Stellar Events Blog

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.

I just saw a presentation about the Four Seasons Bora Bora, which opens this summer, and it looks like heaven:

In this economic climate, incentive trips are more important than ever.  Stellar Events has found that it is the high-end destinations, offering the best of the best, that consistently motivate clients, salespeople, or whomever your target audience is.  This resort has attractive pre-opening group rates, and it’s truly special:

- Set on its own private moto (islet)

- 100 over water bungalows (all suites over 1,000 sq. ft.) and 7 beachfront villas

- 15-minute ride across the lagoon in a private launch from Bora Bora Airport

A new resort set in paradise, and it’s a Four Seasons.  Can you imagine a more appealing incentive destination for 2009?

Well, it’s not exactly a scoop. But I anticipated the news in my March 20^th post “Las Vegas: Desert Storm Ahead?” which noted the slowdown in Las Vegas business and questioned the viability of the thousands of hotels rooms opening there soon.

The front page of the May 6, 2008 Business section of "The New York Times" showcased “Economic Troubles Affect the Vegas Strip.”

Trust me: there are bargains to found when booking Las Vegas meetings, and Stellar Events can help your company find them.

In nearly twenty years of planning incentive trips and meetings, I’ve had some amazing worldwide experiences including 5-star adventures in Paris and the heart-stopping magnificence of Machu Picchu.

However, during a recent Stellar Events site inspection, all memories were exceeded by the breathtakingly beautiful Caribbean waters surrounding the Exuma Cays.

Add the luxurious Four Seasons Resort Great Exuma at Emerald Bay to this glorious setting, and it’s heaven on earth. Visit my destination photo album to see more.

       A Cay North of Great Exuma

The beauty of Great Exuma is free to those fortunate enough to have access to the island. However, adding the delights of a Four Seasons experience makes me agree with a recent NY Times article titled: “Maybe Money Does Buy Happiness After All.”

I enjoyed a picture-perfect weekend in Santa Barbara, which is being promoted as America’s Riviera.   Hilton Hotels  hosted top clients at Fess Parker’s Doubletree Resort,   which fronts the beautiful Pacific.   And, yes, Daniel Boone himself  stopped by to welcome us to  his successful resort, where one can also purchase products from his nearby winery  including, seriously,  a coonskin cap bottle topper.

When companies request Hawaii, Mexico or the Caribbean for incentive trips, they overlook this special destination, which may be more affordable.  Santa Barbara has picturesque winery tours, abundant water sports such as sailing and kayaking, numerous gourmet restaurants, super shopping, stunning weather, and so much more.   With non-stop flights into Santa Barbara Airport from Dallas, Denver, Salt Lake City, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and several California cities, arrivals are hassle-free and convenient.

So, add a little French theming – “Riviera Rendevous” – and you may transform Santa Barbara into the perfect incentive or meeting destination.

Stellar Events is finally seeing European suppliers respond to our repeated requests to guarantee rates for incentive travel in U.S. dollars.   As noted in previous entries, our clients prefer sites such as Bermuda and Costa Rica, where their budgets are secured in US dollars.

Ireland   is a popular  incentive and meeting destination, and we just received an amazing offer guaranteed in US dollars instead of Euros.   For an outstanding price of $1,700 US per person, based on double occupancy,  a trusted supplier is offering 5 nights in Dublin at the  luxurious Clontarf Castle  plus daily breakfast, welcome buffet, an off-property dinner with entertainment and transfers, farewell gala dinner with entertainment, a half day tour, a full day tour with pub lunch, plus airport transfers.

  

Clontarf Castle

With Aer Lingus   offering bargain short-term airfares,  excellent group rates can be negotiated.   Plus, they are partnering with Jet Blue on over 25 connecting cities that link to Aer Lingus’ New York departure.

In recent years, Ireland’s booming economy has been termed the “Celtic Tiger.”   This offer showcases how the Irish succeed by creating a financial edge over the competition.   Take advantage of it!

Recently I thoroughly enjoyed a Barnes & Noble appearance by my favorite novelist, Jodi Picoult. Her 15 best-selling books, including the current NY Times #1, Change of Heart, which had an initial printing of one million, explore topical issues with a style that appeals across generations. The overflow crowd was diverse, and the discussion was insightful.

Wait – this blog isn’t supposed to be about my weekend. It’s about meeting planning, incentive travel, and the business of running Stellar Events. Since attending an event often requires air travel, I’m going to stretch the concept and recommend any Jodi Picoult novel as the ideal way to make one’s time in the sky literally fly by.

Jodi Picoult and Marjie Wells

Last night I attended a special event hosted by Loews Hotels for meeting planners. In between the manicure, the chair massage, the Banana Republic fashion show and the artisanal cheeses (yes, this business has fine perks), I heard some unusual buzz.

The chatter is usually bright and cheery at this type of party. But, with today’s admittedly challenging economic trends, there were rumors: one of the largest Las Vegas hotels had furloughed over a thousand employees, and several upcoming citywide conventions have canceled their time in the gambling mecca.

If these tales are true, the timing is indeed unfortunate. Las Vegas has recently or will soon add many, many thousands of hotel rooms:

Palazzo (3,066 suites) primarily an additional tower at the Venetian: now open

Palms Place at the Palms Las Vegas (599 suites): opened last week

Trump International Hotel and Tower (1,281 suites): opens March 31, 2008

Wynn’s “Encore” Tower (2,034 suites): opens December 2008

Grand Hyatt Las Vegas at Cosmopolitan Resort and Casino – 2,973 rooms: opens late 2009

MGM City Center – a 4,000 room tower plus two 400-room high-end luxury hotels, including the Mandarin Oriental: opens late 2009

The bright side: Experienced negotiators (may I mention Stellar Events?) will be able to find outstanding bargains for future meetings.

As for the developers who planned these projects many years ago: Surely they knew they were gambling?

Recently Stellar Events ventured into the amazing arena of Federal government bids for meetings. We’ve had some success: we booked over 500 room nights in Rochester, NY in February! When I told the stunned hotel sales rep that the business had been awarded, she replied, “Are you kidding?”

Yes, helping the government plan meetings demands a sense of humor. Do they really think there is a hotel with meeting space and a campus-like setting within ten miles of downtown San Diego (in summer) for the mandated per diem rate of $139? Will attendees be dining on shrimp at the National Symposium on Shellfish?

Recently Stellar Events proposed a rather large and lengthy meeting that had to take place within 35 miles of the Brandenburg Station Road Gate of Ft. Knox. Louisville was the only option, and the hotel sales person assured me they met the distance requirement, especially since a new highway had opened. Since we couldn’t Mapquest a gate as a starting point, we figured we were good to go.

Our proposal was rejected as technically unacceptable because the hotel was judged to be 36 miles from the gate. We may have had the lowest bid for the desired package of sleeping rooms/meeting space/meals/audio-visual, but we’ll never know.

What we do know is that the Federal government is not willing to go the extra mile.

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.