PUBLISHED BY: Presorted Standard COVEY COMMUNICATIONS CORP. U.S. Postage PO BOX 16868 PAID NORTH HOLLYWOOD, CA 91615 Lebanon Junction, KY Permit #413 ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED Married To The South For 35 Years & Still In Love. In Still & Years 35 For South The To Married OCTOBER 2018 VOLUME 35•NUMBER3 AUTUMN BEAUTY Bright fall colors set off the Cumberland River Bridge near the 1,657-acre Cumberland Falls State Resort Park in southern Kentucky. The park’s main meeting venue, the historic Dupont Lodge is perched high above the river, which rushes over a boulder-strewn gorge to form the 125-foot-wide cascade known as Cumberland Falls, or the “Niag- ara of the South.” A major waterway of the South- ern United States, the 688-mile-long river drains almost 18,000 square miles, flowing west from a source in the Appalachian Mountains to its conflu- ence with the Ohio River near Paducah, Kentucky, and the mouth of the Tennessee River. EVENT PLANNER’S GUIDE TO KY kentuckytourism.com With five U.S. Interstates crisscrossing the state and three major airports (Louisville International, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport and Lexington’s Blue Grass Airport), the Com- Kentucky monwealth of Kentucky provides an easy-to-access central U.S. location, with facilities for events in major metropolitan areas and smaller cities, as well as in quiet towns and rural areas. D. FRAN MORLEY Louisville only riverfront hotel, begins an $80 million The hotel is within walking distance to numerous The big news in Louisville is the August renovation to be completed in 2020 that will restaurants, bars and attractions, a craft brewery, 2018 reopening of the Kentucky International include upgrades to all 1,310 guest rooms and the Louisville Slugger Stadium and several Convention Center (KICC) after a two-year, $207 130,000 square feet of event space. (For more distilleries, including Old Forester, Rabbit Hole, million expansion and renovation, according to information, see the Breakout Spotlight on Angel’s Envy and Copper & Kings. Rosanne Mastin, marketing communications page 48.) The CVB also notes other new hotels and manager for the Louisville CVB (www. The Omni Louisville Hotel opened in spring other expansions for later this year or early 2019. gotolouisville.com). The KICC now features 2018 with 612 guest rooms, 226 apartments and The 110-room Moxy will have a street-level 200,125 square feet of contiguous exhibit space, VTXDUHIHHWRIÀH[LEOHPHHWLQJVSDFH restaurant and bar with a rooftop terrace and a 40,000-square-foot ballroom, 52 meeting rooms plus other amenities, including a bowling alley, event space. The Hotel Distil, which will be and a 175-seat tiered conference theater. spa, and rooftop pool and bar. The 620-room DI¿OLDWHGZLWK0DUULRWW¶V$XWRJUDSK&ROOHFWLRQ The city offers planners two main convention Louisville Marriott Downtown completed a Hotels, will have 205 rooms with a restaurant, venues (in addition to the KICC, the Kentucky $30 million renovation in summer 2018. The rooftop bar and about 7,500 square feet of Exposition Center has 1.3 million square feet hotel has 50,000 square feet of event space event space. The Kentucky Derby Museum will of exhibit space, 19,000-seat Freedom Hall and and is connected to the KICC. The 140-room complete a major expansion this fall, adding 47,000-seat Cardinal Stadium), new attractions Courtyard Louisville Downtown completed a $4 more than 11,000 square feet of new space. The on downtown’s Whiskey Row and in the growing million facelift last spring, including an expanded Great Hall at the museum can host up to 400 for NuLu (New Louisville) District, and more than meeting area. receptions. 20,000 hotel rooms in the metro area, including Also this year, according to the CVB, in the Other major hotels include the 393-room 3,000 new hotel rooms, according to the CVB. fast-growing NuLu District, the AC Hotel by Hyatt Regency Louisville, which is connected by This fall, The Galt House Hotel, Louisville’s Marriott at NuLu opened with 156 guest rooms. skywalk to the KICC and features ballrooms, Ź www.conventionsouth.com OCTOBER 2018 ²ConventionSouth ² 47 KENTUCKY boardrooms, meeting spaces and a conference than 16,000 square feet, plus additional outdoor • The Olmsted: 11,000 square feet of event theater with tiered seating for 110. The historic event areas. space; theater-seating capacity for up to 500 Brown Hotel has 293 guest rooms and 17 event spaces for meeting groups of up to 600. The Louisville Venues Northern Kentucky 321-room Seelbach Hilton, a landmark hotel • Crowne Plaza Louisville Airport: 588 guest Directly across the Ohio River from Cincinnati, since 1905, can seat up to 400 for dinners. The rooms; 55,000 square feet of event space; ban- Northern Kentucky (NKY) includes the cities University of Louisville Conference Services quet capacity of 1,000 of Covington and Newport. Rebecca S. Banks, offers a variety of meeting and event sites for up • Louisville Marriott East: 252 guest rooms; digital marketing manager for meetNKY, says to 500 guests, with 12 rooms totaling more 21,000 square feet of event space the staff at the CVB are excited about the new Learning Center, a state-of-the-art amphitheater that opened at the Northern Kentucky Convention BREAKOUT SPOTLIGHT: Center this spring. The Learning Center space The Galt House Hotel has 400 permanent seats, each with a retractable tablet-sized desk and in-seat power access. In addition, the space offers high-tech connectivity capability for broadcasting and global conferencing. The riverfront convention center includes a 45,000-square-foot Event Center, 10 meeting rooms and a 17,500-square-foot ballroom. There are 7,000 metro-area guest rooms and many of the area’s hotel properties are in the midst of renovations, Banks said. “This includes Embassy Suites and Marriott at RiverCenter, our convention properties. Hotel Covington, our gorgeous boutique hotel near the convention center, has won several awards and been named to many top lists.” The Marriott at RiverCenter has 317 guest rooms and 30 meeting rooms in 119,000 total square feet of function space; Offering more meeting space than any other want to return to for years to come.” the Embassy Suites RiverCenter offers 226 hotel in Kentucky, The Galt House Hotel As Wyndham Hotel Group’s largest guest rooms, 13 meeting and event rooms, in Louisville is undergoing $80 million in single hotel in North America, The Galt and a 230-person banquet capacity; and Hotel upgrades and renovations that will touch House Hotel features seven full-service Covington has 114 guest rooms and three event every area of the city’s only riverfront hotel. restaurants and lounges, including the spaces that can host up to 250 people. Renovations are scheduled to be completed Rooftop Garden and Terrace, and RIVUE, Other larger hotels in the Northern Kentucky in 2020. Now a Trademark Collection by DUHYROYLQJUHVWDXUDQWRQWKHWKÀRRUWKDW area include Aloft Newport on the Levee, Wyndham property, The Galt House Hotel is also available for dinners, receptions and with 144 guest rooms and 6,000 square feet offers 1,310 guest rooms and 130,000 square corporate functions. of function space; Radisson Riverfront, with feet of convention space with more than 50 Renovations include reimagined guest 220 guest rooms and a theater capacity of 600; meeting rooms, two ballrooms and dedicated rooms and public spaces with fresh design, Holiday Inn Riverfront, with 152 guest rooms exhibit hall. IXUQLVKLQJVDQG¿QLVKHVLQVSLUHGE\WKHIRRG and a theater capacity of 150; and the 122-room “At the core of our mission is introducing bourbon, horses and colors of Kentucky: Hampton Inn & Suites Newport, with three event our legendary Louisville legacy to even more spring green, saddle brown, aged-barn red, spaces for up to 200 people. guests from across the world.” said Scott thoroughbred blue and jockey-silk orange. The Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Shoenberger, president and CEO of the Al J. 7KH*DOW+RXVH+RWHOLVWKHRI¿FLDOKRWHORI International Airport (located on the Kentucky Schneider Co., the hotel’s owner. “Partnering both the Kentucky Derby and the Kentucky side of the Ohio River, 11 miles west of ZLWK:\QGKDPJLYHVXVWKHKLJKSUR¿OHVL]H Derby Festival, where every year up to downtown Covington) is in the midst of upgrades scale and visibility to do just that. Together 700,000 visitors gather for a front-row seat to to improve and modernize the terminal and create with Wyndham, we’re excited to bring the Thunder Over Louisville. Q a new consolidated car rental facility, according spirited Louisvillian experience to life for to meetNKY. travelers, helping them discover a slice of Planners looking to incorporate some local home in Kentucky they’ll remember and Contact: ÀDYRULQWRDQHYHQWPLJKWHQMR\1RUWKHUQ www.galthouse.com/meetings .HQWXFN\¶VQHZ%/LQHDQRI¿FLDOJDWHZD\ 48 ²ConventionSouth ² OCTOBER 2018 www.conventionsouth.com KENTUCKY to the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, which draws for VisitLEX. “Exhibition space within the from Lexington Center and across the street from 1.2 million visitors statewide annually. Julie convention center will be increased by more the new Lexington Visitors Center. Planned to Kirkpatrick, meetNKY’s vice president of than 50 percent and ballroom space by more open in early 2019 is a 120-room Origin Hotel at sales and marketing, said The B-Line focuses than 40 percent,” she said. “Upon completion in The Summit at Fritz Farm. The hotel will include on the area’s three craft distilleries. “There November 2021, Lexington Center will feature 4,400 square feet of retail, a lobby restaurant and are two sides to the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. RYHUVTXDUHIHHWRIÀH[LEOHPHHWLQJDQG bar, and event space There’s the main heritage trail, which are the big event space.” According to VisitLEX, the project Two hotels in the city have completed major brands: Jim Beam, Maker’s Mark, etc.