Destinations in the Southeast showcase their freshest investments for MICE groups, from unique small venues designed with cutting-edge green building practices to historic hotels revived in retro-futurist style.
“Personalization is where Visit Orlando and the destination can really stand apart when we’re working with meeting customers,” says Casandra Matej, President and CEO, Visit Orlando. “You may have thousands of attendees, but they each want an individualized experience for their meeting, and I think that’s something that we do very well. We have a lot of intellectual talent throughout our community and Visit Orlando can work with meeting professionals to connect them with that. I think that’s part of innovation, because we want to discover what the customers goals are and how we can align our community, so those meetings and events can not only be served, but reach their goals and what they’re trying to achieve.”
The Orange County Convention Center (OCCC) is moving forward with enhancements to its North-South Building, which will include an additional 60,000 sf of meeting space and an 80,000-sf ballroom, as well as a new entry to the North-South Building along Convention Way. A second phase of the expansion, pending approval, would add a further 200,000 sf of contiguous exhibit space to the building, while also incorporating connectivity between the North and South concourses. When completed, both phases will provide a total of 1.15 million sf of exhibit space in the North-South Building.
New additions to Orlando’s theme parks include the 2025 debut of Universal Epic Universe at Universal Orlando Resort. Disney Experiences has also announced its largest ever expansion at the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World Resort; while Disney Meetings & Events is poised to unveil new meeting products and resources including a creative studio where meeting professionals can collaborate with Disney Meetings & Events experts (we’ve got more on this in this issue’s Fresh Meets column).
“I think the immense variety of product is a key differentiator for Orlando,” says Matej. “We have 130,000 hotel rooms in our community, and I think that’s more than any other U.S. destination. So what that means is there’s a variety of choices that customers can make, and I think that sets us apart. But what ultimately sets us apart is that we’re a city built on imagination. So whatever a group can imagine, we can create it in our destination. We’ve got the creative talent throughout the community to create events unlike any other.”
Recent openings include the Evermore Orlando Resort, which opened in January 2024 and features a 20-acre sandy beach centered around the 8-acre Evermore Bay and includes a 2,500-sf event venue called The Boathouse. Located at the resort, the Conrad Orlando is Orlando’s first Hilton luxury brand and offers 433 rooms, a spa, several dining options and 65,000 sf of flexible indoor/outdoor meeting space.
The Renaissance Orlando Resort & Spa has opened following a complete transformation and rebranding. It will offer 394 guest rooms and more than 25,000 sf of meeting space.
Live! at the Pointe Orlando is a new 73,000-sf immersive indoor/outdoor dining and entertainment destination, which opened at Pointe Orlando in September 2024. Anchored by several dining experiences, the complex also includes Live! Plaza, a 37,000-sf event space.
“At Visit Orlando, we’re experts of the destination,” says Matej. “We know the updates of what’s happening, which serves a real purpose for all of our convention and meetings customers. We’ve also recently developed a partnership with United Arts, which is an arts agency that works with local artists as well as art museums and venues. We have that relationship in place so we can tap into a one-stop shop to create a wow event with local artists and venues. We have an event called Immerse, which literally creates a diverse arts festival in downtown Orlando. They can do a turnkey event for meetings groups where the festival is recreated at the convention center.”
“We’ve invested a lot in our downtown, in terms of connecting people and helping them get around,” says Doug Bennett, Executive VP, Louisville Tourism. “One of the big innovations we specifically have made is our downtown Visitor Center. We totally redid it after 20 years and reimagined the space to make it more interactive. This serves as your first introduction to Bourbon City, but there’s more than just education at the Visitor Center. It is really intended to maximize someone’s experience as they’re coming to Louisville. Corporate groups can plug into that, but it really all starts at our airport, where we have added a Welcome Center so groups can tailor a meet-and-greet or a sense of arrival at the airport.”
Louisville’s iconic Churchill Downs horse racing complex has just completed a $200 million reimagining of its paddock, expanding its space and adding extra seating, and has further announced a new $90 million upgrade to its grandstand and pavilion, set for completion ahead of the 151st Kentucky Derby in 2025. Located on its grounds, the Kentucky Derby Museum tells the story of the racing event from its 1874 inception, and can host events for up to 2,000. Spaces include a 3,700-sf Great Hall, 3,000-sf Second Floor Gallery and 7,300-sf Derby Cafe & Bourbon Bar.
The Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory is a downtown attraction located on Museum Row and celebrating the role of the Louisville Slugger bat in baseball’s past, present and future. Showcasing baseball artifacts and memorabilia, the museum can accommodate groups of between 250 and 1,000 attendees across three spaces and is available for buyouts. Museum tours can be combined with a bourbon-tasting experience at the adjacent Barrels & Billets distillery.
The Muhammad Ali Center, also located downtown, explores the life and legacy of this boxing legend. Spaces include the 6,700-sf View Pointe Hall offering panoramic views of the Ohio River, the 1,225-sf Torch Terrace outdoor space, and the 3,200-sf Main Lobby.
“We are considered a smaller destination but we have the ability to plug into world-class venues,” says Bennett. “We have great Broadway that comes to our city. We have great museums and venues as well as our distilleries, and you don’t have to like bourbon to want to learn the history and the culture of bourbon as it relates to Kentucky. Ninety-five percent of the world’s bourbon is produced in our state, and many distilleries go back five, six, seven generations. It really is a cultural experience as much as it is about enjoying a sip of bourbon.”
The Galt House Hotel, part of Trademark Collection by Wyndham, is Louisville’s only waterfront hotel. The hotel underwent a $100 million renovation in 2020, and offers 1,310 guest rooms and suites, 130,000 sf of convention space, more than 50 meeting rooms and 70 residences.
Other convention hotels in Louisville include the 612-room Omni Louisville Hotel, offering 70,000 sf of space across 54 rooms, including a 20,000-sf Grand Ballroom; and the 1,300-room Hyatt Regency Louisville, which offers 21,000 sf of space, including 23 conference rooms and a 9,280-sf ballroom that can accommodate up to 1,300 attendees.
“Norfolk is most known for being a naval destination,” says Sarah Hughes, VP of Marketing & Communications, Visit Norfolk. “Anyone traveling to our area is most familiar with us having the largest naval base in the world. We’re also home to the Port of Virginia and the North American headquarters of NATO. We’re a maritime and waterfront city with a very walkable downtown, and culture is a huge thing for our city. We have a lot of renowned museums, specifically when it comes to glass art—you will find everything from the Botanical Gardens to the Virginia Arts Festival to the Chrysler Museum of Art.”
The Ryan Resilience Lab has been constructed as a global model for coastal resilience, and is designed to teach the world’s coastal residents and businesses how to respond as sea levels rise. Its construction includes cutting-edge green building practices and systems such as floating docks, green roofs, solar arrays, rainwater capture and more. The multi-purpose building is available for groups and buyouts up to 85 theater-style or 100 for a reception.
Norfolk Botanical Gardens has undergone the largest expansion in its 85-year history with the addition of the Garden of Tomorrow. New construction includes the 2-story 26,000-sf Perry Conservatory, which will house and protect the most threatened plants around the world, allowing the institution to expand its conservation efforts. The Gardens encompass 175 acres and include more than 17,000 sf of meeting space.
“We have three convention hotels in our downtown area, and the wonderful thing is that they are all in walking distance of each other,” says Hughes. “Our sweet spot for groups is 500 attendees on a peak night, but we can definitely accommodate smaller or larger than that depending on what the needs of the group are. We have an Elizabeth River trail that is a 10.5-mile paved trail, which goes through several of the city of Norfolk’s different neighborhoods and offers outdoor recreation experiences such as kayaking.”
Hilton Norfolk The Main offers 300 guest rooms including 11 luxury suites, as well as sweeping views of the Elizabeth River or downtown skyline. The property boasts more than 60,000 sf of flexible space and can accommodate groups up to 2,000 attendees. Its 18,382-sf Main Grand Ballroom is Virginia’s largest hotel ballroom, and it offers three dining options including a rooftop beer garden.
Norfolk Waterside Marriott is conveniently connected to Waterside Convention Center, and located just moments from the USS Wisconsin and cruises on the Spirit of Norfolk. It boasts 68,879 sf of event space and can accommodate groups up to 2,400. Sheraton Norfolk Waterside Hotel offers waterfront views and 45,570 sf of event space, and can accommodate groups up to 1,600 attendees.
“Our Savannah Convention Center has undergone an expansion and the new portion of the building will be opening in December 2024,” says Jeff Hewitt, Chief Sales Officer, Visit Savannah. “The building will now have 200,000 sf of exhibition space, including a 40,000-sf ballroom, plus another 25,000-sf ballroom with 36 breakouts, an amphitheater and a rooftop patio with beautiful views of the river and the Savannah skyline.
Additionally, we’re soon to have new water ferries. We’ll take delivery of those boats in November and that’s going to be a very welcome addition to the services that we provide. That’s a free transportation service that goes back and forth across the river. The two boats will be diesel electric hybrids, they’ll carry 150 passengers each, with all the electronics and bells and whistles, and so we’re very excited about that.”
Opening Q4 2024, the AC Hotel Savannah Historic District offers 52 guest rooms with balconies overlooking the Savannah River and more than 4,000 sf of flexible event space as well as a rooftop restaurant bar.
The Ritz-Carlton, Savannah has an anticipated opening date of early 2026 and will include a 104-room hotel within a historic Savannah skyscraper office building in the city’s downtown. The project will also include 20 residences that will share amenities including a restaurant, lobby lounge, members-only club and a rooftop bar and pool. The development will also offer a 5,000-sf spa and wellness facility and more than 5,000 sf of meeting space.
Also set to debut in early 2026, the 221-room Recess Hotel & Club will transform Savannah’s historic Manger Building, an iconic fixture of Savannah’s skyline since its inception as Hotel Savannah in 1912. The hotel design will express a retro-futurist aesthetic and include co-working spaces, a rooftop pool and bar, circuit-based spa and fitness facility, 6,500-sf 2-story event space, classic French brasserie and more.
“We are your unbiased local experts,” says Hewitt. “What we want to do is connect every event organizer and planner with the best service providers that match their needs. So whether you’re looking to host an event in a Civil War fortress, or whether you want to incorporate an ironworks foundry from the early-1900s, we know the venues, we know the services, we know the quality of the different facilities and all we want to do is connect you with the best service providers that match your needs. So if you want to have an event on a small private island, if you want to take your people on boats, if you want to have 1,000 people on a river boat, we have the relationships and we have a destination service department that is dedicated to helping people plan those events.”
gotolouisville.com/meeting-planners; visitnorfolk.com/meetings; visitsavannah.com/meetings; orlandomeeting.com