Stadium Seating
The Great American Ball Park, home of the Cincinnati Reds, is rich in baseball lore and offers spectacular views of the Ohio River and private space for groups of 50 to 750 people. (513) 381-7337
Cincinnati
Coming in spring 2013: Caesars will unveil the new $400 million, 350,000-square-foot Horseshoe Casino Cincinnati, with 2,300 slot machines and three restaurants.
The city is investing in an 18-acre mixed-use development project on the banks of the Ohio River called the Banks Entertainment District. Featured will be a slew of new dining options, from locally owned restaurants to national chains, as well as retail space and more.
The Sharonville Convention Center, 15 miles north of downtown Cincinnati, has undergone an extensive expansion and renovation. The building now offers 65,000 square feet of flexible convention space, including a 15,000-square-foot ballroom that can accommodate up to 1,000 people. The center is LEED Silver certified.
The 160-room 21c Museum Hotel will open before the end of the year next to the Lois and Richard Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art and across the street from the Aronoff Center for the Arts. The hotel itself is housed in the restored Metropole Building -- listed on the National Register of Historic Places -- and features an extensive art gallery that is free and open to the public.
Meeting Hotels
Major properties with meeting space include the 848-room Millennium Hotel Cincinnati, 561-room Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza, 486-room Hyatt Regency Cincinnati, 456-room Westin Hotel Cincinnati and 152-room Garfield Suites Hotel.
Convention Center
Duke Energy Convention Center; total meeting and exhibit space, approximately 750,000 square feet; number of meeting rooms, 31; (513) 419-7300
Airport Transit
Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, a 15-minute drive to downtown. Transfer cost by taxi, $30; by shuttle, $22
Taxes
Room tax, 17%; sales tax, 6.5%; total tax on hotel rooms, 17%
Group Venues Just steps away from the Duke Energy Convention Center is The Phoenix, a vintage 1893 gentleman's club turned banquet venue. Groups of up to 1,000 people can dine in a variety of spaces restored to their full Italian Renaissance splendor, including the 1,200-square-foot President's Dining Room with its hand-carved library breakfront. (513) 721-8901
The American Sign Museum, the only facility in the United States dedicated to the study and preservation of public signs, offers groups of up to 800 a trip down memory lane. Among the colorful visual relics on display are hand-lettered Las Vegas show cards from the days of Frank Sinatra and "changeable" neon lights that run on radio waves. (513) 407-9854
Contact
Cincinnati USA, (800) 543-2613
Cleveland
Several new hotels will open soon in the downtown and University Circle areas, boosting the city's guest rooms by 23 percent. First up is the 150-room Courtyard by Marriott-University Circle later this year, followed by the 472-room Westin Cleveland Convention Center Hotel in July 2013. The latter will feature 25,000 square feet of meeting space. Also coming in 2013 is the city's first tech-forward, Starwood-branded Aloft hotel, with 150 rooms and 3,000 square feet of meeting space. In addition, Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants has broken ground on a 140-room, $40 million downtown boutique hotel that will feature a specialty restaurant.
In the Warehouse District, the $275 million Flats East Bank Project will bring a hotel, retail, entertainment, a 1,200-foot boardwalk and more to the city by spring 2013.
The $465 million Cleveland Medical Mart and Convention Center is on track to open in August 2013 with an array of medical showrooms, an exhibition hall and conference facilities geared toward both the medical and mainstream marketplaces. It will include a 30,000-square-foot grand ballroom with views of Lake Erie.
The first phase of the Horseshoe Casino Cleveland will debut in June, with the rest to open in 2013 at a total cost of $350 million. The venue is in the historic Higbee Building in downtown's Public Square.
Meeting Hotels
Major properties in the city include the 491-room Renaissance Cleveland Hotel, 400-room Cleveland Marriott Downtown at Key Center, 379-room DoubleTree by Hilton Cleveland Downtown/Lakeside and 322-room InterContinental Hotel & Conference Center Cleveland.
Convention Center
Cleveland Convention Center; meeting and exhibit space, 375,000 square feet; number of meeting rooms, 15; (216) 348-2200
Airport Transit
Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, a 15-20 minute drive from downtown. Transfer cost by taxi, up to $50; by shuttle, about $20
Taxes Room tax, 7.75%, plus 8.5% secondary tax; sales tax, 7.75%; total tax on hotel rooms, 16.75%
Group Venues In October, Cleveland's famed Museum of Contemporary Art will reopen in its new $26.3 million building in the Uptown District of the University Circle neighborhood. Features include a lobby designed as an "urban living room" and Wi-Fi throughout. The facility, devoted to presenting cutting-edge artists in a variety of mediums, is aiming to become LEED Silver certified. (216) 421-8671
The Greater Cleveland Aquarium debuted in January and features 5,000 fish and a transparent, 145-foot "seatube" that allows visitors to experience life under the sea. The aquarium can accommodate groups of up to 600. (216) 861-1445
The already iconic Rock and Roll Hall of Fame tells the story of rock music, from its blues beginnings to Lady Gaga and beyond, with exhibits that range from vintage programs to videos. The facility offers meeting space for receptions of up to 2,500, including the 164-seat Foster Theater. (216) 515-8420
Contact
Positively Cleveland, (216) 875-6600
A Date in Dayton
Experience a bit of rustic Dayton charm at Benham's Grove, a 19th-century farmhouse that can accommodate groups of up to 200. An offsite caterer can be used. (937) 433-1913
Columbus
The new $140 million Hilton Columbus Downtown is slated to open this September with 532 guest rooms. The property will offer approximately 22,800 square feet of flexible meeting space connected to the Greater Columbus Convention Center.
Meeting Hotels Properties include the 633-room Hyatt Regency Columbus; 408-room Columbus, a Renaissance Hotel; 400-room Sheraton Columbus Hotel-Capitol Square; 313-room Hilton Columbus; 306-room Doubletree Hotel Columbus Worthington, and 300-room Crowne Plaza North.
Airport Transit
Port Columbus International Airport, a 10-minute drive from downtown. Transfer cost by taxi, about $20; by shuttle, about $15 per person
Rickenbacker International Airport, 20 miles southeast of downtown Columbus. Transfer cost by taxi, about $40
Taxes
Room tax, 10%; sales tax, 6.75%; total tax on hotel rooms, 16.75%.
Group Venues
Ranked the No. 1 zoo in the country by US Travel Guide, the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium offers eye-opening exhibits ranging from a penguin habitat to a building devoted exclusively to nocturnal creatures. Private receptions for groups of up to 3,000 people can be arranged within eyesight of orangutans, tigers, manatees and more. (614) 724-3785
This month, the Columbus Commons will see the opening of the Bicentennial Columbus Pavilion, which will serve as the summer home of the Columbus Symphony's "Picnic With the Pops" series. The sprawling outdoor facility will feature a 40- by 60-foot stage with state-of-the-art lighting, video and sound equipment. (614) 545-4700
Contact
Experience Columbus, (614) 221-6623 or (800) 354-2657