In Case You Missed It
BizBash writers have spent the last month spotlighting new event-friendly venues around the country; check out buzzy new spots in Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami/South Florida, Nashville, New York, Orlando, Phoenix/Scottsdale, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C., plus five standout new venues in Canada.Here are six more things to know this month...
1. Hotels continue investing in small and medium groups.
According to The Meeting Planner Survey: 2024 State of the Meetings Industry report conducted earlier this year by Knowland and ConferenceDirect, almost 50% of U.S. meetings had 100 attendees or less in 2023—and hotels are taking notice. Drury Hotels, for example, recently launched its Meetings with More program that's tailored to small (fewer than 100 attendees) and midsize (100 to 200 attendees) groups. Highlights include flexible rescheduling with minimal restrictions, no food and beverage minimums, affordable AV packages, and more.Another hotel brand focusing on small and medium groups is Marriott International, which recently launched Business Access by Marriott Bonvoy. The online travel booking program is specifically tailored for small- to medium-sized businesses; it offers a streamlined booking experience that integrates hotel, flight, rail, and rental car reservations within Marriott's portfolio at discounted rates. It also provides essential business features like live traveler data, real-time reporting, and expense management.
2. Venues continue making strides in sustainability.
IHG Hotels & Resorts announced the launch of its Low Carbon Pioneers program, which brings together energy-efficient hotels that have no fossil fuels combusted on site and are backed by renewable energy. This group of low-operational carbon hotels is described as the first community of its kind in the industry, and will help IHG test, learn, and share findings on sustainability measures. The goal is to inspire other properties to join the program and also help encourage wider adoption of carbon reduction practices across IHG's estate.And in Canada, Ottawa Tourism launched a partnership with La Tablée des Chefs to maximize food recovery from the event sector. In particular, the initiative aims to reduce food waste and address food insecurity in the community. The new program equips venues hosting large events, including international conferences, with tools to facilitate the donation of surplus food to local community organizations.
3. Marriott is supporting survivors of human trafficking.
Marriott International has launched a pilot program called HotelHelp, which donates short-term emergency hotel stays to survivors of human trafficking. Currently being tested in five U.S. cities—Atlanta, Detroit, Phoenix, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.—the program partners with care providers who book the donated rooms for survivors. Modeled after the successful HospitalityHelps initiative for Ukrainian refugees, HotelHelp plans to expand to 25 cities in North America by January 2025, with long-term goals of global expansion and serving other vulnerable communities. The initiative builds on Marriott's ongoing commitment to supporting trafficking survivors, including the company's Future in Training (FiT) program, which provides job readiness training for survivors in hospitality.“Survivors of human trafficking often face a shortage of dedicated shelter beds that puts them at greater risk of being re-trafficked after exiting their trafficking situation,” said Anthony Capuano, president and CEO of Marriott International. “We are proud to have developed a solution to bridge the gap for safe, short-term accommodations for trafficking survivors, and we look forward to working with other hotel companies to extend the reach of this effort.”
4. Hotel workers in several cities may be going on strike.
More than 50 hotels in Boston, Honolulu, and San Francisco are facing the possibility of a labor stoppage after more than 10,000 members of labor union Unite Here voted almost unanimously to allow for a strike. Union members’ goal: To secure contracts with better financial terms and working conditions than their previous contracts, which were negotiated in the pre-pandemic era. Click here to read more in our sister publication MeetingsNet.5. The 2028 Olympics might be car-free.
Now that the Summer Olympics in Paris have wrapped, eyes are shifting to the 2028 edition in Los Angeles. And LA Mayor Karen Bass has an ambitious plan for the notoriously traffic-filled city: no cars. This means all spectators will need to take public transportation to Olympic venues, which will include SoFi Stadium, Crypto.com Arena, and USC’s Memorial Coliseum. According to Bass, the city—which is also pledging to be the first Olympic Games in modern history to forgo building any permanent venues—will borrow thousands of buses from around the country to help with transit needs.“We're already working to create jobs by expanding our public transportation system in order for us to have a no-car Games,” Bass said at a news conference in Paris last weekend. “And that's a feat for Los Angeles, as we've always been in love with our cars. We're working to ensure that we can build a greener Los Angeles.”
