Event Experience Awards nominations close Oct. 16 ⌛️
DEADLINE EXTENDED: Enter the Event Experience Awards by Oct. 16 ⌛️

This Week in Event Venues: COVID-19 Vaccine Sites, Trump Bans, New Hybrid Solutions and More

Rounding up the latest news from hotels, convention centers, meeting spaces, restaurants and other event venues across the United States and Canada.

Mountain Shadows Resort Scottsdale, Arizona
Mountain Shadows Resort Scottsdale in Arizona is hosting outdoor meetings, complete with boardroom-style audiovisual equipment.
Photo: Courtesy of Mountain Shadows Resort Scottsdale

We're rounding up the biggest venue news of the week—in one convenient place. Got a tip? Get in touch!

In Case You Missed It
On bizbash.com, we recently took a deep-dive into new safety protocols that event venues are instituting during COVID-19. We also shared practical tips for creating safe check-in areas at live events and took a journey through some standout Nashville venues with LEO Events' Leah Taylor. 

Here are seven more things you should know this week...

1. A number of event venues are becoming vaccination sites.
While stadiums and other event venues around the world have long been serving as COVID-19 testing sites, many are now shifting to begin offering vaccines. Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, for example, will soon become a mass vaccination site; once vaccines are more widely available, staffers hope to vaccinate up to 12,000 people per day. Citi Field in New York has a similar plan. One unexpected vaccine site? Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif.; vaccinations at the theme park are expected to begin this week.

2. New York City is terminating venue contracts with the Trump Organization.
Yesterday, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the city is terminating all contracts with the Trump Organization after last week's riot at the U.S. Capitol. According to The New York Times, the decision will impact "two ice-skating rinks at Central Park, the Central Park Carousel and the Trump Golf Links at Ferry Point, a city-owned golf course in the Bronx. The Trump Organization has had profits of about $17 million a year from the contracts, Mr. de Blasio said.”

The decision comes at a time when a variety of institutions are cutting ties with the Trump brand, including the 2022 PGA Championship; on Sunday, organizers announced the event will no longer be held at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J.

3. Dr. Fauci predicts a fall opening for live music venues.
The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease reportedly made the statement at the Association for Performing Arts Professionals’ annual conference, which was held virtually Jan. 9. According to DJ Mag, “His timescale is based on when Americans could reach the necessary level of herd immunity, which is estimated to be between 70% and 85% of the country's population. ‘If everything goes right, this is will occur sometime in the fall of 2021, so that by the time we get to early-to-mid-fall, you can have people feeling safe performing onstage, as well as people in the audience,’ said Dr. Fauci, who cautioned that mask-wearing and other measures may still be necessary for some time after venues reopen."

The Darcy, Washington, D.C.The Darcy in Washington, D.C. is offering a $46,000 inauguration package that includes a two-night stay in the hotel’s 900-square-foot presidential suite, plus roundtrip transportation, a private butler, a private viewing party for up to six people and more. For guests attending the inauguration itself, the hotel can arrange a style consultation with a personal shopper, a makeup and hairstyling appointment, a one-hour photoshoot and even an in-suite couple’s massage.Photo: Courtesy of The Darcy4. D.C. hotels are offering out-of-the-box inauguration packages this year.
While next week’s inauguration for President-Elect Joe Biden will undoubtedly look a bit different this year, it hasn’t stopped local hotels from offering over-the-top packages. Riggs Washington, D.C., for example, is offering three nights in the hotel’s Riggs Suite for four people, along with a private inauguration party for up to 10 guests that includes a large screen to watch the swearing-in ceremony, a private chef and bartender, a full-service wet bar with custom cocktails, limo service, a private tour of the city’s monuments and more. The price tag? A whopping $40,000, a portion of which will be donated to the D.C. chapter of Black Lives Matter. 

For a more affordable option, The Ven at Embassy Row is offering an “inauguration survival pack”—a branded tote with hand and feet warmers, small American flags, a commemorative copy of the Jan. 20 edition of The Washington Post and more. Guests staying in the more expensive suites will also get a pair of Ray-Bans and Converse sneakers, a tongue-in-cheek nod to Biden and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris’s fashion choices. Packages start at $670 for guest rooms or $1,115 for suites. 

5. Hilton invests in hybrid.
Responding to the shift in how people meet and celebrate as the pandemic wages on, hotel chain Hilton has introduced Hilton EventReady Hybrid Solutions. The new suite of offerings, which begin rolling out globally this month, builds on Hilton’s EventReady playbook, adding new resources and capabilities for hybrid events at select properties. These hybrid-ready hotels have undergone rigorous evaluations to assess IT bandwidth and infrastructure; there are also incentives that enable customers to book at multiple properties to cut down on group sizes at any one location. As part of the program, Encore (formerly PSAV) is offering several event technology packages for small hybrid events.

6. Forbes Travel Guide has launched a new venue safety verification.
Last month, Forbes Travel Guide teamed up with digital health company Sharecare to launch a new safety-focused certification called Sharecare Health Security VERIFIED with Forbes Travel Guide. It comes with an easily identifiable seal that hotels can display on their websites and properties. To get the badge, the properties need to verify their health protocols across more than 360 standards, including hygiene protocols, ventilation, physical distancing procedures and more. "Restoring guest confidence is a critical objective for the entire global hospitality industry, especially hotels and resorts," said Filip Boyen, CEO of Forbes Travel Guide, in a press release. "By earning the VERIFIED badge, hotels now have a credible way to broadcast that they are following comprehensive, consistent procedures to heighten health security, certified by a third party." 

Hotels and resorts across 12 countries have received the verification so far; North American properties include Baccarat Hotel New York, Boston Harbor Hotel, Fairmont Grand Del Mar in San Diego, Waldorf Astoria Las Vegas and The Hazelton Hotel in Toronto.

MacArthur Place Hotel & Spa, CaliforniaPhoto: Courtesy of MacArthur Place Hotel & Spa7. Meeting space is shifting outdoors.
While social events have long been held outdoors, how about a boardroom-style meeting under an open sky? As outdoor gatherings are largely considered to be safer during the COVID-19 pandemic, some event venues are marketing their outdoor capabilities for meetings. Mountain Shadows Resort Scottsdale, for example, can set up boardroom equipment outdoors with views of Camelback Mountain, while Sonoma, Calif.'s MacArthur Place Hotel & Spa offers a “fireside meetings” option (pictured, above) that allows groups to collaborate and brainstorm around a private fire pit. An added bonus to these unconventional meetings? Unique team-building options: The upcoming Cloudveil in Jackson Hole, Wyo., for example, plans to complement meetings with stargazing activities, interactive marker workshops, fireside chats and more.

Related: 5 Ways to Keep Guests Warm at Outdoor Events This Winter

Page 1 of 48
Next Page