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.

My 3-night stay at the fabulous Red Mountain Spa in St. George, Utah was beyond amazing. I cannot imagine a more stunning natural setting, with red rock cliffs and the Spring desert bloom:

The daily morning Treks (geared for various ability levels) were fabulous, the service was excellent, and the meals (included) offered delicious variety. See the resort’s excellent website for details.

My upgraded Villa section room (a must for an incentive program or corporate retreat) was lovely, with private balcony, fireplace, ceiling fan, and exclusive pool access.

Red Mountain Spa, with its all-inclusive pricing, is perfect for individual incentives for top employees, and it is surprisingly affordable. The resort is just two hours from Las Vegas, plus there are non-stop flights from Los Angeles and Salt Lake.

Take a break for yourself or give your business associates a treat:  Stellar Events can enthusiastically help you plan a magical getaway.

My recent post lamenting the lack of recycling for Las Vegas meetings led to a conference call with Gwen Migita, Corporate Director, Corporate Social Responsibility for Harrah’s Entertainment.

Good news just announced today: Harrah’s Entertainment is the first company in the casino industry to join the Environmental Protection Agency’s Climate Leaders, a group of corporations who are taking serious steps to reduce their carbon footprints.  This is Harrah’s press release.

While there is still much need to improve recycling throughout Las Vegas in the visible areas such as paper/aluminum/plastic, Gwen discussed current efforts that a meeting planner or conference attendee would not see: turning cooking oil waste into bio fuels, processing gray water, reducing energy consumption, practicing acid recovery (for example, the method of discarding damaged silverware.)

Harrah’s is taking the lead in Las Vegas, and meeting planners and guests who care about the environment should applaud them.

Las Vegas is the most-requested destination for sales meetings, franchise conferences, and incentive trips for so many reasons: corporate hosts love the economics, including low hotel rates, convenient and competitively priced flights, as well as the massive quantity of meeting space. Attendees savor the excitement and entertainment.

Those who dislike the Strip’s glitz and alleged glamour are often those prefer more peaceful, greener surroundings for corporate meetings. While attempting to improve the “green” content of a recent Las Vegas National Meeting for over 1,600 attendees, Stellar Events asked Paris Las Vegas to offer recycling containers at meals/breaks to gather the plastic and aluminum. (See Stellar Events’ Green Policies.)

The response was, “No, Vegas hotels do not recycle.” Really? Was this employee a lazy slacker? Sadly, his response was basically accurate.

I followed up with Jeremy Handle, a Public Affair Specialist with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, who regrettably told me that Clark County was far behind the national curve on recycling facilities. And, although the Las Vegas Convention Center itself diligently attempts to recycle, the hotels are not, generally, being proactive on the vital issue.

Jeremy mentioned that Harrah’s Entertainment (Caesars Palace, Paris Las Vegas, Harrah’s Las Vegas, Rio, Flamingo, Bally’s, Imperial Palace)was making progress. However, this was the response I received from a Harrah’s spokesperson.

“Most properties recycle cardboard.  Some properties are sorting and recycling on a limited basis.”

What a waste.