What's New

In November, Pennsylvania Governor Rendell released the first $16 million needed for construction plans and land acquisition for the expanded Pennsylvania Convention Center. The long-awaited $650 million project is under way and expected to be open by 2009. If property acquisition goes smoothly, construction will start in early 2007. The convention center will contain one million square feet after expansion.

Something new in Washington, the DC Circulator will bring a smile to the faces of planners trying to manage logistics for a group meeting in The District. It launched in July to provide quick, direct access to some of the most popular points in the city. From 8 a.m. until 9 p.m., 365 days a year, 29 buses painted red, white, black, and yellow now link downtown with Georgetown, the convention center, hotels, restaurants, the Kennedy Center, and the Southwest Waterfront (at the National Mall). The cost of a ticket is $1.

This past October, plans for a headquarters hotel at the new Washington Convention Center gained about 200 rooms. Marriott will manage the property.

Fueled by an 87 percent occupancy rate for 2005 and a stepped-up economy, by the end of 2007 New York City will add nearly 5,000 new hotel rooms in new and expanded properties to its current inventory of 70,723.

One of those properties is a real New York icon: The Plaza Hotel at Fifth Avenue and Central Park is being restored and divided into hotel rooms and private apartments. The landmark property, now a Fairmont Hotel, was closed last year for a $350 million renovation. It will open with 182 private residences and 282 elegant hotel rooms, magnificently restored public spaces, trendy little shops, and fine restaurants. The Plaza reopens in 2007, just in time to celebrate its 100th anniversary.

In Virginia, the first phase of the new Virginia Beach Convention Center was completed and a 56,500-square-foot exhibit hall and 40,000 square feet of meeting and function space opened this past August. When the second phase is completed in 2007, the square footage will grow to 516,522, creating a focal point in the Hampton Roads community.

Also in Virginia, this past July saw the opening of the Inn at Virginia Tech and Skelton Conference Center on the school's campus at Blacksburg. This 147-room upscale hotel and adjoining meeting facility is owned by Virginia Tech and managed by Hilton Hotels. High-speed wired and wireless network access is available in the inn and in 23,705 square feet of meeting space.

In Baltimore, the newest attraction on the Inner Harbor is a Comics Museum, with all the memorabilia and silliness of the past 50 years of laughable characters and heroic endeavors. Group tours are already coming out grinning.

Facility Updates

Delaware

• The new Courtyard Newark — University of Delaware will serve as a teaching laboratory for the university's hospitality school. It includes a test hotel room where the school will study changes in hotel design and guests preferences. Connected to the University's Clayton Hall Conference Center, the combined complex has more than 40,000 square feet of meeting space.

The District

• Kimpton will open its seventh District hotel this summer, the 335-room Hotel Palomar Washington DC. After a $32 million renovation, the Dupont Circle hotel will have 10,500 square feet of meeting space.

• Wyndham City Center Hotel at M Street and New Hampshire Avenue will become the Renaissance M Street this fall following an $18.5 million renovation.

• The Hyatt Dulles completed a $4.2 million renovation in late September.

Maryland

• The InterContinental Harbor Court Baltimore is being converted from the five-star Harbor Court Hotel and will open this spring overlooking the Inner Harbor. The hotel is part of a mixed-use property that includes an eight-story tower with 195 guest rooms. The hotel has 8,000 square feet of function space.

• Starwood Hotels & Resorts will open two new airport hotels — a Sheraton and an adjacent Westin less than three miles from Baltimore-Washington International Airport. The 203-room BWI Sheraton is slated to open in fall 2006 with more than 4,600 square feet of meeting space. The 260-room BWI Westin is scheduled for spring 2007 and will have nearly 7,300 square feet of meeting space.

• During the next 12 to 18 months, owners of the Turf Valley Resort and Conference Center in Ellicott City will convert 117 guest rooms to 42 junior suites, 4 king suites, and a concierge lounge, thus reducing guest room count to 171 rooms and suites. The concierge lounge on the redesigned key-access 6th and 7th floors will serve complimentary continental breakfasts and receptions. Ballrooms, event space, and 28 conference rooms make up 40,000 square feet of meeting space. Refurbishment of the Cameo Ballroom and Poplar breakout rooms is also planned, as is renovation of the Terrace Restaurant, spa, and golf pro shop.

New Jersey

• Atlantic City's Borgata Resort launched the first phase of its expansion in August. At a cost of $200 million, it will add casino space, two nightclubs, retail space, and several restaurants, including a Wolfgang Puck Café by midyear. The second phase will consist of an 830,000-square-foot tower, adding 800 guest rooms, including 100 suites. The 40-story tower will also include indoor and outdoor pools, a spa and fitness center, more meeting space, and more retail shops. Estimated at $347 million, the tower's completion is targeted for late 2007.

• Not to be outdone, Donald Trump's casino company will spend $110 million upgrading its three Atlantic City gambling hotels. It will build an indoor promenade at Trump Taj Mahal, a new restaurant at Trump Plaza, and will renovate meeting and convention space and add a new restaurant at Trump Marina. The company already spent $32 million in 2005 on room renovations and other improvements at the three properties. In June, construction will start on an 800-room hotel tower at Trump Taj Mahal.

• The Palm, a legendary high-end restaurant since 1926, opened in 2005 in The Quarter at Tropicana, a venue that mirrors Old Havana and features shopping, dining, and entertainment. The Atlantic City Palm will seat 270 people in 8,200 square feet and offers groups three private dining rooms. Completion of The Quarter at Tropicana also included the 502-room Havana Tower, boosting the resort's total room count to 2,127; and 45,000 square feet of new meeting space, which brings its function space to 122,000 square feet.

• Congress Hall, an historic, 106-room beachfront hotel in Cape May that was restored and reopened three years ago, last year added Harrison Conference Center for a total of 5,500 square feet of meeting space.

• The W Hotel is building a hotel-condominium tower in Hoboken that is scheduled for completion early next year. There will be 225 hotel rooms on the first 16 floors of a 25-story building, along with 11,000 square feet of meeting space.

New York

The 750-room Millennium Broadway Hotel, in the heart of the theater district, has an IACC-approved 110,000-square-foot conference center with 37 meeting rooms. The hotel recently completed restoration of the 102-year-old Hudson Theatre, which is available for product introductions, concerts, meetings, and other events. It seats up to 750 people. Restoration of the theater uncovered Tiffany mosaics, which have been restored and lend a particularly glamorous note to an event held there.

Pennsylvania

• The 1926 Warwick Hotel will convert the top eight floors of the legendary Philadelphia hotel to 100 condominiums. In addition, a $15 million renovation to the hotel will completely upgrade the lobby, grand ballroom, Crystal Ballroom, and mezzanine level. A fitness center and club lounge will be added as the property converts to the Warwick Radisson Hotel.

• Park Hyatt Philadelphia at the Bellevue closed its top floor in July for a $7 million makeover.

• In Hershey, Hershey Resorts has renovated its two 18-hole courses and is building a new 43,000-square-foot clubhouse. Next to the clubhouse is an all-season pavilion that includes a fireplace and is perfect for après golf events.

• Skytop Lodge in the Pocono Mountains has completed its new Executive Conference Center, which doubles the resort's meeting space to 20,000 square feet.

Virginia

• The former Holiday Inn Richmond has opened as the 282-room Crowne Plaza Richmond West after a $1 million renovation. A new business center has been opened convenient to nearly 10,000 square feet of function space.

Ask the CVB

District of Columbia

Washington, DC Convention & Tourism Corp.
(202) 789-7000
Total Hotel Tax: 14.5%
www.washington.org

Maryland

Annapolis & Anne Arundel County Conference & Visitors Bureau
(888) 302-2852, (410) 280-0445
www.visit-annapolis.org

Baltimore Area Convention & Visitors Association
(800) 343-3468, (410) 659-7300
Total Hotel Tax: 12.5%
www.baltimore.org

New Jersey

Atlantic City Convention & Visitors Authority
(888) 228-4748
(609)348-7100
Total Hotel Tax: 12% + $2 per room, per night
www.atlanticcitynj.com

New York

NYC & Company
(800) NYC-VISIT
(212) 484-1200
Total Hotel Tax: 13.624% percent plus a $3.50 per-room, per-night charge
www.nycvisit.com

Pennsylvania

Greater Pittsburgh Convention & Visitors Bureau
(800) 359-0758, (412) 281-7711
www.visitpittsburgh.com

Philadelphia CVB
(800)225-5745, (215)636-3300
Total Hotel Tax: 14%
www.pcvb.org

Virginia

Alexandria CVB
(800)388-9119, (703) 838-4200
www.funside.com

Arlington Conv. & Visitors Service
(703) 228-0888; Total Hotel Tax: 9.75%
www.arlingtonvirginiausa.com

Phantom Planner

• For reasonably priced rooms in New York City, winter, from January through March, is best for bargains, with summer (especially July and August) second best. Fall is the busiest and most expensive season except for Christmas, but November is quiet and affordable (except for parade-route hotels at Thanksgiving).

• Here's another tip for NYC accommodations: Go uptown or downtown. Midtown locations are highly overrated when the subway can take you anywhere in minutes; even if you stay on the Upper West Side. Also, you'll get the best value for your money by avoiding the Theater District,

• Are you taking a group to the nation's capital and want the latest weather forecast before you leave? On the Web at www.wunderground.com/forecasts/DCA.html you'll find 5-day forecasts that include high and low temperatures, plus wind, cloudiness, and percentage chance for precipitation. Or, pull up the same info for Baltimore, Roanoke, Richmond, the Big Apple, or the beach at Atlantic City.

Special Venues

• The redesigned Chase Center on the Riverfront in Wilmington, Del., has opened an event facility with 87,000 square feet of space for meetings, conventions, and corporate events. The $7 million makeover of the former arts center has created a hall of two enormous curving walls leading from an atrium lobby into Governors' Hall. That space adjoins the 22,000-square-foot Wilmington Hall, an all-black exhibit space that offers a dramatic backdrop for shows. Chase Center has 10 conference and meeting rooms, a 260-seat theater, a seminar room, and ballroom space that seats up to 1,000 people. (302) 425.3929, (888) 862.2787; www.centerontheriverfront.com

• In the Big Apple, The Top of the Rock at Rockefeller Center reopened in November 1 for the first time in 20 years. The view is unobstructed for 360 degrees at 67 stories above midtown Manhattan. A private room with two outdoor garden terraces (for nice weather) hosts groups for a bird's-eye view of the city that never sleeps. The Observation Deck is open 365 days a year. www.topoftherocknyc.com

• Let attendees experience a cypress swamp, an Appalachian cove, the Chesapeake Bay underwater, or an underground limestone cave at the Virginia Living Museum in Newport News. The Exhibit Gallery can accommodate up to 300 for a banquet, 800 for a reception. Smaller spaces such as the Conference Room or the Science Lab can hold from 45 to 80 people. (757) 595-1900; www.valivingmuseum.org