Stellar Events Blog

Recently I enjoyed the outstanding service and beautiful setting of the five-diamond Grand Velas Nuevo Vallarta,  located about 15 minutes north of Puerto Vallarta’s airport. This beautiful resort offers an elegance that I never expected from an all-inclusive, and our stay was perfect.

Although some guests never leave the resort grounds, I always explore the locale. A highlight of this trip was joining the promenade of locals in downtown Puerto Vallarta on Sunday evening, complete with a band concert in a park gazebo and circus-style performers at a seaside public amphitheater.

On Monday hotel guests who relaxed poolside were surprised to find that one of the locals stopped by for a swim – a pelican, who obviously had very good taste.

Stellar Events can help you take advantage of the extraordinary value currently available at  Grand Velas Puerto Vallarta for a five-star, all-inclusive incentive program or corporate retreat.

The morning news programs have not been starting anybody’s day in a positive way.  The Discovery Channel HD has an antidote, and life is better since I found “Sunrise Earth”  at 7:00 a.m.( Monday through Friday.)  Set in amazing global sites, it is one hour of astonishing, uninterrupted beauty as nature awakens in edited “real time.”   Recent favorites include the Florida Everglades, Haleakala on Maui, Venice’s canals, and geysers in Yellowstone - pictured below.

It’s good to tune out the junk and remember that THIS is reality.

The highlight of my recent stay at Dreams,an excellent, high-end all-inclusive resort in Los Cabos, was the sea turtle release, which occurs frequently in the Fall on the shores of the Sea of Cortez. Several hotels in the corridor, including the nearby Hilton Los Cabos (a superb resort with the area’s only swimmable beach) protect nests of turtle eggs with 24-hour patrol.  The eggs hatch in about 45 days, and guests participate in the release.

Each nest has about 60 eggs, and during my stay there were daily hatchings. Observers were totally enthralled by this amazing experience, cheering the reptiles as they instinctively crawled from the beach into the sea.

All seven species of sea turtles, including the Olive Ridley found in Los Cabos, are endangered, and the efforts of the hotels to protect them deserves applause.

Yes, everyone is shocked and appalled that AIG conducted their “Independent Agent Convention” at the luxurious St. Regis Resort, Monarch Beach less than a week after their colossal failure.  The media is missing the full perspective, which is only suggested by the posted hotel charges.   It’s surprisingly encouraging that the House Oversight Committee actually obtained this information so quickly.

FACTS:

• A well-designed incentive trip should pay for itself because agents are only rewarded if they meet their increased sales goals.

• This trip was undoubtedly planned well in advance, and AIG faced hundreds of thousands of dollars in contractual obligations even if the event was canceled.

UNANSWERED QUESTIONS:

• AIG contracted for 111 rooms on peak night – actual occupancy was only 68. They paid nearly $53,000 attrition for unused rooms. Was the sales incentive a major failure (like the company) or did sane people actually cancel their trip?

• While the cancellation costs would have been high, the many undisclosed on-site charges and the high-profile spa and golf charges would have been avoided. Who authorized this event to proceed?

• What about the transportation costs? We have no indication of how many attendees were actually ticketed, even if they ultimately did not attend. Each agent is undoubtedly allowed to bring a guest, so airline tickets are well over $100,000.

• Who negotiated a Presidential Suite at 5 nights for $3,200 + tax nightly? With anticipated attendance of over 200 people, a skillful negotiator should have demanded and obtained this suite on a complimentary basis or, at least, for the standard room rate of $425 nightly. Stellar Events has a group of only 140 traveling to Puerto Vallarta next week, and we have a Presidential Suite at the group rate guaranteed in our contract.

My small meeting planning business, Stellar Events,  has been profitable and debt-free for our entire nine years of incorporation. It hasn’t been difficult to work hard and focus on integrity.  Here’s a really big question: What’s our future in this failing economy, which is being destroyed by giant corporations that couldn’t do the same?

Recently I happily switched from Blackberry to iPhone. The travel applications are amazing. Thanks to free downloads of “Places” and “IWant,” I’ve got lifelines in strange cities, and the GPS has sharp graphics to lead me in the right direction.

I started loving all things Apple when I bought an iBook last year, and discovered that the store’s staff is actually helpful. The “One to One” private training, which costs only $99 yearly for a weekly session, yielded powerful, creative results.

Book an early AM appointment, and the setting is oxymoronic: a quiet Apple store. iLove it.

Yes!  We are #90 on the list, which is revenue-driven.   We started Stellar Events nine years ago, based on integrity and client service…and it worked.   

Last week I enjoyed a fabulous trip to Hawaii, starting at the amazing Four Seasons Hualalai, which the 2008/2009 Zagat Guide has named the  #1 resort in the world.   Then I  traveled to the Four Seasons Maui,  which offers complimentary daily yoga classes on the beach at 7:15 AM.  Here’s a photo of the early morning site for this perfect way  to start to the day:

And here’s the same scene three hours later:

When you’re in paradise, sleeping late may not be the best choice.

Hawaii is the ideal incentive destination, and Stellar Events can take you there.

In a perfect world, everyone would have a universal option to fly on Southwest and be fee-free when we change our plans and check our bags.  Although Southwest just reported their 69th straight profitable quarter and is the only major carrier to be profitable in 2007, the competition doesn’t follow the simplicity of Southwest’s policies.  

To sort out the fees and penalties, download a PDF chart at Smarter Travel.  It’s "The Ultimate Guide to Airline Fees" and is updated frequently…just like the costs.

Almost everyone wants to visit Costa Rica – a fabulous destination with unique activities, friendly locals, enticing cuisine, and gorgeous beaches. Because incentive trips require the best of the best, hotel choices are currently limited, with the outstanding Four Seasons Resort Costa Rica at Peninsula Papagayo (pictured below) as a consistent favorite.

However, development is rampant in northwestern Costa Rica’s Guanacaste province, and it’s amazing how many elite resorts are under construction. Here’s a partial list of luxury properties with name-brand reputations, along with projected opening dates:

• JW Marriott – December 2008
• Hyatt Regency Azulera Resort – 2009
• Mandarin Oriental – 2009
• Regent Papagayo – 2010
• One and Only Resort Cacique – 2010

Now is the time to plan ahead and look for pre-opening values – Stellar Events excels at negotiation, and we LOVE to see hotels compete for your business. 

I may take the amazing appeal of Los Angeles for granted because I was born here and graduated from UCLA. Recently Stellar Events joined LA Inc. (Los Angeles Convention & Visitors Bureau), and I rediscovered the unique features of my hometown, which conceptually includes such popular areas as Beverly Hills and Santa Monica.

There’s always something fresh and exciting (and I don’t mean the rumor that Britney Spears has bought a house in Calabasas, home to Stellar Events, but I’ll let you know when the choppers start circling.) For example, hotel news:

Super Green: the eco-friendly Hotel Palomar, a boutique Kimpton Hotel in Westwood, has in-room recycling bins, energy efficient lighting and organic food and beverage options in minibars, so guests can leave the guilt back home.

Diversity: The new  Kyoto Grand Hotel and Gardens, formerly the New Otani Hotel, features a 1/2-acre rooftop Zen garden in Little Tokyo.

Trendy:  SLS Hotel at Beverly Hills, which opens August 18, is part of the Starwood Luxury Collection, and showcases sleek and cosmopolitan décor from sizzling French designer Phillip Starck.

Check out the LA Inc. website (www.discoverlosangeles.com):  it is absolutely terrific, and showcases our WOW destination for all types of sales meetings, conferences, and incentive trips.