Conference Centers Add Leisure To The Business Mix

<B> Conference Centers Add Leisure To The Business Mix</B>

By Lauren Bielski

Alternative venues may be stealing a bit of the thunder from traditional four- and five-star resorts, as a small but increasing number of financial and Fortune 500 companies are booking board meetings, incentives and executive retreats in a wider range of property types--including properties that fit the conference center/resort niche.

Conference centers are reaching out to new markets by doing everything from softening their look to expanding their repertoires of offerings, and many facilities are trying to offer enrichment over mere information to capture the loyalty of meeting buyers.

At the two year old Marietta Conference Center Resort in Georgia, for example, educational traits take a back seat to resort attributes--at least in this season's marketing campaign. "In the pre-open marketing, we emphasized the traditional learning aspects of the facility and did very well in attracting a core of traditional conference center clients," said sales and marketing director Chuck Ocheltree. "But now we're marketing it as more of a resort."

As a result, the property is supplementing the training and traditional meeting business from Georgia Pacific, Coca Cola and Nation's Bank with larger, extended meetings that incorporate classic incentive elements such as golf and theme parties from those companies and other clients who never before visited a conference center--or even considered it. "We even include golf as part of our CMP," Ocheltree said.

He said that Marietta has begun to attract clients who might otherwise go to Florida or elsewhere in Georgia, but instead have opted for a property that can bring together true conference center facilities and more of a luxury aesthetic. This summer, for instance, the Marietta resort will begin to host themed garden parties in the antebellum mansion on property.

Another case in point is the recent sales activity at Lansdowne, a Benchmark conference resort located eight miles from Dulles International Airport on the Potomac River in Virginia. According to director of sales and marketing Carol Petronio, more financial companies have chosen Landsdowne's remote but accessible setting on 200 acres of Virginia Hunt country for week-end incentive-style golf getaways or board meetings in fiscal 1997, rather than just the usual round of business, training and team-building sessions.

In its new--and successful--marketing campaign, "We started to present ourselves as a resort with conference facilities rather than a conference center per se, and that altered the perception," Petronio said.

But rather than simply being the same facility with a new designation, Landsdowne--which is modeled in Frank Lloyd Wright design tradition--has been through $4.7 million in renovations in the last two years to adopt a softer, more elegant look, and to come more in line with Benchmark's philosophy of "living, learning and leisure." To that end, the property has built a name as much for its amenties (including in-room bathrobes, mirrors and hair dryers) as for its 45,000 square feet of meeting facilities.

Landsdowne regularly books corporate group business by playing up its 18-hole Robert Trent Jones Jr. championship course, its spa and its cuisine with a "unique spin on regional American" from executive chef Peter Pryor, who has been charged with the task of making the resort's resturant among the best in the Washington, D.C., area.

In addition, Petronio said, the recent addition of a concierge to help planners obtain everything from theatre tickets to tours of the nearby wine country has given the conference center more of a five- star touch.

To expand its appeal to corporate clients seeking a more complex itinerary, the Wyndham Peachtree Conference Center in Peachtree City, Ga., has signed an agreement to produce a series of executive leadership training programs during the 1997/1998 season, said sales and marketing director Don Ball. Already reputed for its ropes course, lighted tennis courts and championship golf, the Executive Conference Center will round out its offerings by adding more than 25 different seminars to its mix, including the Positive Management Leadership course created by former General Electric manager Steve Dolney.

The focus on leisure as well as productivity seems to be working, generating interest even among companies that might be considered too traditional to part from standard practice, and sales to the "business with leisure component" sector are on the rise at many properties.

John Jorgenson, director of sales and marketing for Marriott's Eagle Crest Conference Resort in Ypsilanti, Mich., also repositioned his property to attract meetings business with a significant leisure element.

Although Eastern Michigan University is a financial partner, the property has anything but a campus feel, offering an 18-hole golf course, jogging and biking trails, indoor swimming pool and upscale amenities. "We completed a direct mail campaign last year that highlighted golf and our more resort features and the results were positive--our golf-related outings increased by about 12 percent in 1997," Jorgenson said. "From May to October, two-day meetings with a third day of golf is our bread and butter."

Although the property doesn't attract much incentive business, it has actively pursued sales meetings and other "resort business" that would have gone to luxury hotels in Northern Michigan.

Eagle Crest also has adjusted its modus operandi a bit, doing more themed events such as international buffets or "Vegas nights" to offer meeting planners support for more complex agendas.

In selling the property, Jorgenson continually emphasizes its great location: far enough to be relaxing like a resort, but close enough to transportation to be convenient. Although Jorgenson isn't sure that market attitudes are shifting away from traditional resorts, or that shorter meeting lead times are playing a factor in the migration to alternatives, he does think that effective marketing and a good brand association by conference centers can attract the loyalty of traditional resort goers.

Even conference centers that have stuck to traditional businesslike marketing agree that their amenities packages are pulling in customers as much as their great meeting space. At another Benchmark property called Chaminade, located in Santa Cruz near Monterey Bay, director of sales Kim Crawford agreed that "our business is still serious meeting business, but more of these programs have incentive or entertainment elements in them, without a doubt."

In addition to golf and an executive fitness center with free weights, steam rooms and saunas, Chaminade offers a wide variety of team-building games, including an obstacle course, a stretch coffee break and frisbee golf.

At the Wyndham Resort & Spa in Fort Lauderdale, sales and marketing manager Jan Tucker attributed some of the renewed interest in the resort side of the house to a trend back toward national, rather than regional, meetings. "In the past couple of years, companies were planning regional meetings to hold costs down, but they found that then their executives had to go to a lot of meetings. And in the current high-tech world, where there's so much A/V involved, it gets expensive to set that up over and over," she said. "What I see now is a trend back to larger meetings--with maybe 150 or 200 attendees instead of 65. When they do that, they try to make things a little more exciting. And they do spend a little more on recreation."

The Wyndham offers 45,000 square feet of meeting space, including a board room and an amphitheater, on the conference center side of the house, plus a full-service resort complete with golf, tennis and the world-class Bonaventure spa. Tucker estimated that corporate groups make up about 60 percent of her client mix--a number that has remained constant, as has the interest in recreational activities. "This is a golf and spa resort," she said. "They wouldn't have a meeting here if they weren't interested in recreation.