Billings, Montana
With just shy of 109,000 residents, Billings is Montana’s largest city and one of the largest in the four-state region of Montana, Wyoming and the Dakotas. Sioux Falls beats out Billings by about 60,000 people. As an economic hub for the state and the region, Billings does a brisk meetings and conference business, even during the brisk winter months, said Stefan Cattarin, sales manager for Visit Billings.
“Of all cities in Montana, Billings is the most consistent year-round,” he said.
Winter in Billings generally means cold temperatures and a good amount of snow, but winter also comes with low humidity and lots of sun, so “you’ll see those iconic images of people walking around in shorts,” Cattarin said.
From October through about April, hotel and venue rates are considerably lower, and meeting space flexibility and availability is higher. The CVB also works harder to bring in business, Cattarin said, so “there’s a lot more incentive opportunities from our office. We’ll do what we need to do to get your event here.”
For a recent event that was split between two downtown properties, Visit Billings set up hospitality booths in each of the two lobbies with hot cocoa, coffee and Schnapps to warm attendees.
Downtown is also home to the historic Northern Hotel, which opened in 1904 and was rebuilt after it burned down in 1940. The renovated and remodeled property reopened four years ago as the state’s only four-star hotel and complete with a fireplace in the lobby, a private dining room for up to 30 people at Ten restaurant, and 12,000 square feet of flexible meeting space.
Just outside the Northern’s doors, the city’s “walking brewery district” boasts six breweries and one distillery, all within a few blocks.
Erie, Pennsylvania
From Thanksgiving through March, Erie, Pennsylvania, may be bathed in sunshine one day and blanketed in snow the next, said Joe Holody, director of convention marketing, sales and services for VisitErie.
But that’s just how it is, and everyone knows how to deal with it, including for the city’s wintertime meetings and conferences, which include associations, religious groups and sporting events.
“People can get in here, and these large events prove they can come in here with no problem,” Holody said, adding, “We’re outfitted to just clear the snow away. We live here; we’re not just stuck in our house six months of the year.”
Winter months usually come with competitive rates for both sleeping rooms and meeting space, and it can mean opportunities for winter fun. Erie is about 30 miles from Ohio and 30 miles from New York. The city sits on the shores of Lake Erie’s Presque Isle Bay. In the winter, ice fishing tents dot the bay while ice kiting and ice boating enthusiasts sail across its frozen surface. The Bayfront Convention Center delivers views of all the icy action, along with a 28,800-square-foot exhibit hall, a 13,500-square-foot ballroom and 15 meeting rooms.
In Clymer, New York, about 22 miles from Erie, Peek’n Peak Resort offers alpine and Nordic skiing, a snowboard terrain park and snow tubing. The same company owns the Splash Lagoon Indoor Waterpark Resort in Erie, which is connected to three hotels, and offers packages to both resorts.
Visitors can also sample ice wine varietals made from grapes harvested in the winter at several Erie area wineries, including Mazza Vineyards and Presque Isle Wine Cellars.
Des Moines, Iowa
Winter in Iowa may sometimes be brutal, but “we always brag that it’s always 72 degrees in Des Moines,” said Greg Edwards, president and CEO of the Greater Des Moines Convention and Visitors Bureau.
That’s because the downtown and its convention center, hotels, restaurants and shops are all connected by four miles of climate-controlled skywalks. Without ever donning a coat, someone can walk from downtown’s largest conference hotel, the Des Moines Marriott Downtown, with 415 rooms and about 30,000 square feet of function space, to the Iowa Events Center. There, Hy-Vee Hall’s three exhibit halls can be combined for 150,000 square feet, and the Community Choice Credit Union Convention Center offers 21 meeting rooms. A skywalk also connects the 17,000-seat Wells Fargo Arena to the Iowa Events Center.
Des Moines “remains a pretty vibrant convention city during the winter,” Edwards said, primarily because it draws a lot of agriculture-related conventions and meetings when farmers can’t be in their fields. But the season is slower, which means more affordable rates at hotels and venues and more flexibility on incentives. The season allows the CVB to “present more opportunities to perhaps make better offers for meeting and conventions,” he said.
The only so-called con is the winter weather, which can be a pro, Edwards pointed out.
“A lot of people don’t experience winters the way we do, so it can be kind of a new and positive experience all itself,” he said.
The Brenton Skating Plaza, a downtown ice rink, offers classes and ice skate rentals and is available for private events. About 30 miles outside of Des Moines in Boone, the Seven Oaks recreation area provides group discounts for skiing, snowboarding and tubing, and The Lodge there can seat about 400 people while delivering views of the ski runs and the surrounding forest.
