Orlando is more than the parks—and has more for meetings—is the message the tourism industry here wants to convey.
“Orlando is ever-evolving and we’re reinvesting. Over 50 percent of our domestic arrivals are here for experiences beyond the parks. Competition is fierce and we’ve got to stay ahead of the curve,” says Cassandra Matej, president and CEO of Visit Orlando. “For meetings and conventions and the incentive markets, if people want a VIP experience, we can put that together for groups.”
To that end, Visit Orlando is launching a new and improved website in Q1 2024, adding more languages to its information translations and making sure both mobile and desktop users have equally optimal experiences.
The city’s main convention venue, the Orange County Convention Center (OCCC), has the future in mind as well, unveiling the first of a two-part expansion—Phase 5A—that will add another million sf to the 7-million-sf facility by 2028 or 2029, with final design expected in 2024.
Meanwhile, the OCCC has launched a service for attendees in partnership with Orlando Health—an onsite virtual clinic, a first for any convention center, allowing doctor consultation for such medical conditions as allergies, cold and flu symptoms, stomach upset and sprains. Staffed by Orlando Health team members and open from 8 a.m.-4 p.m. during larger conventions, the clinic charges $55 per visit, with prescriptions sent to nearby pharmacies.
2024 is set to be one of the most momentous years in Orlando in terms of new openings and monumental plans on deck.
When the iconic Hilton by Orlando Bonnet Creek became the Signia by Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek in July 2021, it was the first in a new brand of premier hotels in sought-after urban and resort destinations, offering unparalleled meetings and event capabilities—including 240,000 sf of flexible meeting space—along with state-of-the-art technology and signature F&B experiences.
Signia by Hilton’s meeting center is directly adjacent to the Waldorf Astoria Orlando—first Waldorf to be built outside of New York City—which just unveiled a property-wide renovation of all guest rooms and suites, enhancements to The Waldorf Astoria Spa, culinary innovations at its award-winning restaurants Bull & Bear and Peacock Alley, and a complete restoration of the 18-hole Waldorf Astoria Golf Club.
One of the largest construction and expansion projects in the area is Evermore Orlando Resort, a new billion-dollar 10,000-room luxury resort set next to the Walt Disney World Resort but creating its own world of luxury accommodations and amenities, including flat and villa accommodations, two Jack Nicklaus-designed golf courses and a 20-acre tropical beach complex centered around the Caribbean-blue Evermore Bay. Meetings will be served by 150,000 sf of indoor/outdoor event space including a 2-story Boathouse featuring a bayfront terrace and lush event lawn. (Check out Prevue’s Incentive Evolution Summit to be held at Evermore in April — prevuemeetings.com/event/2024-incentive-evolution-summit-general.)
Evermore’s first phase opened on Jan. 1, 2024, followed days later by its anchor hotel, the 433-room Conrad Orlando, whose third-floor meeting complex offers 40,000 sf of indoor space—including a grand ballroom and a junior ballroom—along with a separate arrival entrance for groups.
“We already have a corporation booked the day we open on Jan. 9,” notes Jill Yurko, Conrad’s director of sales and marketing. “We’ll have the most meeting space of any Conrad in the brand outside of Las Vegas.”
Hotel evolutions continue at Caribe Royale Orlando Resort, which recently underwent a $140M property transformation that included a significant expansion of meeting and event spaces, and is opening the one-of-a-kind, sports-themed Stadium Club in January 2024, fusing the energy of a nightclub with the casual friendliness of a neighborhood sports bar, with eight pro-level sports simulators—great for teambuilding competitions—two bars, two 165-inch XHD projector displays and immersive, 360-degree TV viewing and seating for 500.
“No one else has something like this…it’s a game changer for us,” says Amaury Piedra, Caribe Royale’s managing director. “It will have state-of-the-art lights and sound and we’ll be able to customize events for groups.”
Additionally, Caribe Royale recently opened The Grove, a palm-lined, 20,000-sf event lawn able to accommodate 1,500.
“It’s a great new venue for groups who want to be outdoors,” Piedra says. “And in Florida, especially for anyone coming during the winter, people want to be outdoors.”
Another recently renovated property, the 1,641-room Hyatt Regency Orlando is set on International Drive steps from the OCCC and offers 315,000 sf of newly renovated meeting and event venues.
Universal Orlando Resort announced the addition of two new hotel properties, each featuring 750 guest rooms in the resort’s Prime Value category, opening in early 2025. Co-owned and -operated by Loews Hotels and located adjacent to the future site of Universal Epic Universe, the Universal Stella Nova Resort will be inspired by distant galaxies, new stars and mysterious black holes, while Universal Terra Luna Resort will be inspired by the massive and diverse planetary elements of the universe.
Across the destination, Universal Orlando offers Meeting Enhancements that engage, inspire and entertain, from branded and custom character moments to immersive atmospheres that transport attendees beyond their expectations.
Disney After Hours events will return to Walt Disney World Resort starting January 2024, offering guests an extra three hours at Magic Kingdom Park, Disney’s Hollywood Studios and EPCOT. Groups attending this separately ticketed event will receive more time to experience fan favorite attractions, character greetings and unlimited complimentary snacks, including select beverages.
Meanwhile, the multi-year transformation of EPCOT continued with the December opening of Journey of Water, Inspired by Moana, an interactive outdoor trail offering a chance to play and relate to water as it travels from the sky to the ocean and back again. December also marked the completion of the new World Celebration neighborhood in EPCOT, featuring seasonal gardens and the CommuniCore Hall & Plaza.
Not to be outdone, Aquatica Orlando announced its newest addition coming in spring 2024—Tassie’s Underwater Twist, an all-new immersive waterslide that will transform the guest ride experience into a journey through Australia’s Shark Bay seagrass meadow. Along with a whirlwind of twists, the attraction will feature a synchronized video display and a captivating orchestral score that will bring the underwater world to life.
Disney, Universal and SeaWorld all offer an amazing array of group spaces and exclusive behind-the-scenes areas for buyouts and after-hours parties, and—need it be said?—event planners who know how to deliver the WOW!
Celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2024, downtown Orlando’s grand cultural center, The Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, will open its fifth venue on Feb. 6—the Joyce & Judson Green Room, known as Judson’s Live, an intimate music seating up to 150 and like all the spaces at the center, available for group events.
In the Orange County enclave of Winter Park, the Alfond Inn at Rollins has grown by more than 50 percent since the opening of its new wing housing 71 new guestrooms, increasing the hotel’s capacity to 183. The expanded property includes The Spa—a 30,000-sf wellness facility—as well as a renovation of the original guestrooms and additional meeting space, with new meeting and board rooms providing an additional 2,400 sf of space to complement the hotel’s existing 10,000 sf of flexible meeting and event space.
See the March/April issue of Prevue for an on location review of Orlando.
Literally minutes from downtown Orlando, the mood changes in Orlando North Seminole County, a tranquil base to enjoy the “wild side” of Central Florida at places like Wekiwa Springs State Park, where guides lead group kayak excursions across water so clear, you can see straight down to the bottom.
Hotel-based meetings are hosted at a variety of properties, including the 307-room Orlando Marriott Lake Mary, with 14,000 sf of event space, including two outdoor terraces; the 309-room Hilton Orlando/Altamonte Springs, offering over 19,000 sf of event space, including 14 meeting rooms; and the 253-room Westin Lake Mary Orlando North, where nearly 15,000 sf of event space includes nine breakout rooms.
As an added bonus, with Orlando Sanford International Airport offering commercial service on national carriers, it’s a breeze to get in and out of Seminole County.
With the theme parks at its doorstep, Kissimmee retains a small-town feel while the great outdoors are open to adventures spanning everything from airboating across shimmering Lake Tohopekaliga to ziplining through the Orlando Tree Trek Adventure Park, where teambuilding group programs are designed to foster trust and build leadership skills.
More than a million sf of meeting space and 25,000+ hotel rooms welcome groups of all sizes, with convention properties including the Omni Orlando Resort at ChampionsGate, with 250,000 sf of meeting space across 59 rooms, a new event lawn and a new wing of guestrooms, bringing the hotel inventory to 1,005 rooms.
Following a recent expansion adding more than 100,000 sf of convention space and 306 new guest rooms, the Gaylord Palms Resort and Convention Center checks in at 1,718 rooms and suites and more than 500,000 sf of meeting and event space. Nine onsite restaurants, a pampering spa and water park keep guests busy and relaxed, but the resort also offers a unique attraction—a 4.5-acre garden atrium home to more than 500,000 plants, trees and flowers, accented by waterfalls and streams.
Kissimmee also recently welcomed the reopening of Delta Hotels Orlando Celebration, (formerly the Grand Orlando Resort at Celebration) set in the Disney-developed town of Celebration, a mile from WDW and featuring 20 acres of lush, tropical gardens, not to mention 718 guest rooms and 13,330 sf of event space.
Home to some of the state’s newest and oldest attractions, Polk County has a whimsical quality, a hometown vibe and something quite distinct in sandy, horizontal Florida—leafy, rolling hills, best seen in the lovely town of Lake Wales. Fitting right into that bucolic countryside is Bok Tower Gardens, a nearly-hundred-year-old attraction whose defining feature is the 60-bell Singing Tower Carillon, which plays 30-minute bell concerts twice daily. Group tours and facility rentals are available.
Another venerable Florida attraction Cypress Gardens—home of thrilling water ski shows and Southern belles decked out in antebellum finery—lives on at LEGOLAND Resort, which stands where Cypress Gardens once did and still maintains its lush botanical gardens.
Unique group venues like Bok Tower Gardens are common in Polk County, but one of the most unique is probably the Florida Air Museum in Lakeland, whose priceless collection of aerial designs, classics, ultralights, antiques and warbirds spans the early decades of aviation. The 200-acre campus also offers an array of special event spaces, from boardrooms and clubhouses to aircraft hangars and wide-open grassy areas.
For larger events and conferences, Lakeland’s RP Funding Center boasts nearly 80,000 sf of meeting space, a 3,600-seat arena and a 2,200-seat theater. Two headquarter hotels—the Hyatt Place Lakeland Center and the Marriott Spring Hill Suites—offer more than 250 rooms.
Nearby Winter Haven checks in with the AdventHealth Fieldhouse and Conference Center, which opened in 2020 with nearly 60,000 sf of multi-use space, while in downtown Winter Haven, which is undergoing an urban rebirth, a new Staybridge Suites offers 108 rooms.
South of Tampa Bay, Bradenton, Anna Maria Island and Longboat Key offer a combination of beach days and discovery days—agri-touring at Dakin Dairy Farms; delving into local history at Cortez Historic Fishing Village, the state’s oldest active fishing village; and exploring the natural world at Bishop Museum of Science and Nature, home of The Parker Manatee Rehabilitation Habitat as well as group rental spaces including a planetarium, boardroom and charming courtyards.
New on the hotel scene will be the Marriott Palmetto at the Bradenton Area Convention Center, a 252-room headquarter property set to open April 2024 with retail and meeting space as well as a rooftop restaurant.
Meanwhile, the Bradenton Convention Center itself is in the midst of a $48M transformation, adding 36,000 sf of space including a 14,000-sf ballroom and a climate-controlled corridor connecting it to the Marriott Palmetto. Two outdoor plazas also will be added to enhance the event space, and renovated spaces will be coordinated to complement the Marriott’s look. The project is slated for completion by late 2025.
Scheduled for a spring 2024 opening is the St. Regis Longboat Key Resort and Residences, built on the site of the former Colony Beach & Tennis Resort. In addition to condo residence towers, the new beachfront property will include a 166-room luxury hotel, an infinity pool and salt-water lagoon, casual and elegant dining choices, a signature spa and meeting space encompassing a ballroom, business center and catering services.
Having North America’s #1 large airport—as named by J.D. Power and Associates for the second straight year—is only the beginning of Tampa’s meeting assets.
Coming off its best summer of conventions to date and the DMO’s best fiscal year ever, Visit Tampa Bay has launched a million-dollar campaign, “the Tampa Bay Effect” to highlights its vibrant Riverwalk meetings district, where a newly renovated convention center presides over national-flag hotels, Michelin-recognized restaurants, a picturesque and walkable riverfront and water taxis that zip attendees back and forth to meetings, restaurants and attractions.
“The Riverwalk connects everything,” says Adam DePiro, chief sales officer for Visit Tampa Bay. “We’re easy to get to, it’s walkable, we have free streetcar transportation downtown.… I’ve read next year is going to be the year of the foodie, and we have 24 restaurants in the Michelin guide.” Among them is the original Columbia, founded in 1905 and the oldest continually operating restaurant in the state, offering Cuban/Spanish cuisine as well as group dining and catering.
With more than 2,500 new rooms added in the past three years, Tampa Bay has seen a hotel boom for both meetings and incentives, starting with the rebranding of the Hyatt Regency Tampa to the Hilton Tampa Downtown, located two blocks from the Riverwalk and a half-mile from Amalie Arena and the newly expanded Tampa Convention Center.
The Tampa Edition opened last year with luxury amenities and seven unique dining concepts under the guidance of a Michelin-starred chef. Right next door is Roost Tampa, downtown’s first full-service, fully furnished lifestyle apartment hotel with 97 units and a massive seventh-floor amenity deck.
Among the newest developments, the Floridan Palace Hotel, which opened in 1926, has transformed into the Hotel Flor, joining the Tapestry Collection Hotels by Hilton after a major $30M renovation, to be fully complete by July 2024. On the ground floor, the Roaring Twenties come alive in The Dan, a modern take on old-school speakeasies with a menu inspired by Gulf Coast cuisine, while 12,000 sf of function space serve meetings.
Just outside of downtown in the stylish Hyde Park district, the foodie-focused Epicurean Hotel has expanded directly across from the 137-room main hotel with 51 new guestrooms and suites, a private lobby, a rooftop terrace and new meeting space that includes a 794-sf room accommodating up to 50 guests, and a 590-sf room ideal for up to 39 guests. The 1,138-sf rooftop terrace will also provide a unique option for private events and meetings for up to 130 people, with 44 seated guests.
Across the bay from Tampa, St. Pete/Clearwater beaches are consistently rated among the best in the nation, while a focus on the arts has brought worldwide acclaim for such venues as the Salvador Dali Museum—offering teambuilding workshops—and the Chihuly Collection at the Morean Arts Center, available for private event rentals.
A hospitality icon for nearly 100 years, The Vinoy Resort and Golf Club, Autograph Collection has completed the initial phase of a comprehensive renovation, with every detail considered by a historic preservation expert who advised throughout the design process. Florida’s Golden Age is preserved in The Vinoy’s legendary Veranda Bar, refined grand lobby, elegant guest rooms, historic ballrooms and meeting spaces—totaling more than 60,000 sf—and diverse international dining experiences, while a new spa and wellness area matches the National Register property in elegance and design.
New on nationally acclaimed Clearwater Beach is the JW Marriott Clearwater Beach Resort & Spa, offering 162 guest rooms and 36 residences, a 24-hour fitness center, rooftop pool deck, sustainable, farm-fresh and classic Floridian cuisine, and more than 18,000 sf of indoor/outdoor meeting space.
It joins the 343-room Wyndham Grand Clearwater Beach, where 22,000 sf of meeting space includes the Dunes Ballroom accommodating up to 720 and a full-service production team is standing by to bring your event to high-tech life.
Also beachside, the Hiatus Curio Collection by Hilton is set to open in June 2024, complete with rooftop bar and panoramic ocean views.
Due in 2024 as well is the Moxy Hotel, coming to downtown St. Pete’s Edge District, a vibrant community home to a range of eclectic, locally owned businesses and within walking distance of all the action on Central Avenue. The Moxy’s “Plug and Meet” gathering areas provide modern ergonomic seating, large writing walls and 56-inch televisions for presentation projection.
Looking farther ahead, the Alanik Hotel will bring 200+ more rooms to Clearwater Beach in 2025, while TradeWinds Islands Resorts has a major expansion in the works, with plans to add 650 rooms and more meeting space in the coming years. And coming to Clearwater Beach in 2025, the Opal Sol will offer 57,000 sf of event space—including an 8,800-sf ballroom--and join its sister property, Opal Sands, in offering more than 106,000 sf of meeting and event space. All-suite and spacious, Opal Sol’s accommodations will range from studios to 3-bedroom suites.
Adds Brian Lowack, president and CEO of Visit St. Pete/Clearwater: “Whether you prefer your meeting or event situated where it’s bustling and action-packed, or relaxed and secluded, we have the ideal location. Think of any outdoor pursuit under the sun and you can pursue it. Hiking, biking, kayaking, parasailing, boating, fishing, it’s all here year-round, including championship-level golf and luxurious resort and day spas. Or head indoors to explore acclaimed museums, browse eclectic galleries or enjoy our thriving craft brewery and culinary scene.”
Work and play meet on Florida’s Sports Coast north of Tampa in Pasco County, where teambuilding is built into activities both down to earth and up in the air—from taking your shot at Tampa Bay Sporting Clays in Land O’ Lakes to taking the plunge at Skydive City in Zephyrhills.
Put your meeting on active mode at venues such as Wesley Chapel’s AdventHealth Ice Center—largest ice rink in the southeast U.S., with private and semi-private spaces available; or the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus, a 98,000-sf complex for local, regional and national competitions with tons of event space, boasting the adjacent 128-room Residence Inn by Marriott Tampa Wesley Chapel (part of the Tampa Bay area) as well as retail and dining options at the Shops at Winegrass.
Also offering event spaces are the Center for the Arts and Pasco-Hernando State College, both in New Port Richey, while hotel-based meeting spaces can be found at national flag properties including New Port Richey’s Quality Inn & Suites Conference Center and the Hyatt Place Wesley Chapel.
Groups racing to the Atlantic coast of Central Florida will find the ideal meeting pit stop in Daytona Beach, and the fabled Speedway is only one of the reasons. How about a convention center within walking distance of the beach? The Ocean Center—the state’s fifth largest convention center—is 400 ft from the ocean, with luxe oceanside resorts, nationally flagged properties and boutique-style hotels all within walking distance.
Adjacent to the Ocean Center, the Peabody Auditorium counters the center’s sleek modernity with historical grace, renting its 2,545-seat theater for events, receptions and meetings.
Just across A1A from the Ocean Center, the 744-room Hilton Daytona Beach Oceanfront Resort offers 8,000 sf of oceanfront event space, with the Daytona Boardwalk amusement center and the historic Daytona Beach Bandshell both adjacent.
Close by are a number of oceanfront properties with meeting space, including the new Hard Rock Hotel Daytona Beach, offering 200 rooms and an 8,300-sf outdoor Rock Royal Terrace for event hosting.