[ON LOCATION] LISA SIMUNDSON
It’s not such a small world after all. At least, not in Orlando. When you factor in what’s new in Orlando and what’s coming down the pike, it’s safe to say that Florida’s entertainment kingdom is growing exponentially, giving meetings and conventions the royal treatment with new brands positioned at the pinnacle of group travel, along with an expanding universe of upgrades and renovations and new chef-driven restaurants that have vaulted onto the international dining scene.
“A great leisure destination makes a great meetings destination, and more than 50 percent of our domestic travelers don’t set foot in the parks,” says Cassandra Matej, president and CEO of Visit Orlando, noting that increasing luxury options is a priority for the bureau. “If people want a VIP experience, we can put that together for meeting and incentive groups. Orlando is ever-evolving and we’re reinvesting,” she adds. “Competition is fierce and we’ve got to stay ahead of the curve.”
During a recent meetings media FAM hosted by Visit Orlando, Prevue got an advance look at the region’s evolution and the major developments that continue to reshape Orlando’s meetings landscape.
In a region known for its outsize, news-making projects, the scope of the new Evermore Orlando Resort is next-level. Billed as Orlando’s “first-of-its-kind beach paradise,” Evermore is also an oasis for groups. A new 2-story Boathouse event center overlooking Evermore Bay offers ballroom and boardroom space, complete with a custom Chris-Craft boat for VIP arrivals, while the Evermore Meeting Center houses a ballroom hosting 162 classroom-style and 240 banquet-style. Meanwhile, half of the entire campus, including beaches and lawns, also is available for group usage, for a total 150,000 sf of indoor/outdoor event space.
Accommodations at Evermore, the former Villas of Grand Cypress, were reimagined for groups, with nearly 70 full-size homes featuring saltwater pools, 200+ 4-bedroom flats and 41 2-bedroom villas, making it ideal for both meeting and incentive groups.
Set across Evermore Bay from the Boathouse and sharing the resort’s amenities is the newbuild Conrad Orlando, offering 433 rooms and suites, the luxe Conrad Spa and private Water Garden, zero-entry pool and rooftop restaurant, Ceiba, featuring views of the Disney fireworks. Groups arrive and depart in style from their own entrance, with meetings accommodated in more than 65,000 sf of flexible event space.
“We have the most meeting space of any Conrad in the brand outside of Las Vegas,” says the hotel’s DOSM Jill Yurko, noting the Conrad’s third-floor meeting facilities—including a grand ballroom and junior ballroom—are set apart from the rest of the resort with a private staircase leading to public areas, including the lobby bar, Apero.
“Our design is based on water, and all of our breakout space is named after water-forming florals of Florida, such as the Lotus Boardroom,” Yurko says.
Prevue’s host hotel, Signia by Hilton Bonnet Creek—which forms a meeting, dining and accommodations complex with the adjoining Waldorf Astoria Orlando—has emerged from a massive lobby renovation, adding the Myth Bar and Muse, a grab-and-go convenience shop. This Official Disney Hotel also has added to the extensive meeting space set between itself and the Waldorf with the new and scenic Waterside expansion, built over water. Following this addition, the Bonnet Creek complex now has just under 300,000 sf of dedicated meeting space.
“It might sound like a contradiction, but this new space allows us to attract smaller groups,” says Mitch Jordan, complex DOS for both properties. “We’ll no longer be packing in one big group that uses all the space. Now three groups will be able to have their own ballrooms.”
The hotel also has made mealtime a fun time for groups, welcoming attendees into the kitchen of La Luce restaurant with the chef—in our case, Executive Chef Bernard Federmeyer—to hand roll and toss their own pizza dough, add the toppings of their choice and bake in the huge pizza oven.
“We were the world’s first Signia Hotel and we have a lot of personality,” Jordan says.
The Waldorf has undergone its own upgrades to the golf club, guest rooms, meeting space, lobby, the famed Peacock Alley lobby bar and the incredible Bull & Bear restaurant, whose epic menu includes everything from steakhouse classics to fried chicken and the legendary $100 baked potato topped with Petrossian Ossetra caviar and gold leaf.
If that seems extravagant, it’s deliberate, Jordan says. “We’re competing with the Vegases and the Chicagos for those incentives,” he says, noting that the resort also recently unveiled its own wine label, Bonnet Creek Reserve.
Once edged out of the limelight by the attractions, downtown Orlando has made major strides in growth since the closing of Church Street Station in the early 2000s. Anchored by the magnificent Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts—celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2024—downtown’s comeback has been boosted by news of a proposed $500 million mixed- use entertainment district across from the Kia Center that would include a hotel, residences, retail and meeting space and a live event venue.
Just north of downtown Orlando in the leafy suburb of Winter Park, the boutique-style Alfond Inn at Rollins celebrated its 10th year in 2023 with the opening of a new 30,000-sf spa, centerpiece of an expansion that also includes a new fitness center, hydrotherapy amenities and a second pool deck. The hotel also recently added new guest rooms for a total 183 and increased meeting to 12,400 sf.
“While we were adding the new rooms, we completely refurbished the existing rooms and added a new type of suite,” says Debbie Potter, the hotel’s DOSM. “Our courtyard is available for groups and teambuilding and our restaurant, Hamilton’s Kitchen, has a private dining room for up to 18,” she says, noting, of this Rollins College-owned property, that “One hundred percent of the proceeds from the hotel go to fund scholarships.”
orlandomeeting.com; evermoreresort.com; hilton.com/en/hotels/orlcici-conrad-orlando; hiltonbonnetcreek.com; waldorfastoriaorlando.com