On Thursday night, Schaumburg's Hyatt Regency Woodfield hosted a "Fire and Ice"-themed reopening celebration, which allowed some 600 guests to check out the hotel's $32 million renovation.
According to general manager Jim Gould, the goal of the celebration was to market the hotel to a new target demographic. "Before our renovation ... our guests were mostly from fraternal-type organizations," he said. "Now, we want to reposition ourselves. Our new target audience is [business travelers from] pharmaceutical, financial, insurance, and consulting companies." Toward that end, Thursday night's guest list included representatives from the Schaumburg Business Association and the Woodfield Chicago Northwest Convention Bureau, as well as the town's mayor and village manager.
Jeanne Hahn, the hotel's director of sales and marketing, oversaw planning efforts and said that her challenge was to provide a sufficient draw for invitees, since "it's hard to get people to come out on a freezing January night." Hahn settled on a "Fire and Ice" theme that seemed appropriate for the season—"but not as cliché as something like 'Winter Wonderland'"—and began exploring the possibility of an indoor skating rink for the hotel's ballroom. After ruling out real ice due to water-damage risks, Hahn tapped Lake-Forest-based company Athletiquest to install a rink filled with synthetic ice.
"We didn't have a huge budget," Hahn said, "but we invested in the the skating rink as the event's focal point." She also hired three figure skaters from Leafs Ice Center, who took turns twirling across the syntetic ice throughout the evening and seemed to have a mesmerizing effect on attendees. After the event, Hahn noted that many guests took their cocktails and snacks to the rink-side tables, where they sat for long stretches to watch the skaters. "The rink helped get peoople to the event, and it helped them stay there once they arrived," she concluded.
