated terminal, and revamped air carrier ramp were also included in the updates.  

The city is also modernizing its main convention spaces — the Long Beach Arena and the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center (LBC&EC). This fall, construction of a brand-new “loft-style” ballroom at the arena is expected to be complete, adding another 45,000 square feet of event space for up to 5,500 people, and doubling the arena’s current capacity. The Pacific Ballroom will also feature a state-of-the-art, $1.6-million LED, stage lighting, and sound system. 

At the convention center, a new style-driven special event space and lounge called Bogart & Co recently opened, giving meeting attendees a place to refresh themselves and socialize during conferences, with a bar, lobby-style seating with leather chairs, customized LED-lit walls, and upgraded restrooms. It’s just one of many renovations and additions to the LBC&EC that are a part of a $35-million repositioning that aims to make it a more inviting and open-space-style convention center. Part of that strategy, which was implemented in 2010, includes adding mini meeting spots and networking pods, more lounges, free Wi-Fi access, and a re-landscaped Terrace Theatre Plaza with a new palm tree garden.

Like Long Beach, San Jose is similarly focused on the future. For one thing, this Silicon Valley capital is definitely wired for the future: In March, it launched free outdoor public Wi-Fi within its downtown core through a public-private partnership with SmartWAVE Technologies and Ruckus Wireless. This is not just any Wi-Fi, either. The Wickedly Fast Wi-Fi operates at speeds that are three to four times faster than conventional and existing public Wi-Fi networks in the U.S.

San Jose is also making major improvements to its convention facilities, investing $120 million to expand and renovate the San Jose McEnery Convention Center, which first opened in 1989 and currently has 425,000 square feet of space. With the expansion slated for completion in September, it will soon have an additional 125,000 square feet of meeting and function space, including a new Grand Ballroom, more flexible breakout spaces, more outdoor event space, and upgraded technology. One highlight will be the new lobby lounge, to be known as The Hub, which is being converted into an inviting breakout space for networking. The center remains fully operational during the renovation project.

Last fall, the city also celebrated the re-opening of its historic landmark, the San Jose Civic, following a $15-million renovation. A theater venue originally built in 1936, it has hosted performers such as the Grateful Dead, Frank Sinatra, and The Rolling Stones.

In order to help planners better understand all that San Jose offers to meetings groups, Team San Jose launched a new 3-D interactive web platform in February. The site, SanJoseMeetings.com, offers virtual tours of the downtown district, Mineta San Jose International Airport, Santana Row, and various hotels. Planners can also navigate the convention center virtually and view various meeting setup options.

The city of Anaheim, home of the Disneyland Resort, is also updating itself to offer more diverse experiences to meeting groups. In January, the Anaheim Convention Center (ACC) officially debuted its new $15-million Grand Plaza, a 100,000-square-foot outdoor event space dotted with palm and orange trees and LED lighting. It encompasses a pedestrian esplanade that connects both the Hilton Anaheim and Anaheim Marriott hotels and leads to the entrance of the ACC. Since its opening, the plaza has already been featured prominently in the center’s events: When the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) held its annual NAMM Show at the ACC in January, it transformed the Grand Plaza into an outdoor concert venue for nearly 94,000 attendees.

The city is also transforming an historic citrus packing house, built in 1919 and located just two miles from the ACC and Disneyland Resort, into a 42,000-sqaure-foot artisanal food hall and live music venue called the Anaheim Packing House. It’s just one component of the Anaheim Packing District, a family-friendly space that will have a two-acre outdoor marketplace, Farmers Park, as well as the renovated 1925 Packard Car Showroom, which currently houses an outpost of Los Angeles’ famed Umami Burger, as well as the Anaheim Brewery. The entire project is expected to open by this fall.

Not far from Anaheim, the 407-room Regency Newport Beach in Newport Beach, CA, recently underwent a $15-million renovation of the entire property, which since its opening in 1962 has had a long history of hosting famous guests, from John Wayne and John F. Kennedy to Marilyn Monroe. The new hotel design echoes that of a contemporary beach house and offers three separate pools; a new restaurant, SHOR American Seafood Grill; and a brand-new Lobby Lounge. In total, the hotel has 26,000 square feet of function space and 19 breakout rooms, including the indoor/outdoor Plaza Ballroom. This year, the Hyatt served as the host hotel for Successful Meetings’ Destination California event (see sidebar on page 46 for more information).

Also in Newport Beach, the upscale Island Hotel Newport Beach, a stone’s throw away from the Fashion Island shopping center, added 6,000 square feet of new meeting and event space at the end of 2012, for a grand total of 21,000 square feet. The ballroom grew from 6,630 square feet to 8,710 square feet, and is now able to host up to 600; the ballroom foyer expanded to an area of 3,936 square feet.

From north to south, you’ll find a number of wine-growing regions throughout California, but none is as renowned as Napa Valley, both for its impeccable wines and its culinary excellence. Napa alone was awarded 12 Michelin stars in 2013, and will serve as the Official Wine Region of this year’s 34th America’s Cup, which will be held in San Francisco from July to September. 

Last fall, Napa welcomed the 141-room Andaz Napa, which replaced the former Avia hotel and is the first of Hyatt’s Andaz hotels in the Bay Area. The property, which is located in the heart of downtown Napa, offers three meeting rooms, the largest of which, called the Great Room, is 1,814 square feet. The 798-square-foot Sun Room can accommodate up to 60 people for a cocktail reception, or 50 for a business lunch, and can open out onto the hotel’s outdoor terrace, which has porch swings, fire pits, and loungers. Complimentary Wi-Fi is included in all meeting spaces.

For larger groups, nearby San Francisco continues to update its convention and meeting offerings. In February, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved the creation of the Moscone Expansion District, which will add approximately 350,000 to 400,000 square feet to the convention center. Construction on the $500-million project is slated to begin in November 2014 and is expected to be complete by 2018.

Not far from the Moscone Convention Center is the Hotel Nikko San Francisco, located just two blocks from Union Square. The 532-room property caters to business travelers with amenities like Subarashee Yume (“dreams” in Japanese) pillow-top beds and Subarashee Ame (“rain”) showers. Last October, in an effort to make its in-room technology more seamless for guests, the hotel consolidated it into a single Bittel UNO Media system in each room. It has a mobile-phone charging station, multi-input audio player, clock radio with alarm, and full-feature guest room phone all in one. Meeting spaces at the hotel include the 6,658-square-foot Nikko Ballroom and seven meeting/boardroom spaces on the 25th floor with views of the city and bay.

This summer and fall, the City by the Bay is also hosting the annual America’s Cup yachting event, bringing together the world’s best sailors who will represent eight different countries and 10 teams. The oldest active trophy in international sport, the America’s Cup is also an opportunity for visiting meetings groups to take in a few of the races by booking custom packages from destination management company AlliedPRA, or by booking an exclusive private event venue. These venues include the 60,000-square-foot America’s Cup Park on Piers 27/29 and the 6,450-square-foot Club72, a contemporary waterfront lounge.

Groups seeking a meeting experience removed from the quicker pace of California’s major cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles need only travel a few miles outside their borders to find a bit of respite and inspiration.

Just north of San Francisco in downtown Sausalito, the Casa Madrona Hotel & Spa will debut its completely renovated historic mansion, upper hillside cottages, and accompanying meeting and event space this summer. The Casa Madrona Mansion, which was originally built in 1885 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was a former private residence and bed-and-breakfast; soon, it will become a new addition to the 63-room Casa Madrona Hotel & Spa. The Mansion possesses its own state-of-the-art meeting space called Junto, which comes with a nine-panel media wall for life-size HD viewing, videoconferencing capabilities, and portable Control4 touch screens and iPads that allow meeting attendees to control the entire suite from their devices. It is 1,700 square feet and can accommodate 80 seated guests and 125 reception attendees. The 5,000-square-foot Alexandrite Suite is also available to groups who wish to entertain in its open kitchen and dining room area, outdoor bar, barbecue area, and fire pit. Nine additional guest rooms are located on the mansion’s second and third floors. 

Just 12 miles south of San Francisco, nestled within the lush Berkeley Hills, groups can retreat to The Claremont, a 279-room resort that first opened in 1915. Today, the property offers an award-winning food and beverage program, as well as the 32-room Spa Claremont. Meeting space here is abundant: 30,000 square feet is available for meeting and event use, including two ballrooms. When meeting attendees aren’t in the boardroom or meeting room, they can unwind with a game of tennis in one of 10 courts, work out in the newly renovated fitness center, play golf nearby, or even head to the yoga studio. The Claremont also offers a special GroupTrek program for meetings groups that incorporates unique activities such as scavenger hunts, trust walks, and ice breakers.

Further south, just a 16-mile drive from Los Angeles International Airport, groups looking for a serene Southern California haven will find it at Terranea Resort. Located in Rancho Palos Verdes and built on the site of the former Marineland of the Pacific theme park, this expansive 102-acre luxury estate has panoramic views of the Pacific from atop its cliff-side perch. With 582 rooms on property, including private residential bungalows, casitas, and villas, the resort has more than enough capacity to host groups of varying sizes. The meeting and event space on site, totaling 135,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor space, is large and varied, from an 18,000-square-foot Palos Verdes Grand Ballroom to 75,000 square feet of outdoor event space, nearly all with ocean views. And with The Links at Terranea golf course, three ocean-view pools, eight restaurants, bars, cafes, and lounges, as well as an award-winning spa (it was voted one of the “Top 5 Hotel Spas in the Continental U.S.” by Travel + Leisure in 2012), there are plenty of activities for attendees to take part in when they aren’t meeting.

Further east of Los Angeles in Palm Springs, reinvention is also ongoing. In recent years, this desert oasis has gained notoriety thanks to the nearby Coachella Music Festival, held every April. While music festivals attract more visitors to Palm Springs, many meetings groups are still drawn to its renowned resorts, spas, and golf courses, says Ralph Scatena, general manager of the JW Marriott Desert Springs Resort & Spa. 

Scatena’s property, the 884-room JW Marriott Desert Springs Resort & Spa, is located in the heart of the Coachella Valley, and is a prime example of the renovations taking place throughout Palm Springs. Recently, the property completed a $5-million refreshment of its meeting space, debuting The Pavilion and The Grove, two flexible multi-use areas of more than 30,000 square feet. This investment is in addition to its $30-million renovation of the resort, which was completed in July 2012, and affected its guest rooms, lobby, spa, and golf courses.