This Week in Event Venues: Predictions From Hotel CEOs, Vaccine Flair, a Pop-Up Rosé Bar and More

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

The Performance Venue at Hollywood Park
Hollywood Park, Los Angeles’s new 300-acre sports and entertainment destination, has unveiled plans for its 6,000-seat performance venue—dubbed, appropriately, the Performance Venue at Hollywood Park—slated to open this summer. Through a multiyear partnership with Live Nation, the state-of-the-art theater will host everything from concerts and award shows to Esports competitions and conferences. The 227,000-square-foot space is located under the same roof canopy as SoFI Stadium and American Airlines Plaza; it’s three stories, with highlights including a two-story Kaynemaile chandelier, six luxury boxes, a 1,200-square-foot back-of-house hospitality space, a 3,500-square-foot private club with 140 premium seats and a 6,100-square-foot stage.
Rendering: Courtesy of Hollywood Park

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 rounded up everything you need to know about chartering a boat for summer events. We also explored the lessons event pros can learn from Disneyland’s reopening, and learned how Fashion Show Las Vegas has managed to host safe consumer experiences throughout the pandemic. And in a guest column, Katherine Frost of planning management software ORO shared insights for overcoming challenges brought on by the hospitality labor shortage.

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

1. Hotel CEOs are predicting a major rebound.
During an online panel at the NYU International Hospitality Investment Conference, CEOs of Hilton, BWH Hotel Group, Marriott International, Accor and IHG Hotels & Resorts predicted that 2023 is likely to be when performance metrics return to pre-pandemic levels—which is faster than many experts had previously thought. While that effort is aided by a massive rebound in leisure travel as vaccinations rise, the panelists predict that convention and event demand will also recover quickly.

According to a report by CoStar, IHG Hotels CEO Keith Barr said: "People are going to be a lot more like they were in 2019 before they know it. ... We're right now planning our conference in Las Vegas. That's 5,500 people there for four days. Our owners want it, because people want to have those connections and want to get together, too. So I really do believe we're just in a transitionary period, and as vaccines go up, consumer behavior will shift back to what it was previously."

2. Hilton has launched a global direct booking solution for meetings and events.
Hilton has partnered with Groups360 to launch what it bills as the hospitality industry’s first global, integrated direct booking solution for groups. GroupSync Engage, which rolls out globally to 5,000 hotels this month, gives meeting and event planners the ability to view real-time availability and book guest room blocks for small groups.

“This integrated booking solution is resolving a long-standing frustration among event planners—the inability to see at a glance whether a hotel has the guest room capacity to accommodate their group. By expanding direct online booking for small group room blocks to nearly all of our properties around the world, we are creating a more seamless and reliable group booking experience for everyone,” said Oral Muir, Hilton's vice president of global distribution.

3. Instagram-friendly rosé experiences aren't going out of style.
Because what says summer quite like a chilled beverage and a floral-themed photo op? Hotels like Moxy Times Square have been building over-the-top pink-hued experiences in recent months—and the latest example comes from MGM National Harbor in Maryland, where a pop-up bar cart from La Fête du Rosé will be open in the resort’s shopping district every Thursday and Sunday this summer. In addition to enjoying the brand’s rosé and frosé drinks, guests will be surrounded by a floral landscape and various photo ops, including a large original mural commissioned for the activation.“It means a lot that MGM National Harbor is partnering with La Fête du Rosé for its summertime pop-up activation,” said the wine brand's founder, Donae Burston. “We are going to make this summer something special for everyone—whether you love rosé or maybe you’re a newcomer to the scene. It will be one of the best drinking scenes in the Capital Region.”“It means a lot that MGM National Harbor is partnering with La Fête du Rosé for its summertime pop-up activation,” said the wine brand's founder, Donae Burston. “We are going to make this summer something special for everyone—whether you love rosé or maybe you’re a newcomer to the scene. It will be one of the best drinking scenes in the Capital Region.”Photo: Courtesy of MGM National Harbor

4. Some restaurant workers and patrons have begun wearing “vaccine flair.”
Live events are already giving attendees ways to show their peers that they're vaccinated. (At BizBash's own hybrid event last month, for example, we used color-coded bracelets.) And restaurants are reportedly adopting the practice too, in the hopes that displaying workers' vaccination status will make guests comfortable and drive business—and on the flip side, patrons wearing pins or stickers can ease workers' minds as well. According to Eater, "[vaccine flair] could very well become the hottest dining accessory of the summer." The publication spoke to restaurant operators, workers and diners about the pros and cons of the idea; click here to read the story.

5. Thrillist’s latest project is offering curated city guides for the LGBTQIA+ community.
Food and travel website Thrillist has launched a new LGBTQIA+ editorial destination called “We’re Out Here.” Sponsored by Orbitz, the platform aims to curate city guides and safety tips for the queer community. And this month, Thrillist is debuting its “Small Town Pride” editorial initiative, which celebrates small venues and other businesses around the country. “As the world is reopening again, we all have a role to play in making travel more equitable,” explained Carey Malloy, Orbitz's brand director. “The channel’s content mission—to provide more than just a vacation and help forge community, build diverse representation, and ensure that everyone feels safe and welcome to travel as they are—is perfectly aligned with our vision for travel."

6. The hospitality industry continues to fill new, unexpected roles. 
As vaccinations become more widespread, families are beginning to gather again—and hotels are taking notice. A number of hotels around the country have created new, specific job roles that cater specifically to the reunion and family trip crowd. The Westin Cape Coral Resort at Marina Village in Florida, for example, offers a new "Chief Reunion Officer" role, an employee who can curate customized reunion experiences—one group even provided the property’s chef with old family recipes to be served at a group dinner. Similarly, sister inns Sesuit Habor House and Chapter House in Cape Cod now have an on-site "Reunion Designer," who organizes family game competitions, photo shoots, nightly bonfires for s’mores and more. 

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