What's New

Raleigh, N.C., threw a block party in July for 60,000 residents, officials, visitors, and event planners to celebrate the reopening of Fayetteville Street, marking the return of automobile traffic to a main street that had lost much of its commerce and culture as a pedestrian mall. In 2008, Fayetteville Street will also be home to a 400-room Marriott (with 15,000 square feet of meeting space) and the adjoining new Raleigh Convention Center. More than 30 conferences and conventions have already booked the 500,000-square-foot facility. The convention center will include 19 meeting rooms, an exhibit hall with 150,000 square feet of space, and a 32,000-square-foot ballroom.

The checkered flag dropped on Charlotte, N.C., in the frantic final heat with Atlanta; Richmond, Va.; Daytona Beach, Fla.; and Kansas City, Kan. to build NASCAR Hall of Fame. As the site chosen will be very near the Charlotte Convention Center and will have meeting space, officials are planning to tie the two facilities together by adding a new, larger ballroom and a walkway to the Hall of Fame. The $108 million Hall of Fame should open no later than March 2010.

Event planners looking at Charlotte will want to keep an ear to the ground to see if US Airways' bid to take over Delta Airlines at a cost of $8 billion is successful. Charlotte is the largest US Airways' hub and has nonstop service to 123 cities. Industry analysts predict that a merger with Delta, which is larger and has its major hub in Atlanta, only 240 miles away, would reduce the more than 600 daily flights from Charlotte to less than 250.

Facility Update Georgia

• In September, the 218-room Crowne Plaza Atlanta-Marietta opened with 7,000 square feet of meeting space.

• Atlanta's 467-room Sheraton Colony Square will be opened as a W Hotel in late 2007 after a $50 million makeover.

• King and Prince Beach & Golf Resort on St. Simons Island has completed a massive redesign and turned 70 original rooms into 56 new luxurious guest lodgings, giving the resort a total of 188 rooms and suites. The restored north entrance to the building leads to 10,000 square feet of function and meeting space.

• In October, Cambria Suites Savannah broke ground on more than 100 suites and 1,000 square feet of meeting space.

North Carolina

• Two blocks from the Charlotte Convention Center, a 175-room aloft hotel, Starwood's newest brand, is taking shape in EpiCentre, a retail, entertainment, and residential complex on the old convention center site. Nearby, a $60 million, 150-room Ritz-Carlton at Bank of America's headquarters will debut in 2008.

• The Blake Hotel, with 308 high-tech rooms and suites, opened this year in what was the Adam's Mark Charlotte.

Ask the CVB Georgia

Atlanta Conv. & Visitors Bureau
(404) 521-6600; www.atlanta.net
Total Hotel Tax: 14%

Brunswick & Golden Isles CVB
(800) 933-2627; www.bgicvb.com
Total Hotel Tax: 12%

Savannah Area CVB
(877) 728-2662; www.savcvb.com
Total Hotel Tax: 12%

North Carolina

Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority
(800) 722-1994; www.visitcharlotte.org
Total Hotel Tax: 12.5%

Greater Raleigh CVB
(800) 849-8499; www.visitraleigh.com
Total Hotel Tax: 10% to 12%

South Carolina

Charleston Area CVB
(800) 868-8118; www.charlestoncvb.com
Total Hotel Tax: 12%

Phantom Planner

• Georgia and the Carolinas are “Right to Work” states, giving meetings staff and vendors more flexibility in the set-up and operation of exhibits that can lead to savings on labor costs.

• Metropolitan Atlanta's Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) recently established the Atlanta Tourist Loop, linking major hotels with the city's top attractions. The shuttles travel in a clockwise loop every 30 minutes, picking up passengers at specially marked stops. Shuttle cost is $1.75; downloadable maps and schedules are available at www.itsmarta.com.

• In 2009, Atlanta Streetcar will provide a north/south link on Peachtree Street, the city's main thoroughfare. Streetcars will traverse the proposed 12-mile line and a downtown loop every six minutes, around Centennial Olympic Park, the World Congress Center, Philips Arena, the Georgia Aquarium, and Auburn Avenue, making it easy for visitors to move between the city's three main neighborhoods, including shopping and dining spots in Buckhead.

• In Raleigh, visit the City Market area, a restored 19th-century warehouse district with fine craft shops, pottery shops, Native American artifacts, and a variety of restaurants.

Special Venues

• Ten miles from downtown Charlotte, N.C., the $20 million U.S. National Whitewater Center opened in August. It offers teambuilding options, a restaurant, and conference facilities. Along with mountain-biking and hiking trails, a climbing center, and a challenge course is a multiple-channel, customized whitewater river for rafting and canoe/kayak enthusiasts of all abilities. (703) 391-3900; www.usnwc.org/

• In Charleston, take a group into the world of Forrest Gump at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. for a myriad of shrimp menu items. Guests will also have choices like bourbon mahi mahi, grilled salmon, Dixie-style ribs, burgers, and other traditional items. The restaurant can accommodate as many as 250 people. (843) 723-5665; www.bubbagump.com

• Looking for elegance? Check out the Mills House Hotel, in Charleston, S.C. Here, Gen. Robert E. Lee planned Civil War campaigns. The Signer's Ballroom and Planter's Suite offer traditional antebellum décor. Adjacent Hibernian Hall offers an additional 6,000 square feet of function space. (843) 577-2400; www.millshouse.com