Making Honeymoons Even Sweeter

The Buddha-Bar Hotel Prague in the Czech Republic is wooing newly married couples to vacation during their honeymoon by offering alluring amenities. The hotel was featured in ‘The 2009 Honeymoon Hot List’ in an Australian travel magazine and was nominated with other properties that boast five-star services and a unique location. The Buddha-Bar Hotel is offering the special amenities in the hopes to entice lovebirds to have their momentous vacation at the property. The amenities include: a limo transfer for arrival and departure, welcome drink, luxury guest room with ‘romantic’ flower decoration, bottle of Champagne with strawberries, a breakfast at Siddharta Café, candlelight dinner at Buddha-Bar Restaurant, turndown service with goodies, private use of Jacuzzi, Buddhattitude Massage, Buddha-Bar music CD, romantic gift. The long list is not the only plus to staying at this unique venue. The Buddha-Bar Hotel differs from the typical tropical honeymoon by adding some European flair and combined with the upgrades may prove to sweet a deal for some couples to pass up. For more information regarding this promotion or hotel log onto: http://tinyurl.com/yl6o925.

Hotels Get Creative to Keep Guests Returning

As the US hospitality industry struggles through one of the worst financial periods in more than 20 years, hotel managers are moving beyond the usual discounts and offering creative promotions to attract business. With a two night stay at the Hard Rock Hotel in San Diego, a Harley-Davidson comes complimentary to cruise around the city while in town. Several hotels around the nation are promoting their property this way to gain business. Hotel analysts don’t expect the hotel industry to bounce back until 2011. http://tinyurl.com/yj52m4f

Everything you need is at Pointe Hilton Squaw Peak Resort

The Pointe Hilton Squaw Peak Resort has many facets, each attractive to a different target groups. Located in beautiful Phoenix, Arizona just minutes from the International Airport, it is ideal for those who can’t get enough warm and dry weather. The resort is home for “Hole-in-the-Wall River Ranch”, a water wonderland perfect for families with children. There are a total of nine pools on property, including an “adult only” pool, so take your pick! The resort also offers a “home” feel through their Casita Village. These accommodations are excellent for extended stays and are equipped with kitchenettes and decent size refrigerators. There are three onsite dining options, from poolside to old fashioned family style. Golf is nearby at the Lookout Mountain Golf Club. Meetings are also possible at Pointe Hilton Squaw Peak with 48,000 square feet of function space, including three spacious ballrooms and 46 choices of conference rooms. Visit http://www.squawpeakhilton.com/index.cfm and start planning your next “Pointe-cation” today!

W Hotels Brings its Passion for Fashion to Life

W Hotels returned for the 12th consecutive season to Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York. The hotel also exposed a series of firsts that will further strengthen the link of the W brand to the fashion industry, including a fashion-forward partnership with Barneys New York, support of the global fashion initiative Fashion's Night Out, the hotel will host a series of exclusive designer events during Paris Fashion Week.
http://tinyurl.com/yj6l2zy

The Glitz of Dubai has a price tag

Dubai hotels are ranked as having the most expensive room rates in the world as of October 2009. The standard rate for a night in Dubai rival that of New York and soar around $230. All prices noted were located in a survey that Hotels.com posted. The site lists nearly 100,000 different hotels and the analysis tracked the top 30 tourist locales to compile the data. In October 2008, the statistics showed that all cities’ had a decrease in room pricing. The only omission from that distinction was Marseilles. As for the room rates going down, there has been a tremendous increase in construction and availability in rooms, which may drive prices down. Next year may show a discounted price, which may mean better prices for not only travelers but also events planners who have meetings in the foreseeable future. For more information see the article at http://tiny.cc/wCaKo

SD Business Journal Women Who Mean Business Nominations

Michelle Bartolone has been nominated for the 16th Annual “Women Who Mean Business” award to be selected on October 27, 2009 in a Special Edition of the San Diego Business Journal featuring dynamic women business leaders and role models, selected for their achievements and contributions to San Diego. Congratulations, Michelle!http://www.meetingsitespro.com/content/news/Nominees.pdf

Ingredients for Surviving Corporate Event Planning

Add a dash of cost effectiveness and throw in some passion and you have the key components to what makes an event planner survive in this economy. Between more RFPs to review from hotels, watching the budget closely, educating clients where to cut costs, and finding budgets are being reduced; planners seem to have more on their plate than ever before. According to Meeting News, a planner interviewed said that looking over a contract again because they had the possibility of getting lower rates or more concessions has become more common. A universal characteristic prevalent amongst the planners interviewed that helps them overcome new obstacles: passion for the industry. See this link for more information: http://tinyurl.com/ygcald7

Virtual vs. Face-to-Face Meetings

The results are in! Eventia and the Institute of Travel and Meetings have released results from their real versus virtual events experiment. The results highlight that there is a potential application for the technology in the events arena but the evidence to date seems to suggest it is predominantly on a complementary basis to real-life events and won't replace the benefits people get from face-to-face interaction. For more results visit http://tinyurl.com/yg3utaf

“Your Name Here” Branding Isn’t Just for Products Like Tide Anymore

Branding just became the latest way to launch your professional alter-ego into the 21th century. Not only are ambitious, young up-starts using social networking sites to keep in touch with friends and family, professionals have recognized the merit and they are using the sites for more than shooting the breeze with colleagues. Creating a name in an industry by maintaining a blog or having a following on Twitter is the newest way to promote numero uno. Showcasing a proficient portfolio and accomplishments on social networking sites make the career-minded more visible and can be an advantage, especially when a promotion is at stake or searching for a new job is on the horizon. For more information read “Brand Yourself for Success” at http://tinyurl.com/yagmaqb

No Diamond or Star: Green is the New Hotel Rating!

Marriott earns a place in the top 50 on Newsweek’s first-ever list of The Greenest Big Companies in America. 500 companies were evaluated based on their environmental impact and green policies. Marriott ranked #42 of 500 hotels with a score of 82.75 out of 100. Their strategy is to reduce fuel and water consumption by 25% per available room. Marriott also launched a program to help save the rainforest. 275 Marriott hotels have been awarded an ENERGY STAR label.http://tinyurl.com/ya58umk