Have it all: Tucson’s Miraval Resort runs buyouts every
year.
When Kelly Connolly needed nearly 600 rooms for
a training meeting last November, she could have picked a larger
property than the Ritz-Carlton Orlando, Grande Lakes, whose 584
rooms would just barely fit the group.
But meeting at the midsize hotel had its advantages. By buying
out the entire property, Connolly, manager of meeting services at
Global Planners in Bordentown, N.J., would be given free rein over
the hotel’s meeting space. She would have access to all 62 suites
as well as the hotel staff’s undivided focus. The two-year-old
property had never experienced a buyout before, but the
Ritz-Carlton pulled it off beautifully.
“Our client [from a major financial company] said the training
was the best in the years he’s attended it,” beams Connolly.
Because it was such a success, she’s doing it again this
November.
Many resorts are amenable to buyouts for high-end meetings that
demand extra privacy or simply for groups that need a lot of rooms.
But buying out a resort isn’t for every group. It’s important to
take the time to understand the perks and the caveats before
considering a takeover.
Should you buy out?
Unless most of the following are true of your meeting, it’s
probably wiser to buy a chunk of rooms in a larger hotel.
" You need almost all the rooms. When a
meeting promises almost full occupancy, it’s beneficial to both
parties to make it exclusive. For example, Teresa Williams, the
Atlanta-based director of facilities and data information for
GMAC-Residential Funding Corp., needed 40 rooms for an advisory
board meeting of mortgage company CEOs last May. The 48-room
Keswick Hall in Charlottesville, Va., had been offering buyouts as
part of the Elite Retreat Buyout program, promoted by the
Washington, D.C.-based Associated Luxury Hotels, to which Keswick
Hall belongs.
Despite the fact that she would have to pay for all the rooms,
Williams agreed on a buyout because it didn’t make sense to share
the property with just eight nonmeeting guests.
“When it got down to it, who is going to want to be in those
eight rooms?” asks Williams. “You’re going to feel out of place if
you’re up with your wife for the weekend and we’re taking up almost
the whole property.”
" You need all the meeting space. Giving a
planner the keys to all the meeting rooms is the buyout’s main
selling point, according to Donald Stamets, director of catering
and conference services for the Ritz-Carlton Orlando, Grande Lakes.
“The flexibility we’re able to give to the customer inside our
convention center is greatly to their advantage,” he says. “It’s
definitely the perception of the customer that all the meeting
space inside and out belongs to them.”
" The meeting isn’t likely to cancel. Since
the hotel will be depending on you for most if not all of its
revenue during your meeting, cancellation penalties will be
unforgiving.
" You are meeting during low season. The Four
Seasons Resort, Nevis (West Indies), requires buyouts to use 180 of
the 196 rooms if the meeting is held in late spring (shoulder
season), but only 140 in September (low season). The property
doesn’t allow buyouts in winter.
" Your attendees need special treatment.
Properties that can do a bang-up job on a buyout are probably the
same ones that treat any and all guests exceedingly well. However,
the buyout allows the hotel to focus its attentions on your group,
says Patti Giles, president and CEO of CLT Meetings/Publicis
Events, based in Orlando. “When you buy out a hotel, you’re not a
small fish in a big pond,” she notes.
" Lots of leisure is on the agenda. It helps
if the spa, golf course and restaurants are all yours.
" You want attendees to bond. When everyone at
the property is part of your group, a community atmosphere sets
in.
" Privacy is a major perk. When it’s all you,
there’s no need to worry about other guests at the hotel sneaking
into private events or complaining about noise on the beach at 10
p.m.
" The meeting is going to be long. Some
properties enforce a minimum-stay requirement for buyouts.
" Your company has dollars to spare. Nobody
ever said a buyout would be a bargain, though they’re usually not
unreasonable, either.
" You are not going to a major tourist
destination. Hotels on the Las Vegas Strip probably would
not allow a buyout, since many of their rooms are contracted out to
wholesalers and high-rollers, says Robert Purdy, former director of
sales and marketing for the Hyatt Regency Lake Las Vegas and now
executive director of sales for Hyatt Resorts. In Lake Las Vegas, a
resort community in Henderson, Nev., 20 minutes from the Strip,
hotels are more open to buyouts because tourists typically don’t
flock there.
THIS BUYOUT IS A BLESSING
Susan Leigh is an oncology nurse, but she certainly feels like a meeting planner. For five years running, she has planned a yearly buyout of the 106-room Miraval Resort in Tucson, Ariz. This retreat isn’t about teaching executives to cooperate or about bringing together buyers and sellers. It’s about giving children with cancer an opportunity to experience the pinnacle of hospitality in a desert paradise.
Says Leigh, “We have a specific population that might be difficult to assimilate into a resort with other guests. Because everybody there is associated with cancer, the overall level of comfort is much greater for them. They don’t have to wear prostheses, and they can take off their wigs.
“We give them free time, and Miraval helps us select activities,” Leigh adds. “We offer yoga, meditation and Qigong.”
Because Miraval doesn’t usually host large conferences, a meeting space has to be created in the Great Room, a large sitting room. The staff disperses all the area’s furniture throughout the property and sets up folding chairs in the room.
Leigh reserves the property a year in advance and works on the retreat for 10 months. She’s grateful for generous support from pharmaceutical companies. “Every year, we say we don’t know if we’re able to do it again,” she says, “but then they sponsor us for the next year.” -- J.V.
Celestial perk: Groups have stunning twilights to themselves at
the Four Seasons Resort, Nevis.
Contracting effectively
If you begin the process with a watertight contract, it’ll
save you from hassles later on. Here are a few tips pertaining to
the buyout.
" Start early. You’ll need to secure the rooms
before any leisure travelers book their vacations over those dates.
Start at least a year, if not 15 months, in advance, though nine
months might suffice at smaller properties.
Patti Giles planned two years out for a meeting this May at the
Four Seasons, Nevis. When her client approached her a few months
ago, asking to lock in the week after as well, she only could get
about 65 percent of the guest rooms.
" Pick the right place. The resort should
match your group’s size and be experienced in handling buyouts or
at least be willing to bend over backward for your group. “They
have to be prepared to rearrange the resort without flipping out,”
notes Mary Monaghan, conference services manager at Miraval Resort
in Tucson, Ariz. “That’s a lot to ask a resort to do.”
" Cut out the middleman. If part of the resort
is sold through wholesale travel agents, they’ll need to be
informed early not to sell rooms during your meeting’s dates.
Hoteliers might not be able to cede to a meeting the rooms
meant for corporate travelers, but they still will provide all the
meeting space. For example, at the 2,881-room Gaylord Opryland
Resort & Convention Center in Nashville, between 50 and 100
rooms are designated for this purpose. The Gaylord does one or two
of these almost-buyouts every month, and as corporate buying power
comes back, the number of buyouts only seems to increase.
" Count bedrooms, not rooms. Some properties
will count parlors in suites as separate rooms. Yet, an attendee
can’t stay in someone else’s sitting room.
It also helps to figure out where to find extra rooms if
needed. Most new resorts have attached condos or villas. Likewise,
a property like the Ritz-Carlton Orlando, Grande Lakes, will likely
have rooms to spare at the JW Marriott next door.
" Define exclusivity. If privacy isn’t a major
concern, it’s far less expensive to buy just the guest rooms and
meeting space. Specify in the contract that the hotel won’t sell
any other rooms for the days of your buyout.
But if complete privacy is required and if the hotel is willing
require that the lobby, F&B outlets, the spa and the casino all
be closed to outside business.
If the casino can’t be reserved due to state law, make sure
there’s a plan in place to keep gamblers out of the rest of the
property.
" Stick with the hotel. Closing the resort’s
revenue centers to the public costs a hefty sum. As long as you’re
paying, though, take advantage of the hotel’s offerings, suggests
Robert Purdy. Instead of planning a dine-around downtown, arrange
for one at the hotel’s restaurants. Use the resort’s bar and lounge
as the hospitality suite instead of ordering catering in a suite.
Offer spa treatments to attendees, or encourage them to treat
themselves.
" Go all-inclusive. One way to satisfy the
resort’s revenue requirements is to create an all-inclusive
meeting. The Four Seasons Resort, Nevis, for example, makes its
buyouts all-inclusive, complete with all airport transfers, meals,
liquor and golf, to simplify planning and create a festive
atmosphere for guests. For added fees, the resort provides
top-shelf liquor or spa treatments.
" Avoid weekends. Resorts sell fewer rooms on
weekdays, which generally means it will be cheaper to buy out the
place during the work week. For example, it will cost less to close
the hotel’s fine-dining restaurant on a Monday, when only 50 people
would be turned away, as opposed to a Saturday, when the restaurant
usually serves 200.
" Beware of attrition. Jeff Bruss, president
of Three Lakes, Wis.-based Cole Publishing and organizer of the
annual Pumper and Cleaner Environmental Expo, uses his show’s
proven track record to keep the Gaylord Opryland, which the Expo
has bought out most years since 1979, from assessing attrition
penalties. It’s a difficult proposition but one that’s important to
shoot for when so many rooms are on the line.
" Ask for favors. For the Gaylord buyouts,
Bruss leverages in perks that don’t cost the resort much but
improve the meeting tremendously. These could include putting
banners all over the resort and advertising in the elevators, and
sometimes even discounts on phone service and Internet charges.
“Because we’re filling their hotel for them, they’re more than
willing to bend over backward to help us with those other things,”
Bruss explains.
" Book flights early. If airlift isn’t
sufficient for your large group, you might need to charter a
flight.
FIRST-TIME BUYER
The Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association, based in Wilton, Conn., hosts an annual meeting to bring 750 video-game makers and buyers together. In July 2004, the IEMA Executive Summit required full use of the 493-room Hyatt Regency Lake Las Vegas Resort, Spa and Casino in Henderson, Nev. (right).
Heather Ellertson, show director for IEMA, tried a buyout for the show because it required so much contiguous meeting and function space. Owning the resort for the days of the meeting also kept vacationing families from wandering into meetings.
The buyout had much higher F&B costs than a traditional meeting. However, Ellertson lists many advantages.
“The meeting was easier to manage, security issues virtually disappeared, lost-badge revenue wasn’t a concern and uninvited guests weren’t an issue,” she says. Also, even though she had to guarantee 100 percent pickup for all but the last day, attrition concerns were eased because attendees were required to stay at the host hotel.
Having all attendees together helped foster an atmosphere conducive to building relationships. Ellertson was pleasantly surprised that attendees stayed on site more than would be expected.
This was Ellertson’s first buyout, but it won’t be her last. The show will take over the 517-room Hyatt Regency in Huntington Beach, Calif., in July. -- J.V.
Whole-some: Buyouts at Keswick Hall in Charlottesville, Va.,
include room to roam.
Managing the logistics
Bringing in a full house of attendees may seem difficult for a
hotel to handle and it is. But, says Ciro Tacinelli, director of
marketing for the Four Seasons Resort, Nevis, good communication
can ease the challenge. “If we know when everybody’s coming, how
many banquet meals they’re having, and what their golf and
recreational needs are likely to be, we can really staff well,” he
says. In other ways as well, the buyout makes meeting
management easier. Says Teresa Williams, “In a normal situation I’m
worried about the location of the meeting space, the noise factor,
access to the golf course and spa, and vying for space with a
larger group for special-event locations. I encountered none of
that with Keswick Hall.”
Some other tips to keep the meeting running smoothly:
" Book recreation in advance. For such a large
group, tell the property a few weeks out the schedule for
individual golf and spa appointments, so the activities can be
appropriately staffed.
" Man the front desk. When, on move-in day,
all the rooms turn over in the space of a few hours, the front desk
and housekeeping will have to be reinforced. Set up satellite
check-in desks in the lobby, and station a planner there at all
times. Don’t forget to ask for backup staff on departure, as
well.
For Global Planners’ buyout at the Ritz-Carlton Orlando, Grande
Lakes, 500 guests arrived simultaneously by busloads. The hotel
handled this potential check-in nightmare ingeniously. Donald
Stamets converted the concierge desk into a second check-in desk
and created two concierge desks using tables from the lounge. He
made duplicate copies of precoded room keys, so keys for every room
would be at both check-in desks. All attendees were preregistered,
so they needed only to pick up their keys and head to their
rooms.
One size fits all: The Gaylord
Opryland
Resort & Convention Center in Nashville
" Buy rooms for the previous night. Stamets
suggests buying VIPs’ rooms (and maybe a few more) for the night
prior to the meeting, so there won’t be a problem with hungover or
otherwise dawdling vacationers staying past checkout time. “If
people start to check in before other guests check out, it can get
a little hairy,” notes Stamets.
" Hand-pick the rooms. It’s possible to
tentatively assign rooms months in advance, since you’ll have
control over all of them.
" Be creative with the space. Only when no
leisure guests are on property can a meeting use the pool area for
a dinner function, Robert Purdy points out. And at the Four Seasons
Resort, Nevis, Patti Giles plans to set up a hospitality suite
“living room” by the pool, to be open throughout the program,
something that would never be possible if other guests were
present.
" Divide and conquer. If a postsession meal
isn’t catered, the flood of attendees converging on the property’s
restaurants might cause delays. To remedy that, Kay Witt, director
of association sales for the Gaylord Opryland, suggests letting out
attendees in waves. Half might eat lunch at 11:30, the other half
at noon.
" Keep ’em honest. To improve session
attendance, Mary Monaghan suggests closing outlets such as the spa
while meeting sessions are in progress.