While San Francisco and Los Angeles are the powerhouses of Northern and Southern California respectively, some groups find it hard to acclimate to big-city rhythms while they meet. Happily for them, the nearby cities of San Jose and Long Beach make it easy, with navigable meeting campuses and access to all the sights and activities of their metropolitan neighbors.
Better still, both San Jose and Long Beach can commit at least 10 percent of their hotel room inventory to meetings.
San Jose
If planners are seeking a one-stop destination, they need look no further than San Jose. Says Mark McMinn, director of sales and destination services for Team San Jose, "Whether a small corporate or citywide group, San Jose offers the ease of booking the destination all at once -- saving event planners time, energy, and resources."
Team San Jose can manage everything from housing, convention center services, and customized F&B menus to permits and more. Since the CVB manages multiple venues, including the 372,800-square-foot San Jose McEnery Convention Center, "We can provide variable solutions to our groups," says McMinn. "For large or small ideas, our one-stop service model offers meeting planners the option to select their venue and work with our talented staff to create solutions."
San Jose has 54 hotels with 7,729 rooms. Some of the properties, such as the Fairmont San Jose, the DoubleTree by Hilton San Jose, and the Marriott San Jose, are among the largest in the Silicon Valley area; with six boasting more than 10,000 square feet of meeting space. This year in downtown San Jose, the 210-room AC Hotel will open -- the first of the new Marriott brand to debut in California.
For special events, Team San Jose offers a foursome of historic theaters -- the California Theatre, the City National Civic, the Center for the Performing Arts, and the Montgomery Theater -- as well as everything from big-box space to unusual locations like Morgan Hill Outdoor Sports Center.
"Getting attendees outdoors is always a crowd pleaser," notes McMinn. "San Jose's 300 days of sunshine and inspiring natural beauty are great reasons to take a meeting outside."
Long Beach
Long Beach is about to out-hipster the entire Left Coast with the inaugural ComplexCon, which will premier at the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center this November. With concepts by Pharrell Williams, the festival is expected to include concerts, retail, art, and food. ReedPop, which produces Long Beach's popular annual Agenda lifestyle show, will also produce ComplexCon.
New and expanding shows speak well to Long Beach's ability to accommodate exhibitors. Says Steve Goodling, president and CEO of Long Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau, "The Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center's recent renovation and continuing upgrades and improvements are aimed at creating event spaces that maximize the ability for meeting planners to customize their events -- while providing turnkey solutions that dramatically reduce event costs."
An example is the new Seaside Way porte-cochere, which is expected to open early this summer. A pre-function space for the Seaside Ballroom and Meeting Rooms, the porte-cochere will boast large crystal chandeliers, while LED and stage lighting will transform the space into a special-event venue. The Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center is part of a compact entertainment district that includes one of Long Beach's unique event venues: The Aquarium of the Pacific, the Great Hall and habitat galleries which can be used for receptions, meeting functions, and special events.
Goodling adds, "Our downtown waterfront entertainment district [offers] shopping, entertainment, and more than 125 quality restaurants, all within an eight-block area around our Convention Center."
Questions or comments? Email [email protected]
This article appears in the June 2016 issue of Successful Meetings.
ESSENTIAL Tool Box
CONVENTION CENTERS & FACILITIES
San Jose McEnery Convention Center (372,800 sf); Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center (400,000 sf)
Room Tax:
San Jose: 10 percent
Long Beach: 12 percent
READERS RECOMMEND
PINNACLE AWARDS GO TO:
•Long Beach Area Convention & Visitors Bureau
•San Jose Convention & Visitors Bureau
Long Beach
Long Beach is about to out-hipster the entire Left Coast with the inaugural ComplexCon, which will premier at the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center this November. With concepts by Pharrell Williams, the festival is expected to include concerts, retail, art, and food. ReedPop, which produces Long Beach's popular annual Agenda lifestyle show, will also produce ComplexCon.
New and expanding shows speak well to Long Beach's ability to accommodate exhibitors. Says Steve Goodling, president and CEO of Long Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau, "The Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center's recent renovation and continuing upgrades and improvements are aimed at creating event spaces that maximize the ability for meeting planners to customize their events -- while providing turnkey solutions that dramatically reduce event costs."
An example is the new Seaside Way porte-cochere, which is expected to open early this summer. A pre-function space for the Seaside Ballroom and Meeting Rooms, the porte-cochere will boast large crystal chandeliers, while LED and stage lighting will transform the space into a special-event venue. The Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center is part of a compact entertainment district that includes one of Long Beach's unique event venues: The Aquarium of the Pacific, the Great Hall and habitat galleries which can be used for receptions, meeting functions, and special events.
Goodling adds, "Our downtown waterfront entertainment district [offers] shopping, entertainment, and more than 125 quality restaurants, all within an eight-block area around our Convention Center."
Questions or comments? Email [email protected]
This article appears in the June 2016 issue of Successful Meetings.