N.Y. Hotels' Renovations Target Meetings

Corporate meeting planners are making new demands of their meeting venues, and a number of downtown New York hotels have completed major renovations, turning guest rooms into boardrooms, to accommodate them.

"When we did this renovation we took into account what meeting planners wanted. Nothing was left out," said David Adelson, director of sales and marketing for the Grand Hyatt New York, where the first phase of a $65 million renovation has just been completed.

However, what meeting planners want can be complicated or contradictory. "I don't care what the size or name of the company, I've never seen more negotiation," said Olin Otteson, assistant director of sales at the Park Central Hotel in New York. "The days of sending a copy of the menu and a price list are over."

"We are negotiating harder," said John McConahy, president of independent meeting planning firm Imagination Plus in Pittsburgh. "After 9/11, people aren't traveling as much or as far. Budgets are certainly tighter, and space is at a luxury at the moment."

Many executives want sunny, open rooms that are also private and quiet, Adelson said. They want large spaces to hold conferences that also have breakaway rooms for smaller planning sessions, and meeting planners first look at location, product and service when choosing a venue.

"The list is endless," McConahy said, "They look at incentives, room amenities, costs, and if those costs are negotiable. Of course, it's always location, location, location."

Hotels cannot move down the block to be closer to their clients, but they can make their location a selling point with large windows and balconies. Also, product and service have become key points of Downtown renovations.

At the Park Central, meeting rooms on the mezzanine level were completely walled off. After the renovation, 80 percent more natural light floods in.

"All our meeting planners tell us it's all about natural light in the room," Otteson said. "People stay more awake and more alive."

A $2 million facelift has just been completed on the Park Central's mezzanine-level meeting space and ballroom. New windows provide over 80 percent more natural light and the brand-new "Empire Boardroom" seats 12 to 14 people. In addition, five floors of rooms and suites are devoted to business travelers with concierge amenities. A first-come, first-served, boardroom that seats up to 12 is available on the concierge levels.

The Grand Hyatt, meanwhile, enclosed two new meeting rooms on the mezzanine level entirely in glass.

"It's a nice, open, airy feeling," Adelson said. Companies demand more than just big rooms, so the entire 14th floor of the Grand Hyatt was converted into 22 meeting spaces that can accommodate five to 50 people. "There is a rise in the need for one-on-one meeting space," Adelson said.

The rooms have individual controls for temperature, audio and video, and have "real walls, so there is no need to worry about a meeting next door that is being too loud," he added. The new "one-on-one" rooms will be available the first week of November and are part the first phase of a $65 million renovation of the hotel. Concierge amenities are available. The hotel has its own audiovisual department and has entered into a new agreement with T-Mobile to provide wireless service.

Products and service are the other key factors for companies, and hotel managers are going the extra mile to provide clients with whatever they need, whenever they need it.

At the Trump International Hotel & Tower, managers boast a top-10 list of why the hotel should be chosen as a meeting site, including personal meeting attachés and personal in-room chefs for meetings that must go on without a break. Meeting room amenities also include in-house yoga instruction, private restrooms and teleconferencing capabilities. With the completion of a $10 million renovation, the hotel offers a new business center function room complete with wet bar. An executive boardroom and roundtable conference room also are new additions.

New management at the Paramount Hotel said a multi-million dollar refurbishment will start in early 2005, after which the hotel will become the Hard Rock Hotel New York. Details on the renovation have not yet been released, but representatives said to expect an "all-encompassing lifestyle experience." A former 10,000-sq.-ft. speakeasy bar in the basement will be redeveloped to create a venue for corporate and social events.

The Park Central offers a break program with Cortiva spas. Stressed executives can enjoy a quick massage before heading into another round of meetings. "In this high-stress world, more and more companies are going for this," Otteson said.

The latest in wireless and high-speed Internet connection is also a service that many companies demand, and many New York hotels now offer teleconferencing capabilities. The Grand Hyatt has its own audiovisual department.

In the end, meeting planners want value most, Otteson said. Smaller, longer meetings seem to be the trend and companies want versatile, multi-purpose spaces. At the Park Central, the ballroom, which was at one time where the hotel pool could be found, was "a flashback to the '80s," Otteson said, with "mirrors everywhere."

Now white, neutral tones dominate, and new high-speed internet connections make the ballroom appropriate for exhibitions. "It's so much more versatile and functional," Otteson said.