Fort Lauderdale, FL

Throughout the last 25 years, the destination that used to be known as the place “Where the Boys Are” has transformed into the place to “Meet Chic.” Fort Lauderdale, once synonymous with spring break, has redefined itself as a casually sophisticated destination with much to offer meeting and convention groups. During this time of the year, the city still plays host to several thousand college-aged visitors, but the CVB and other Fort Lauderdale agencies have worked together to put the kibosh on the rowdy, free-flowing beerfests of the past.

“We are always going to be seen as desirable for people that are looking for spring, and, from a business standpoint, business is all valuable these days,” says Christine Tascione, CMP, director of sales for the Greater Fort Lauderdale CVB. But, she is quick to add, “We do not market ourselves to the college spring break groups. We changed our marketing strategy.”

Fort Lauderdale officials decided long ago that it was time to reinvent the way the general public viewed the destination. Although many individuals and groups who are in search of a spring break location still come to the beach, they are a little more well-mannered these days.

“The hotels got together 25 years ago and decided that drinking and partying in the streets, with open containers on the beach and [people] destroying hotel property, was not the image — nor the business, necessarily — that we wanted,” Tascione explains. “So [we] set together to determine a new path of growth and development. That was led by the hotels and the community and, in collaboration with the CVB, we think, 25 years later, we’ve been pretty successful.”

In the mid-’80s, during its spring break heydays, Fort Lauderdale hosted up to 380,000 college students at a time. When it came time to rethink the area’s positioning, early talks focused on convincing the community that business would live on without the loud and rowdy crowd. Once community officials came to an agreement, $26 million was directed toward improving the beach area, along with a few targeted policy changes, such as the doing-away of free parking and a ban on open containers.

As years passed, word of mouth helped to spread the news that Fort Lauderdale had graduated from spring break. In 1991, with the opening of the Greater Fort Lauderdale/Broward County Convention Center, the city opened the doors to meeting and convention business.

Many other significant changes have occurred along the beach since then. For instance, visitors who frequented the area in the ’80s might recall the Candy Store Lounge, a renowned hot spot and, it is said, the original home of the wet T-shirt contest. Today, in its place, stands a new icon: The Ritz-Carlton, Fort Lauderdale, a reflection on the changing times in the destination.

“We like to point to that and show, really, how far we've come from one point to the other,” Tascione says. “If you were to visit us now, vs. 25 years ago, the destination has grown up. The location, the quality of the shopping and the dining, and the quality of the hotels that are located on Fort Lauderdale’s beach area has changed drastically and tremendously.”

The roster of Fort Lauderdale’s transformation and renovation projects during recent years is staggering. Among the highlights, Florida’s first W Hotel is coming to Fort Lauderdale next month, opening on April 23. The Fort Lauderdale Grand Hotel & Marina completed a top-to-bottom, $72 million renovation last year and will be re-flagged, effective April 1, as the Hilton Fort Lauderdale Marina. The Marriott Harbor Beach Resort and Marina finished a $25 million guestroom renovation last year and is in the process of adding a 10,000 square foot ballroom, which will be completed later in 2009 and will bring the property’s meeting space to approximately 40,000 square feet.

These projects are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the new and revamped hotels and meeting facilities in the area. While Fort Lauderdale has cleaned up its act and aggressively worked to attract a more mature crowd, visitors can still opt to leave the business suits at home. Everyone is welcome to kick back, relax, and enjoy the beachfront. Today’s Fort Lauderdale is “defined by a sense of ease and casual chic,” Tascione says, positioned as “a destination where people are free to enjoy a real experience and be sockless and in flipflops, while still conducting serious business.”

Here lies the heart of Fort Lauderdale’s “Meet Chic” concept, a segment of the destination’s overall “Beach Chic” theme.

“That has worked from a tourism and a leisure standpoint, elevating the brand and the perception of Fort Lauderdale as a midscale destination,” Tascione says. “We really have an opportunity to offer, both literally and figuratively, [a destination] somewhere in between Palm Beach and South Beach. [We offer] the upscale and luxurious amenities that people want, whether it’s golf, or spa, or dining, or shopping, at very real and affordable prices in a destination that has more than just the beach and the suntan.”

In Fort Lauderdale, the beach and the suntan are automatic value adds to a new, diverse array of lodging, meeting and entertainment options.

Cleveland, OH

Anyone who remembers when the river used to burn in Cleveland should take another look. Throughout the last decade, Cleveland has undergone a remarkable transformation. Named as The Economist’s 2005 “best U.S. city for business meetings” and now known as the Home of Rock and Roll, Cleveland has grown from its industrial roots to become a booming destination for commerce and conventions.

“We were, in the early part of the 20th century, among the leading cities in the United States,” says Dennis Roche, president of the Positively Cleveland CVB. “As a result of that activity and the wealth that was generated at that time, we’re a city with a great deal of history, lots of solid infrastructure, lots of terrific architecture. It is, physically, a very attractive place.”

Cleveland’s economy has undergone a rapid evolution, due to growth in sectors such as medicine and education.

“Manufacturing is still the leading sector, but there was a time, a little longer than ten years ago, when 42% of the local economy was manufacturing,” Roche says. “I’d be surprised if it’s 20% at this point.”

In addition, a quiet phenomenon is occurring in downtown Cleveland: approximately 10,000 people live there now, Roche says.

“Downtown is becoming a neighborhood,” he says. “In Cleveland history, downtown was not somewhere where people lived. The population of the residential [segment] of downtown Cleveland is growing significantly… at a time when the population of the city is just a little over 400,000. In the early ’50s, when the population of Cleveland was over a million, there were fewer than 3,000 people who lived in the central business district.”

Many people know that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum calls Cleveland home, and rightfully so. After all, Cleveland disc jockey Alan “Moondog” Freed is credited for coining the very term rock and roll. The city’s music heritage has been an integral force in Positively Cleveland’s marketing campaigns, along with the new Cleveland Plus brand, which was designed to encompass the area’s many tourism and meetings assets.

“The Cleveland Plus brand grew out of an alliance,” Roche explains. “Three organizations, including ourselves, came together and formed the Cleveland Plus marketing alliance. Rather than have us separately going about the business of marketing the town to different audiences, we would pool our resources, do some additional fundraising, and rather than market just the city of Cleveland or some narrow confines, we want to market the entire Northeast Ohio region, so that Cleveland Plus is the best-known brand in the area.”

In addition to Positively Cleveland, the alliance includes economic development group Team NEO and the area chamber of commerce, called the Greater Cleveland Partnership. Together, the three separate organizations recognized in one another several common goals, and they have since capitalized on a collaborative relationship.

“It basically started with the simple realization that we have an awful lot of things in common,” Roche says. “We are all doing very similar things; we just happen to have different audiences. Given those common objectives and common missions, why are we not working more closely together? We have very good relationships with these organizations. Formation of an alliance was an easy thing for us to do.

Cleveland Plus is a very flexible, inclusive brand, which Roche says is a big benefit when it comes to marketing an area that contains multiple cities and virtues. A few of the different applications: Cleveland Plus Akron, Canton, Youngstown. Cleveland Plus arts and culture. Cleveland Plus professional and amateur sports.

“That particular brand can be used in a wide variety of circumstances to convey different messages,” Roche says, pointing out that the Cleveland Plus area has much to offer, both old and new. “Our entertainment districts are booming. The restaurant industry has grown dramatically. The [hotel] inventory is improving over time.”

Recent improvements include a makeover for the Holiday Inn Lakeside in downtown Cleveland, which has been rebranded as the DoubleTree Hotel Cleveland Downtown/Lakeside. The Ritz-Carlton, Cleveland, part of the Tower City complex, has completed an $8 million renovation. The Cleveland Airport Marriott just finished the first phase of a $20 million renovation project.

However, Cleveland still faces a few challenges when it comes to attracting meeting and convention business. Top-of-mind for Roche is the city’s aging convention center.

“It is a wonderful, grand old building, and by today’s standard, it is not very competitive,” Roche says. “Selling the building is challenge #1.”

That challenge might soon be resolved, however. Officials have been in talks regarding a new convention center and an attached Medical Mart. Once a new building is in place, Roche says Cleveland officials anticipate a great deal of development and improvement among the city’s hotels.

“This is the big project as it relates to hospitality in town these days,” Roche says. “Our county commissioners have been studying various options for a long time now. We will have, in very short order, a brand-new convention center to market.”

Another challenge lies in getting people to come to Cleveland. First, people have to notice Cleveland. A few years ago, the bureau undertook a research project to determine how meeting professionals and individuals outside of Cleveland viewed the city. Results showed a general lack of awareness of Cleveland’s features and benefits outside the area.

“We are trying to communicate to people outside of our city what it is that this town has to offer,” Roche says. “We have learned in recent years that getting people to Cleveland, sometimes, can be a challenge, but once they’re here, they see a city that’s alive and has lots of assets, lots of attributes, that they didn’t expect to find. We get that reaction all of the time.”

The Cleveland of today has much more to offer meeting and convention groups than did the Cleveland of a decade ago. In today’s economic environment, Roche believes companies and organizations that need to watch their bottom lines should consider “venues and destinations that can offer them value.”

“The Cleveland of today has added a lot to its inventory as a destination,” Roche says. “The bottom line for everybody is a very attractive bottom line: what it costs to enjoy all of these things in Cleveland is a very small number, relative to what it costs in other destinations.”

And what about the river? Its infamous 1960s combustion helped to inspire an environmental movement in the region. Today, the area’s annual Burning River Fest commemorates the resulting river cleanup and provides eco-friendly education and entertainment for visitors, providing yet one more unexpected aspect to Cleveland Plus.

New Orleans, LA

While the general public might always view New Orleans as the home of Mardi Gras, meeting and event planners have long seen the city as an ideal location for groups. When Hurricane Katrina swept ashore in August 2005, New Orleans officials were faced not only with rebuilding their city, but with rebuilding their city’s image as a safe and healthy convention destination.

“Prior to Katrina, New Orleans was certainly known for Mardi Gras, and it's always been known as a fun place to visit, and it's always been known for unique culture and wonderful food,” says Kelly Schulz, vice president of communications and public relations for the New Orleans Metropolitan CVB. “It was also known as a very strong convention destination. We were in a unique situation because of Hurricane Katrina. Immediately after Katrina, our job was to educate convention planners about the state of the city.”

One of the CVB’s greatest challenges involved overcoming negative media coverage to show the nation that New Orleans’ downtown core remained, for the most part, intact. Floodwaters and hurricane damage devastated many residential areas but did not reach the French Quarter, the downtown area, or the city’s Ernest N. Morial Convention Center.

“The damage that happened during Hurricane Katrina did not affect the historic tourist areas of the city,” Schulz says. “The things that everyone saw on television, with the people being rescued from their rooftops… those parts of the city were in the residential, outlying suburban areas. The problem we had is that the convention center was used as a shelter, and it was not ever intended to be a shelter.”

Following its stint as home to hurricane refugees, the convention center closed until May 2006 for $60 million in renovations and repairs. New Orleans lost $3 billion of business while the convention center was out of commission. In the meantime, the CVB launched an education campaign to let the nation know that New Orleans was still open for business.

“People were remembering the terrible devastation that happened out in the neighborhood,” Schulz says. “But the historic, downtown core of the city was intact, and the convention center repairs were under way. We had the infrastructure to host meetings.”

To prove it, the CVB launched a “Seeing is Believing” campaign, inviting convention planners to visit the city and experience New Orleans for themselves.

“Getting them to come here and see it for themselves was really the first step in reinventing ourselves after Katrina,” Schulz says. “We did more site inspections, I think, in the two years after Katrina than we did in 30 years as a CVB. That was a very powerful tool for us.”

As part of its outreach efforts, the CVB published a 15-page informational document to address commonly-asked questions regarding the city’s recovery efforts. Schulz says safety in New Orleans formed the core of many questions, such as, “What if another hurricane comes? Is New Orleans prepared? How have the levees been repaired? How is the city going to ensure future flood protection, so another Katrina doesn't happen?”

“It wasn't just coming from the CVB,” Schulz adds. “We gave data about the state of our levee system. We would cite facts from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is the organization that oversees the levees. If we were talking about safety and security, we would cite facts from the New Orleans police department.”

Another element of the city’s recovery involved ongoing cooperation from media outlets in reporting on positive news, “which is challenging, because there are still parts of New Orleans, to this day, that are not recovered yet,” Schulz says. However, as time passes and images of Katrina’s aftermath fade, business is back with a bang in New Orleans.

“Working with the media, we've been able to convey the message that major conventions are returning to the city,” Schulz says. “It's pretty much business as usual, from a convention standpoint.”

The American Library Association brought the first post-Katrina citywide to New Orleans in June 2006.

“That was less than a year after Katrina, so we needed to make sure that when we told the American Library Association that we were going to be ready for them, that was, in fact, the case,” Schulz says. “Not just with the convention center repairs, but with citywide infrastructure and staffing, and that restaurants and hotels were going to be open. We did those things. We delivered on our promise, and the result was an incredible convention that people are still talking about.”

Support from influential organizations and figures within the meetings and events industry also played an integral role in restoring New Orleans’ convention business. Schulz cites Christine Duffy, CEO of Maritz Travel, as an important ally for the city soon after Katrina.

“She intentionally moved her annual sales meeting from St. Louis, which is their headquarters city, to New Orleans,” Schulz said. “They brought several hundred Maritz Travel sales professionals… in May of 2006. She was really one of the first ones to say, ‘It's the right thing to do for leaders of the industry to come to New Orleans.’”

Since then, both MPI and PCMA have held their conventions in New Orleans.

“Both of those events were phenomenal successes,” Schulz says. “To host a meeting of all your customers is a pretty big deal. Those people were able to see it for themselves, and they would be able to go back and say, ‘You know what? I was just there, and this was my experience.’ Having those influential people in the city really did help us.”

Today, the CVB works to spread the word that “meeting in New Orleans has never been better,” Schulz says. The convention center recently underwent another $20 million in improvements, and the CVB has added several new programs and services to its roster. For instance, a new director of public relations joined the team two years ago to coordinate marketing plans with planners in order to boost attendance at New Orleans meetings and events.

“From a tourism marketing standpoint, we're past the point of talking about pre-Katrina and post-Katrina,” Schulz says. “All the things people have always loved about New Orleans are alive and well. Come back and visit.”

After all, seeing is believing.

Photo: Cleveland Skyline From Lake Erie
Cleveland's beautiful skyline at night features Key Tower, the tallest building between New York City and Chicago; the BP Building; and the Terminal Tower, the second tallest building in the world when it opened in 1930 at 52 stories high. The white facade of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum shines brilliantly into the night. (c) Courtesy of positivelycleveland.com

Serenity J. Knutson is the Editor in Chief of PlannerWire.com, the News, Information and Community website for meeting and event planners. Contact her at Serenity@PlannerWire.com.

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