The Meetings Collaborative is a global community space for meeting planners to review hotels and service providers, discuss issues and needs and share best practices. http://meetingscollaborative.com Wed, 07 Jan 2009 19:36:01 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 The Meetings Collaborative is a global community space for meeting planners to review hotels and service providers, discuss issues and needs and share best practices. http://meetingscollaborative.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1255&Itemid=#jreview_485 It’s difficult to begin because there are so many areas that stand out in my mind. Let me just say this hotel and every employee I (as well as our conference attendees) came into contact with (sales, front desk, house keeping, banquets, A/V), was the epitome of quality and customer service. If you want a conference location that is tranquil and promotes quality interaction with your attendees, this is the place for you. If you want a hotel team of supporters who are just as vested in your program’s success as you are, you can’t beat the staff at the JW Marriott Starr Pass.

I’ll begin with the pre-conference meeting which was managed by JW Marriott conference manager, Kimberly Bartlett. Kim was extremely professional and organized throughout the entire planning and execution process. The meeting resume and BEO’s were detailed and accurate and gave me the confidence she was intimately familiar with our program and its objectives. The pre-conference meeting happened to occur on my birthday and as we were wrapping up I was surprised by all the hotel attendees who brought out birthday hats, put them on, and sang me happy birthday as they brought out the most delicious chocolate cheesecake I’ve ever had the pleasure of eating. A colleague had informed Kim it was my birthday and they went out of their way to make it special.

We arrived two days before our program began so we could prepare our attendee materials. It was a lot of hard work and much time spent in our conference office. Augustina was one of the events managers on duty and she took such great care of us. Always making sure we had enough snacks, beverages, and even offering to fetch a Starbucks for us. She was absolutely delightful. When Augustina wasn’t there, Jason was taking care of us and attended to absolutely every need immediately, and with a smile.

The location was beautiful, peaceful, and relaxing. Our clients thoroughly enjoyed the escape from their typical daily chaos at the office. The resort is secluded in that it’s a 15-20 minute cab ride to get to any of the downtown/off-property restaurants, but there are a few very good restaurants on-site. The seclusion can be a drawback for some, but it really worked to our program’s benefit. Our conference is all about promoting communication and interaction between our company executives/delegates, and our clients. When we’re in an urban area it’s difficult to accomplish this objective because the attendees seem to scatter in the evening. But at the Starr Pass, everyone hung around giving our clients the opportunity to network with other attendees they typically wouldn’t interact with. And, it gave us unparalleled opportunities to engage our attendees in quality conversations without the distractions of a large city or downtown area.

The food…my goodness, the food! I could go on for pages, but will simply say it was the best food (conference or otherwise) I have ever eaten. The food was fresh and the flavors unique and delicious. Our clients are still raving about it (for example, we had scallops the size of beef tenderloins). The hotel was able to pull off an ala carte meal for 450 attendees and they did it flawlessly. Each day there was a different interactive breakfast station—made to order breakfast burritos, paninis, and quesadillas. All of the banquet servers and captains were professional and accommodating to every request.

But probably the one event that stands out the most, and does the best to sum up the level of service and dedication of this hotel, was the way they handled our closing night event. We had planned an outdoor event on the hotel’s Ania Terrace—a beautiful location with the Tucson skyline and mountains as our backdrop. We hired a great band, mariachi players, and arranged for several cowboy games (mechanical bull, etc.). I had been monitoring the weather forecast leading up to the event and there was a 30% chance of rain each evening. My heart was set on having the event outside, but we reserved the large ballroom as a back up if needed. It was evident that every hotel staff member was also looking forward to the outdoor event. They were checking the forecast every day right along with me (they even had a former meteorologist on staff making weather predictions). The day of the event called for a 40% chance of scattered thunderstorms but we were still optimistic we could have our event outdoors. We’d seen the same prediction every other day of the week and it hadn’t come to fruition so we were hopeful our luck would continue. As 2:00 came, we were growing more concerned as the clouds began to get darker. As I’m sure you’re all familiar, most hotels would require a decision at this point—either set up outside and run the risk of shutting down if it started to pour, or make the decision to stay inside (which would have been heartbreaking if it ended up not raining after all). The JW Marriott Starr Pass did everything they could to help us delay this decision. They set up the outdoor area, and duplicated a set up inside—including the stage for the band. They positioned the food stations to be indoor as well as outdoor which would allow them to move in at a moment’s notice with little impact to our attendees. It began pouring at around 4:45—just one hour and fifteen minutes before our event was to begin. Everyone on hand (from the banquet servers to the executive chef) was outside in the rain pulling tablecloths, moving in the food stations, helping the band move, etc. And we were all then working to get everything ready inside. By 6 p.m. we were lighting the last candle on the table and ready to open the doors for our attendees who were, for the most part, oblivious to the last minute change. Can you imagine the degree of teamwork and commitment required to make this happen? Our event turned out to be amazing, the entertainment was wonderful, and the food was incredible. It was because of the hotel’s quick reaction, flexibility, and commitment that we were able to pull off such a successful event. It just goes to show that if you shield your attendees from the stress and crisis, they will inevitably have a positive experience.

For credibility sake, I struggled to find one single item to complain about and it occurred on the last day. Our program was ending at 11 a.m. and at around 10 a.m. the coffee station ran out of coffee cup sleeves. That’s it…that’s the best complaint I could come up with and I really had to scrape for it.

Needless to say, I am a raving fan of the JW Marriott Starr Pass!

]]> jzahradnik Tucson Mon, 15 Sep 2008 16:54:31 +0100 http://meetingscollaborative.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1255&Itemid=#jreview_94 Excellent Hotel. A casual ellegance that really helps to promote interaction amongst delegates. Food & beverage is by far the best that we've experienced at any hotel. All locally grown, organic and presented artfully. Golf is great, spa is beautiful. Excellent meeting space. Great outdoor patio in center of hotel (Salud Terrace). Our attendees were pleasantly surprised by the destination. Downfall is limited number of quality restaurants nearby for dine-around. Most restaurants were approximately 45 minutes away.

]]> msb597 Tucson Thu, 26 Jun 2008 16:13:47 +0100