“We're the answer to the incentive market in Orlando.” That's the word from Jane M. Chaney, CMP, director of marketing for the 1,000-room JW Marriott Orlando, which makes up half the Grande Lakes Resort and is scheduled to open in July 2003. The other half is Orlando's first Ritz-Carlton.
“There's never really been a high-end hotel for the incentive segment,” Chaney says, noting a few of the frills that she expects to make the incentive market take notice of this new resort duo:
The 18-hole Greg Norman — designed golf course will include a concierge in your greens fees. “He does everything but caddy,” says Chaney. “He'll confirm your airline reservation and clean your clubs.”
A 40,000-square-foot, citrus-themed Ritz-Carlton Spa, with 40 treatment rooms in an Italian villa — style decor, as well as a 45-seat restaurant and a private lap pool.
A private, 500-acre setting, including 200 acres of water. “This is not ‘Orlando,’” says Jane, contrasting Grande Lakes with the hubbub for which Orlando is known.
Chaney also expects the convention market to bring groups on-site. It's just 3.5 miles from the enormous Orange County Convention Center. (“Many citywides have been knocking at our doors.”) The JW Marriott will offer 72,000 square feet of event space, which includes 23 breakouts.
The resort's network starts with a fiber-optic backbone and a fiber-optic feed into every meeting room at both hotels. Guest rooms will have network access as well. Simultaneous broadcasts from one ballroom to another, from one hotel to another, or anywhere else within the resort can be accommodated. Through customized Web sites, groups can provide conference-specific e-mail addresses for attendees, allowing them to communicate with each other throughout the event. Multiple T3 capacity can be delivered to nearly every corner of the resort.