Bringing the kids along isn’t just for vacations: A growing number of people attending meetings and conventions, particularly in resort destinations, are taking their children with them.
“People are working harder, and more. The lines between vacation time, personal time, and work time have become blurred—they’re not as defined as they used to be,” says Mike Kass, director of marketing for the J. W. Marriott Starr Pass Resort and Spa in Tucson, where 80 percent of business is generated by meeting groups. “If people come to a resort in a great destination for a meeting, they think, ’Why not also make this into a vacation?’ It allows them to have quality time, to do something with their family that they never get to do at home.” Hotels are also making it easier to do this, with many offering special programs and activities for younger guests.
Opened last fall, the 730-room Omni Orlando Resort at ChampionsGate, has an almost 2,000-square-foot camp for kids ages 3 to 14. Activities include video games and air hockey, arts and crafts, movies, board games, basketball, monkey bars, and climbing tunnels. Special evening events—like a pizza party or movie night—can also coincide with parents’ evening programs. There are also off-site excursions to SeaWorld and the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral. The camp has an hourly fee structure, starting at $10 per hour for one child, including snacks; no reservations are necessary.
Just five miles from Walt Disney World, the hotel is surrounded by acres of wetlands and has plenty of attractions for grown-ups, too, including two world-class golf courses designed by Greg Norman. Equipped with a spa, fitness center, and seven bars and restaurants, the Omni also offers extensive event facilities, including more than 70,000 square feet of meeting space, 27 meeting rooms, and outdoor function space.
Opened in May, Marriott’s 349-room Horseshoe Bay Resort, in the Texas Hill Country, has the Monarch Kids Club, a recreation program for children ages 4 to 12 that offers everything from arts and crafts and excursions to music and video games. The hotel, which also offers in-room child care, can set up special group events for kids, including a “welcome to Texas” party, a carnival, and cooking classes. (Parents can cook, too—the hotel arranges chili cook-offs and Iron Chef-style competitions as teambuilding activities.)
For the business portion of the stay, the resort has more than 22,000 square feet of meeting space (all with Wi-Fi), a 12,000-square-foot ballroom, and 40,000 square feet of outdoor event space.
Opened in January, the J. W. Marriott Starr Pass Resort and Spa, set on 50 acres in Tucson Mountain Park, is the city’s first new resort in 18 years. It features 575 guest rooms, including 35 suites; a 20,000-square-foot spa; seven restaurants; a 27-hole Arnold Palmer golf course; and more than 88,000 square feet of flexible meeting space. Two outdoor terraces—one 10,000 square feet, the other 7,500 square feet—are ideal for day or nighttime functions.
The hotel has a kids club for children ages 4 to 12; rates are $65 per child for a full day and $35 for a half day. Arts and crafts, games, and scavenger hunts are offered, while evening activities include star-gazing and meeting the creatures of the night from the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.
Two resorts near London that cater to groups also provide special services for children. The Grove, 35 minutes from central London, is an 18th-century red-brick mansion set on 300 acres of parkland. Already equipped with an 18-hole golf course, a spa, two large pools, a croquet lawn, and tennis courts, the Grove opened a kids’ center in December 2004 complete with its own pool, outdoor adventure playground, sandpit, tree house, and donkey. For grown-ups, the hotel also has 23 contemporary meeting rooms for groups as small as five or as large as 750, and a five-acre walled garden that can hold 1,000.
The Four Seasons Hotel Hampshire, which is less than an hour from both Heathrow and Gatwick airports, is set on 500 acres of historic grounds, occupied by the bishops of Bath and Wells in the 11th century. The hotel’s program for children is offered in a separate facility, Reeds Cottage, opened in May. Daily activities include games, crafts, stories, and movies, as well as horseback riding, canal boating, kite flying, and scavenger hunts. Kids also receive their own bathrobes and toiletries.
The hotel contains 133 guest rooms, two ballrooms, three meeting rooms, and a stone terrace for outdoor receptions. It also offers a spa, an indoor pool, tennis courts, an equestrian facility, and clay-pigeon shooting lessons.
—Jane L. Levere
Posted 11.14.05
“People are working harder, and more. The lines between vacation time, personal time, and work time have become blurred—they’re not as defined as they used to be,” says Mike Kass, director of marketing for the J. W. Marriott Starr Pass Resort and Spa in Tucson, where 80 percent of business is generated by meeting groups. “If people come to a resort in a great destination for a meeting, they think, ’Why not also make this into a vacation?’ It allows them to have quality time, to do something with their family that they never get to do at home.” Hotels are also making it easier to do this, with many offering special programs and activities for younger guests.
Opened last fall, the 730-room Omni Orlando Resort at ChampionsGate, has an almost 2,000-square-foot camp for kids ages 3 to 14. Activities include video games and air hockey, arts and crafts, movies, board games, basketball, monkey bars, and climbing tunnels. Special evening events—like a pizza party or movie night—can also coincide with parents’ evening programs. There are also off-site excursions to SeaWorld and the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral. The camp has an hourly fee structure, starting at $10 per hour for one child, including snacks; no reservations are necessary.
Just five miles from Walt Disney World, the hotel is surrounded by acres of wetlands and has plenty of attractions for grown-ups, too, including two world-class golf courses designed by Greg Norman. Equipped with a spa, fitness center, and seven bars and restaurants, the Omni also offers extensive event facilities, including more than 70,000 square feet of meeting space, 27 meeting rooms, and outdoor function space.
Opened in May, Marriott’s 349-room Horseshoe Bay Resort, in the Texas Hill Country, has the Monarch Kids Club, a recreation program for children ages 4 to 12 that offers everything from arts and crafts and excursions to music and video games. The hotel, which also offers in-room child care, can set up special group events for kids, including a “welcome to Texas” party, a carnival, and cooking classes. (Parents can cook, too—the hotel arranges chili cook-offs and Iron Chef-style competitions as teambuilding activities.)
For the business portion of the stay, the resort has more than 22,000 square feet of meeting space (all with Wi-Fi), a 12,000-square-foot ballroom, and 40,000 square feet of outdoor event space.
Opened in January, the J. W. Marriott Starr Pass Resort and Spa, set on 50 acres in Tucson Mountain Park, is the city’s first new resort in 18 years. It features 575 guest rooms, including 35 suites; a 20,000-square-foot spa; seven restaurants; a 27-hole Arnold Palmer golf course; and more than 88,000 square feet of flexible meeting space. Two outdoor terraces—one 10,000 square feet, the other 7,500 square feet—are ideal for day or nighttime functions.
The hotel has a kids club for children ages 4 to 12; rates are $65 per child for a full day and $35 for a half day. Arts and crafts, games, and scavenger hunts are offered, while evening activities include star-gazing and meeting the creatures of the night from the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.
Two resorts near London that cater to groups also provide special services for children. The Grove, 35 minutes from central London, is an 18th-century red-brick mansion set on 300 acres of parkland. Already equipped with an 18-hole golf course, a spa, two large pools, a croquet lawn, and tennis courts, the Grove opened a kids’ center in December 2004 complete with its own pool, outdoor adventure playground, sandpit, tree house, and donkey. For grown-ups, the hotel also has 23 contemporary meeting rooms for groups as small as five or as large as 750, and a five-acre walled garden that can hold 1,000.
The Four Seasons Hotel Hampshire, which is less than an hour from both Heathrow and Gatwick airports, is set on 500 acres of historic grounds, occupied by the bishops of Bath and Wells in the 11th century. The hotel’s program for children is offered in a separate facility, Reeds Cottage, opened in May. Daily activities include games, crafts, stories, and movies, as well as horseback riding, canal boating, kite flying, and scavenger hunts. Kids also receive their own bathrobes and toiletries.
The hotel contains 133 guest rooms, two ballrooms, three meeting rooms, and a stone terrace for outdoor receptions. It also offers a spa, an indoor pool, tennis courts, an equestrian facility, and clay-pigeon shooting lessons.
—Jane L. Levere
Posted 11.14.05
Activities for kids at the J. W. Marriott Starr Pass Resort and Spa in Tucson include star-gazing.
