Strategic Spending Pg 12 Outlook 2012 Pg 18 A COASTAL COMMUNICATIONS CORPORATION PUBLICATION DECEMBER 2011 VOL. 29 NO. 12 $9.00 www.themeetingmagazines.com Asia Pacific Exotic Settings for Perfectly Executed Meetings PAGE 32 The gravity-defying, cantilevered Sands SkyPark atop the triple towers of Marina Bay Sands affords panoramic views of Singapore including the exotic lotus-inspired ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay Sands. Photo courtesy of Timothy Hursley © Photo courtesy of Unique Venues l California PAGE 26 PAGE 40 ISSN 0739-1587 USPS 716-450 A COASTAL COMMUNICATIONS CORPORATION PUBLICATION VOLUME 29 NO. 12 DECEMBER 2011 www.themeetingmagazines.com California claims FEATURES one of America’s most beautiful and iconic bridges in 12 Strategic Spending San Francisco’s Changing the Game Golden Gate. Plan When the Bottom Line Is ROI Page 40 By Mike Bassett Association Travel Photo courtesy of San Francisco 18 Outlook 2012 By John Buchanan DESTINATIONS DEPARTMENTS COVER STORY 26 Unique Venues 32 Asia-Pacific 4 Publisher’s Message Meeting Differently Exotic Settings for Perfectly By Harvey Grotsky on Land, Sea and Rail Executed Meetings By George Seli By John Buchanan 6 News Watch 7 Global Destinations 8 Meeting Values 10 Industry Events Calendar 50 People On The Move 51 Reader Services Page 32 Photo courtesy of The Venetian Macao Resort Hotel Venetian The Photo courtesy of The Venetian Macao Resort Hotel, located on the southern tip of China on the Cotai Strip, offers nearly 70,000 sf of pillarless ballroom space. Page 26 Photo courtesy of Unique Events Looking for a unique venue? The 40 California grandeur of San Francisco’s historic A One-of-a-Kind Experience City Hall building hits just the right By Mike Bassett note for corporate events. Corporate & Incentive Travel (USPS 716-450) is published monthly by Coastal Communications Corporation, 2700 North Military Trail — Suite 120, Boca Raton, FL 33431-6394; 561-989-0600. Single copies $9.00 U.S.A. only. Yearly subscription price is $90.00 in the U.S.A.; Canada and foreign is $150.00. Back copies $10.00 U.S.A. only. Distributed without charge to qualified personnel. Periodicals Postage Paid at Boca Raton, FL, and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to Corporate & Incentive Travel, 2700 North Military Trail — Suite 120, Boca Raton, FL 33431-6394. Nothing contained in this publication shall constitute an endorsement by Coastal Communications Corporation (Corporate & Incentive Travel), and the publication disclaims any liability with respect to the use of or reliance on any such information. 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Printed in U.S.A. © 2011 TheMeetingMagazines.com • Corporate & Incentive Travel • December 2011 3 Team One Advertising CMY Cycle 4 133 Line Screen Strategies for Success A COASTAL COMMUNICATIONS CORPORATION PUBLICATION WEBSITE Let us foster creativity by convening in paradise. very year at forecasting time, we note that professional meeting www.themeetingmagazines.com planners find themselves charged with “doing more with less.” This Let us help you connect over clambakes instead of conference calls. year is no different. Technological advances, the sluggish economy PUBLISHER/EDITOR-IN-CHIEF E HarveyGrotsky and rising costs of travel will challenge planners in 2012 and beyond as [email protected] Let us energize and rejuvenate with uncommon culinary delights. they navigate the “new normal” of tighter budgets, strategic meetings management CREATIVE DIRECTOR Let us elevate the expectation of a company conference. MitchD.Miller (SMM), ROI, the rules of engagement and [email protected] much more. In Outlook 2012 (page 18), we learn MANAGING EDITORS SusanWyckoffFell from savvy meeting professionals like [email protected] Diane L. Davis, CMP, CMM, a conference SusanS.Gregg manager at SAP, who predicts that smart [email protected] We anticipate your needs, handle details and offer creative planners will accept the challenges of CONTRIBUTING EDITORS solutions so that your meeting experience is seamless, productive SMM: “It’s down now to adapt and survive MikeBassett and fun. Enjoy a level of service so high, all you have to do is — trim your sails to the wind,” she says. KarenBrost arrive and relax. To plan your next meeting, call your preferred JohnBuchanan Ritz-Carlton hotel or visit us at ritzcarlton.com/dynamicmeetings. “And as a planner, you can’t let your subjec- HarveyChipkin StellaJohnson PUBLISHER’S MESSAGE PUBLISHER’S tive feelings get in the way of real data, real DerekReveron metrics. The bottom line is that you have to GeorgeSeli capture and analyze the event metrics to really demonstrate the ROI from PRESIDENT & CEO your meetings to management.” HarveyGrotsky A true market recovery is in sight, says Chris Gaia, vice president of marketing, Maritz Travel, “Year over year for 2011 versus 2010, we’ve VICE PRESIDENT OF OPERATIONS DavidA.Middlebrook seen a fairly significant increase in the average per-person spend for incen- [email protected] tive programs. And our IT business is up by about 19 percent. We expect that positive momentum to carry into 2012.” ADVERTISING SALES OFFICES 2700 N. Military Trail, Suite 120 Furthermore, the international IT market is booming says Allison Boca Raton, FL 33431-6394 Summers, managing director of Site in Chicago. And China is in the fore- 561-989-0600 • Fax: 561-989-9509 front. “The Chinese are using incentive travel programs more than ever NORTHEAST before. We are seeing programs as large as 8,000 people participating in 561-989-0600, ext. 114 • Fax: 561-989-9509 Chinese programs. You don’t see those kinds of numbers anywhere else,” [email protected] says Summers. FLORIDA/CARIBBEAN Global destinations from Macau to Singapore and Hawaii to Australia 561-989-0600, ext. 114 • Fax: 561-989-9509 are also booming, as is most of the Asia-Pacific region (see page 32). Peter [email protected] Duncan, CMP, senior planner at Meetings & Incentives Inc. in Caledonia, SOUTHWEST WI, suggests that Asia-Pacific destinations gain in popularity as large num- 561-989-0600, ext. 114 • Fax: 561-989-9509 bers of U.S. companies go global and realize they can meet globally instead [email protected] of in the U.S. “And that means they are also culturally embracing their in- SOUTHEAST ternational counterparts. So now those destinations know how to deliver 561-989-0600, ext. 114 • Fax: 561-989-9509 a quality meeting, and they’re doing it over and over again,” he says. [email protected] MIDWEST 561-989-0600, ext. 114 • Fax: 561-989-9509 [email protected] AMELIA ISLAND ORLANDO, GRANDE LAKES CANCUN PALM BEACH WEST DOVE MOUNTAIN REYNOLDS PLANTATION MarshallRubin 818-888-2407 • Fax: 818-888-4907 FT. LAUDERDALE ROSE HALL, JAMAICA Harvey Grotsky [email protected] GRAND CAYMAN SAN JUAN Publisher KEY BISCAYNE SARASOTA HAWAII LAKE TAHOE SOUTH BEACH 561-989-0600, ext. 114 • Fax: 561-989-9509 [email protected] NAPLES ST. THOMAS ©2011 The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, L.L.C. 4 December 2011 • Corporate & Incentive Travel • TheMeetingMagazines.com TheMeetingMagazines.com • Corporate & Incentive Travel • December 2011 5 M Resort Spa Casino Omni Dallas Hotel Celebrates Opening Expands Banquet GLOBAL DESTINATIONS DALLAS, TX — The City of Dallas and Omni Hotels & Resorts held a and Meeting Space ceremonial ribbon-cutting for the LAS VEGAS, NV — The M First Jumeirah Hotel Opens in Abu Dhabi opening of the Omni Dallas Hotel. A Resort Spa Casino has an- Jumeirah at Etihad Towers little more than two years after the nounced that it is expanding its opened on November 1, groundbreaking, the 1,001-room banquet and meeting space to 2011. The 382-room hotel convention center hotel is officially include Veloce Cibo, the 16th is located on the Arabian open for business. Owned by the floor fine dining restaurant atop Gulf in the Ras Al Akhdar City of Dallas, the luxury hotel is the four-star resort. Due to the area of Abu Dhabi, which located on eight acres in the heart high demand for versatile func- is close to the central NEWS WATCH of the nation’s eighth-largest city, tion space, the restaurant will business district and min- istry compounds. The new which is experiencing a renaissance close immediately to allow for property includes 199 from more than $14 billion in new renovations. With expansive views residences, 12 restaurants, development underway in and near Hotels & Resorts, Jason Kindig PRNewsFoto/Omni Photo by of the Las Vegas Strip and the bars and lounges, Talise the urban core. “As we open the On 11-11-11, the City of Dallas and Omni Hotels & Resorts held a ribbon- mountains, the 16th floor func- Spa and the Conference doors to the Omni Dallas Hotel to- cutting ceremony for the opening of the Omni Dallas Hotel. Larry Hagman tion space will offer 7,200 sf Center, one of Abu Dhabi’s largest. The Conference Center, which can accom- and Linda Gray of the hit TV show “Dallas” were on hand to cut the ribbon.