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What's New
Close by. But far from what you'd expect.
Close by. But far from what you'd expect.
It's not too late to take advantage of two meeting incentives from The Beaches of Fort Myers & Sanibel in southwest Florida.
First, meeting planners who bring their meetings to the destination between now and Dec. 15, 2009 receive a 5 percent credit off their total actualized room revenue to apply towards their meeting. To qualify, planners must book a minimum of 25 rooms per night for three or more consecutive nights at a destination property now through October 15, 2009. The offer applies to new bookings and meetings that have not already been contracted, and some restrictions apply. For a list of participating properties, click here.
Second, to help address habitat loss and climate change, the destination continues to make donations to The Conservation Fund's Go ZeroSM program to offset the carbon footprint of meetings in the destination. The VCB is donating to The Conservation Fund 100 percent of the cost of offsetting the CO2 emissions that result from any event within the destination. For offer details, click here.
Find out more about meeting on The Beaches of Fort Myers & Sanibel with these latest destination developments:
Meeting Properties Opening Soon • Convention Resort Honors • Latest Attractions News • Beach Accolades
Meeting Properties Opening Soon
The Resort at Marina Village, a 184-room condo hotel scheduled to open this November, will bring 8,000 - 10,000 square feet of new meeting space to The Beaches of Fort Myers & Sanibel. This luxurious full-service condominium resort, located at Tarpon Point Marina in Cape Coral, features 19 stories of sweeping views of the Caloosahatchee River, San Carlos Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. Meeting attendees will enjoy richly appointed furnishings and accommodations, concierge and spa services, an upscale restaurant and bar, fitness center, sundecks, outdoor pools and spas. Plus, they'll be able to browse a variety of the finest shops at MarinaVillage with waterfront restaurants, cafés and a clean deep-water marina with 175 boat slips. The resort's studio, 1-, 2- and 3-bedroom residences range up to 2,225 square feet, with grand rooms, master suites, guest suites, dining terraces and access to amenity decks.
The resort is one of three new meeting properties slated to debut in the destination this fall. Also set to open in October 2009 are the Hyatt Place Fort Myers at the Forum with 2,000 square feet of meeting space and 148 rooms and the Hilton Garden Inn Fort Myers with 1,300 square feet of meeting space and 164 rooms.
In the last year, these and other new property openings are adding a total of nearly 25,000 square feet of meeting space and nearly 1,300 rooms to the destination's stable of meeting properties. These include the Holiday Inn Airport at Town Center, which opened in February 2009 with 6,800 square feet of meeting space and 169 rooms.
Convention Resort Honors
The Hyatt Regency Coconut Point Resort & Spa, with more than 73,000 square feet of flexible indoor meeting space, has been honored as one of 2009’s Top 50 Resorts in the US and Canada in Travel + Leisure magazine’s 14th annual readers’ survey. The Southwest Florida resort was one of only two Hyatts selected in the prestigious listing.
The four-diamond, 454-room resort features award-winning Tarpon Bay Restaurant, a championship Raymond Floyd 18-hole golf course, a full-service 19,000 square foot spa, three pools, two waterslides, a private island beach, and a host of other amenities. The property opened in 2001 and has been recognized as the only 3 Palm Green Lodging resort in the State of Florida.
Latest Attractions News
A variety of new attraction options on The Beaches of Fort Myers & Sanibel provide meeting planners with off-site educational or recreational activities as well as more unique alternatives for spouse and family programs.
The Edison & Ford Winter Estates recently completed a $2 million restoration project that included the restoration and expansion of furnishings and artifacts. The popular off-site venue for meeting planners is a 2009 winner of the National Trust for Historic Preservation for its work preserving, interpreting and managing the property. The Estates is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. For more information or group tours, call (239) 334-7419.
Lakes Regional Park in Fort Myers recently celebrated its 25-year anniversary with the completion of a $4.5 million enhancement project, including new playgrounds, new water parks, additional walkways, bike and boat rentals, a railroad museum and native landscaping. The new landscaping includes all native species such as Royal palms and live oaks. More enhancements are planned in the future.
Through Sept. 30, the Southwest Florida Museum of History and the Imaginarium Hands-On Museum & Aquarium are offering visitors the "Half a Day, Twice the Value" joint ticket price, which provides guests a discount to visit both museums, which are a half-mile apart, in the same day. The joint ticket prices are $15 for adults, $13 for senior citizens and $7.50 for students.
Imaginarium Hands-On Museum & Aquarium also has transformed its popular Sporty Science Exhibit into the Sporty Science Arena, a simulation experience offering baseball, hockey, soccer, basketball, and football. Visitors can participate and test their skills in five sports via the world of virtual reality.
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology in New York State has installed a Trail Tracker kiosk in the Education Center of the J. N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island. One of a dozen around the country, the Trail Tracker computer station allows visitors to log bird sightings at the refuge onto Cornell's nationwide eBird database. Birders also can log their sightings and access the database at http://ebird.org/content/ebird.
Beach Accolades
Boca Grande on Gasparilla Island and Bowman's Beach on Sanibel Island are top of mind among visitors and have been named among the crème de la crème on recent "tops" lists published by Travel + Leisure magazine and ShermansTravel Web site.
Boca Grande swept the charts, winning top honors in Travel + Leisure magazine's July 2009 issue. It is named as being among one of America's Best Little Beach Towns and as one of America's Best Summer Getaways 2009. The magazine describes Boca Grande as "a genuine glimpse of Old Florida," and goes on to note the fanciful street names, the "postcard-worthy" lighthouse and the beautiful beaches that can be found on the island.
Bowman's Beach on Sanibel Island is named among the Best Secluded Beaches by ShermansTravel Web site in an article posted June 2009. The article discusses the top places to travel this summer, naming Bowman's Beach as "Sanibel's most peaceful place." It goes on to describe the seclusion of the beach and recommends it as a top place for shelling, as one won't find much competition there.
Travel + Leisure magazine has a circulation of 975,505 and is among the top travel publications. ShermansTravel Web site hosts more than 4 million subscribers each week and offers expert travel advice.
For additional information on the latest developments in hosting meetings on The Beaches of Fort Myers & Sanibel, contact the Visitor & Convention Bureau's Conference Services staff at (800) 237-6444 or continue looking through this Meeting Planner section of our Web site.
Related Features
Calendar of Events
Considering planning your meeting around one of the area's signature events? Or want to see what's going on during your meeting? View the destination's calendar of events.
Destination Management and Event Companies
Find contact information for destination management and event companies on The Beaches of Fort Myers & Sanibel.
Green Properties
Explore green hotel options on The Beaches of Fort Myers & Sanibel. You'll help conserve precious resources and save money at the same time.
Calendar of EventsConsidering planning your meeting around one of the area's signature events? Or want to see what's going on during your meeting? View the destination's calendar of events.
Destination Management and Event CompaniesFind contact information for destination management and event companies on The Beaches of Fort Myers & Sanibel.
Green PropertiesExplore green hotel options on The Beaches of Fort Myers & Sanibel. You'll help conserve precious resources and save money at the same time.  | My suitcase contains 0 items |
