Mississippi Gulf Coast
The Mississippi Gulf Coast stretches 62 miles between the Louisiana and Alabama state lines, and meeting destinations dot the scenic shoreline. In Biloxi, the Mississippi Coast Coliseum and Convention Center has 400,000 square feet of meeting and exhibit space and an 8,200-seat arena, and the complex sits directly across the street from the beach.
Attendees can “walk across the street, dip their toes in the water, take in the fresh air and be back in their meeting in no time,” said Karen Conner, director of marketing for Visit Mississippi Gulf Coast.
Several oceanfront casino resorts offer event space and easy beach access. In Biloxi, the 1,740-room Beau Rivage is “steps away from the beach,” she said, and has 50,000 square feet of flexible meeting space. The Hard Rock Hotel and Casino’s event space includes the 13,000-square-foot Hard Rock Live venue and theater, and the Golden Nugget’s largest function space is its 9,650-square-foot Grand Ballroom.
In Gulfport, the Island View Casino and Resort opened its $58 million beachfront tower in April. Each of the tower’s 405 rooms has ocean views, and the addition brought the resort’s total number of guest rooms to 970. The tower also includes 14,000 square feet of convention space, five new restaurants and a spa.
Outfitters along the coast can set up beach yoga, paddleboarding, kayaking, Wave Runner rentals and bike rentals for attendees. Area beaches also feature picnic shelters, fire pits and volleyball nets that planners can reserve.
Ocean City, Maryland
Ocean City, Maryland’s Roland E. Powell Convention Center is nicknamed “the sandcastle of convention centers,” and for good reason. Water from the Isle of Wight Bay laps the edges of the center’s bay-front promenade.
The center’s two-phase, $22 million expansion and renovation project wrapped up last year, adding meeting space and a 1,200-seat performing-arts center. The convention center has 25 meetings rooms, including two that offer water views: the 24,000-square-foot Bayfront Ballroom on the second floor and the 14,000-square-foot Dockside Hall beneath it on the first floor.
Both spaces are great for dinners, receptions and other social events, but when planners use those rooms for meetings, they sometimes have to face attendees away from the view to keep their attention, said Larry Noccolino, executive director of the convention center.
On the Atlantic Ocean side, attendees will find 10 miles of beach and the city’s three-mile-long boardwalk, which is a favorite seaside attraction. Trams shuttle guests to bars and restaurants along the boardwalk.
The oceanfront Clarion Resort Fontainebleu Hotel has a 40,000-square-foot conference center; the Carousel Hotel, the Princess Royale, the Dunes Manor, the Holiday Inn, the Hilton and the Grand Hotel are Atlantic-facing properties with a range of meeting and function spaces.
Planners can also charter boats for parties or fishing trips, and attendees enjoy the city’s two amusement parks: the Jolly Roger Park on the north end of town and the Jolly Roger on the Pier.
Laguna Beach, California
Laguna Beach sits smack between Santa Monica and San Diego on southern California’s Pacific Coast. The city has nearly eight miles of beaches, all connected and all dotted with beachfront hotels.
The 167-room Surf and Sand Resort has 10,000 square feet of meeting space in 12 meeting rooms, and the 248-room Montage Laguna Beach has 35,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor meeting space, including two oceanfront lawns and a beach terrace. The Loft, one of the Montage’s three restaurants, can be divided to offer private dining and meeting space with balconies overlooking the ocean.
The Pacific Edge Hotel has a “hip surf vibe,” said Ashley Johnson, director of brand marketing and communications for Visit Laguna Beach. The 125-room hotel converted guest rooms into five 10-person beach bungalows, each with its own bar and beach deck. The Ranch at Laguna Beach recently held its soft opening and expects to be fully open by year’s end. Formerly the Aliso Creek Inn, the renovated hotel expanded to 90 rooms and will have a spa, a restaurant and about 20,000 square feet of meeting space.
The ocean off Laguna Beach is a marine reserve that doesn’t allow motorized watercraft, which means pristine waters for kayaking, paddleboarding and paddleboard yoga. The Laughter Yoga Institute offers group beach-yoga sessions to teach people how to laugh uncontrollably as a form of exercise.
Laguna Outreach for Community Arts gives docent-led tours of the beaches’ popular tide pools where groups learn about the sea life before setting up on the beach to paint the creatures they encountered, Johnson said.
