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As business travel continues to build momentum, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. announced the launch of two new meetings offerings including a value rich summer meetings promotion and a new series of philanthropic special event solutions for meeting planners.
Starwood’s "More Value, More Variety" promotion offers meeting planners a signing bonus of up to 100,000 Starpoints plus a choice of one of the following: 2% off master-billed rooms, accelerated room upgrades or complimentary staff office. Planners must book between June 1 and September 30 for events taking place through March 31, 2012.
Starwood has also teamed up with global beverage partner Coca-Cola to offer planners a selection of innovative, on-site, philanthropic specialty events that make it easy to give back to the community. The new series of socially-conscious themed events, featuring Coca-Cola beverage solutions, is part of Starwood’s On-Site Specialty Events program – a selection of more than 20 experiential, team building events available at more than 100 hotels nationwide.
To celebrate the launch of the offerings and in the true spirit of giving back, today Starwood and Coca-Cola will host an employee volunteer event at the Children’s Aid Society East Harlem Boys & Girls Club.
"Meetings have made a comeback and we want to contribute to this strong momentum by helping planners add value to their meeting experience with innovative event solutions," said Tim Roby, senior vice president of sales, North America at Starwood Hotels & Resorts. "As group business continues to rebound, companies are looking for a streamlined, turnkey solution for their meetings. We are going a step further by creating value and promoting community outreach while making the planning process easier for meeting planners."
With Starwood, meeting planners can now easily add an engaging, socially-conscious twist to their meeting with four new unique, philanthropic events including:
– Literacy Builders – To give the gift of reading to children, groups of 25-200 people, work in teams to build and stock bookcases
and participate in a book drive to benefit a local charity for kids.
– Community HeART – Community HeART encourages creativity and teamwork among attendees while they construct a beautiful piece of art to give to a local organization. Designed for groups of up to 250, this event allows teams to work together to complete a beautiful mural – no artistic skill needed.
– Eco-sino – "The Green Casino" is a themed event ideal for groups of 50 people or more. Teams participate in casino table games and eco-activity stations to win a GET GREEN kit that will be donated to the local community. The kit contains items that will help beneficiary families have greener homes.
– Go Green Racing -Designed for groups of 25-200 people, Go Green Racing tasks teams with building miniature racing vehicles – solar cars and racing cars – and to work together while learning about sustainability.
In addition to the new philanthropic offerings, planners canalso choose from over twenty off-the -shelf events with culinary, entertaining and team-building themes. Multiple events, from Bordeaux blending to a grill camp with a BBQ world champion to a gamers-tournament, can be combined to provide an entire evening of activities for attendees. Most of the events are two hours or less, take place on-site and include themed beverage offerings from Coca-Cola. In addition to engaging and rewarding attendees, all On-Site Specialty Events are hosted in the hotel, which limits the need for external resources and extensive planning – allowing planners to save money and time. The on-site programming also eliminates the need for transportation reducing the overall carbon footprint of meetings.
"Starwood is delighted to collaborate with Coca-Cola to provide its meeting planners with value and choice for their meetings needs and one-step planning for attendee events- all while staying within their budget," said Dave Marr, Senior Vice President of Brand Management, North America for Starwood.
"Starwood’s on-site specialty events are a great example of what makes their properties unique," said Chris Lowe, President of Foodservice and On Premise for Coca-Cola Refreshments. "The events provide an opportunity for participants to learn, have fun and give back to local communities. Coca-Cola is proud to support the refreshing, new range of Starwood specialty events and offer themed beverage options for each occasion."
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
