Smart Meetings

Devoted Smart Meetings blog readers will recall that our illustrious editor was singing the praises this past summer about the Marriott Newport Beach Hotel and Spa foregoing the minibar for an actual fridge.
    
Well, the Arizona Republic has taken note as well, pointing out that the Hyatt Regency Scottsdale Resort and Spa at Gainey Ranch got rid of the guilty stashes of processed sugar and over-priced water as part of its $50-million facelift.

And the new Sheraton Phoenix Downtown Hotel opened in September without minibars because, as the general manager says, they’re becoming “a bit of a nuisance.”

Despite these developments, however, minibars are apparently on the rise. So says senior vice president of business development for Minibar Systems (which would be a great name for a home gym), but you’d expect him to say that.

But as the GM in Phoenix pointed out, at 3 a.m., people aren’t “looking for mixed nuts and Swedish Fish,” they’re looking for pizza. How he reads my mind so well is really kind of scary.

Let it not be said that Smart Meetings doesn’t walk the walk as well as talk the talk.

As 2008 winds down, the entire staff of Smart Meetings gathered for a few days and nights last week at the Beach House (beach-house.com) in Half Moon Bay, Calif., to discuss the upcoming year and what we’re going to do with the new calendar pages ahead of us.

I’m having an impossible time thinking of a more gorgeous property I’ve stayed at, and the November sunset from my patio was stunning every night I saw it. The only downside was leaving and returning home to my one non-plasma TV and windows that don’t open to the ocean.

While sitting in the incredibly well-catered meeting room on the second floor we discussed where our company─only six-years-old─is, and how our organization operates on a day-to-day basis. Through two days of discussions and presentations we considered how we could better function as a small staff as well as individuals on a team.

Getting out of the office to talk about the office was a wonderful opportunity to see the larger picture, and not just the next thing on our to-do list. Our facilitator, Kennen Williams, has known our publisher for years and has worked with us in the past, which gave us a wonderfully in-tuned outsider’s view. When I got back on Saturday I went straight to the library to pick up a book he had recommended to us because the ideas he was talking about had me fascinated from morning coffee to afternoon tea. Through moments of quiet reflection, passionate discussion and delicious imbibing at dinner (we’re lucky to have wine collectors and sommeliers in the office), we gained a lot from a short amount of time.

You all reading this of course know the value of a meeting and plan successful (and Smart) ones for clients and employers on a regular basis. But from the point of view of a recent meeting attendee, even though you didn’t have a direct hand in our trip down Highway 1, you were the reason behind it, so I thank you. I’m certain we’ll improve all of the increasingly multiplying forms of media we use to communicate with you as we move forward and we will of course keep in mind that we are here to help you perform at your highest level.

Have a happy Thanksgiving (or, if you’re reading this after returning to the office, I hope you had a happy Thanksgiving). And if you’re out of the U.S., have a wonderful weekend.

American Airlines has taken the trend in flight pricing to its inevitable conclusion by unbundling its rates─lowering the base fare but charging for more ad-ons than a shady car dealer.

The airline will lower its base fair starting in 2009 but will be stripping down the included services and charging passengers a surcharge for luxuries that were once standard, such as beverage service, blankets and seat assignments.

However, people taking flight on American starting next year may have the option of paying for preferred seating, refundable tickets and even carbon offsets, depending on what’s important to them. For someone like me who doesn’t care where he sits, rarely changes plans and never needs a blanket (planes are incredibly warm!), the carbon offset might be a cool trade-off if it ends up being the same price as a flight would be today.

No word on whether more airlines will follow suit, but it’s likely that other domestic carriers will adopt the method already used by many European and Canadian airlines.

There’s just something wrong about football in warm weather. But something oh-so right about watching it from a skybox on the 50-yard line.

Sunday was a battle of teams with records that didn’t reflect the type of games they’d been playing. Both the Oakland Raiders and the San Diego Chargers had played games they should have─and almost did─win and were to meet at the Oakland Coliseum. How I ended up there is because we here at Smart Meetings are headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area and were lucky enough to snag an invite to go to the game from Russ Kembel, director of sales and marketing at Hilton Waikoloa Village.

It seems that the Raiderettes (one of whom I’m almost certain I went to high school with) shoot their swimsuit calendar at the gorgeous Hawaiian hotel, and the team thanks Russ for his hospitality by inviting him to a game where he can once again exude hospitality.  

I joined two dozen meeting planners, Hilton employees and special guests in the luxury suite where we got to watch the Raiders lose a 15-point lead in the second half.

Between snaps I chatted with Debbie Hogan, senior director of sales for the Big Island Visitors Bureau, and Mark Coulter, director of rooms division at Hilton San Francisco.  I asked Mark about the hotel’s rooftop Cityscape Restaurant closing and its soon-to-be-completed transformation into a second meeting space.

While I’m sad to see the home of many New Year's Eves for my friends and me disappear, it’s bound to be a great space for meetings. (Besides, I only went to New Year's Eve there at most once a year.)

It was a great gathering up in the fancy suite, and watching the game was a blast─even if the home team absolutely fell apart in the end (however, one young fan in the box wearing a Chargers jersey was having a great time watching his team rally).

Since the game, the head coach of the Raiders has been fired. I can’t help but think, after talking to those lucky enough to live there, that Lane Kiffin should just hop a plane to Hawaii and buy a little hut on the beach.

If you’ve ever fantasized about buzzing around an oval track at warp speed, head for Infineon Raceway—and Jim Russell Driving School—in Sonoma, Calif. Here you and your top execs can suit up, get tips from the pros and be out on the course for a team-building experience you (and they) will never forget. Or, if you’re drooling over the new Audi R8, which will get you to 60 mph in 4.4 seconds, slide behind the wheel of a 2009 at the track’s Audi Driving Experience—but be forewarned, drive it and you’ll want one!   

And you thought Sonoma County—or Sonoma Country, as they call it—was all about wine!

Well, it is, and it isn’t. Sure, there are more than 175 wineries producing everything from Parker-rated cabernets to old-vine zinfandels to skinny sauvignon blancs. But there’s so much more.

Like horses, for instance. If your speed is a little more leisurely than 120 mph, your group can learn leadership skills and more about themselves through a first-hand experience with a herd of eight horses at Skyhorse Ranch in Valley Ford. Turns out, horses have a social structure much like humans, says Ariana Strozzi, who leads the program, and their interactions with both individuals and a group’s dynamics are insightful for all concerned. (Although you don’t saddle up for riding instruction, you still have an excuse to wear jeans and your Tony Lamas!)

Horsepower and horses—Sonoma Country—who knew?