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The Group Travel Leader Going on Faith Select Traveler

Join us in Jacksonville


Courtesy One Ocean Resort

First stop? The beach
How’s the ocean for openers?

That’s right. Even though downtown Jacksonville is not oceanfront, attendees at the 2012 SMM Conference will spend opening night at the beach, courtesy of one of the region’s leading boutique hotels.

One Ocean Resort and Spa will host the conference’s opening-night reception on Sunday. The evening will begin with tropical cocktails on the hotel’s oceanfront Verandina.

Then, the group will be whisked inside the ocean-inspired ballroom, where they will get a taste not only of the hotel’s farm-to-table specialties but also its synchronized banquet service.

In addition to its seaside setting, high levels of service are what has set One Ocean apart in its short history. It is known for its docents, service staff who not only cater to guests’ needs but who also are trained to anticipate needs.

Seeing the sights in Jacksonville
During Monday afternoon’s free time, two destination management companies will lead city tours. Andrew Jackson, the city’s namesake, will be the guide for AdLib Luxury Tours’ Downtown Jacksonville and Tunnel Tour. The award-winning tour, featured on PBS, will make stops at the Florida Theatre, made famous by Elvis Presley, and other historic sites. The tour will also explore secret tunnels beneath the city.

The Great Fires of 1901 tour, led by Destination Planning Corp., will show visitors how a devastating fire changed  the face of downtown Jacksonville forever.

A sense of arrival at Prime Osborn

Monday night’s reception and dinner locale exudes a sense of arrival, with good reason. Jacksonville’s Prime Osborn Convention Center is a reborn train terminal, where vacationers once arrived and departed on their way to and from the Sunshine State. It is the only train station in the South to be turned into a convention center.

Less than a mile from the Hyatt, the center offers 160,000 square feet of meeting space, including a 78,000-square-foot exhibit hall, a 10,000-square-foot ballroom and a Grand Lobby with 75-foot ceilings. Meeting planners will have the chance to tour the facility.