Courtesy Visit Loudoun
Where is Loudoun County, Va.?
Known as DC’s Wine Country, Loudoun County is 25 miles west of Washington. It borders West Virginia and Maryland.
What types of meetings best suit Loudoun County, Va.?
Its proximity to Washington, Dulles International Airport and Fortune 500 companies based in the region makes Loudoun County a good fit for government and corporate meetings. Sports competitions also migrate there because of the area’s sports venues.
What’s new?
Breaux Vineyards is scheduled to open a 200-person tasting room this fall, and two more wineries have opened, bringing the total to 33 in the county. The newest additions are Goose Creek Farms and Winery, a combination winery and equestrian center, and 868 Vineyards, the area’s first restaurant/winery combination. Other wineries are reportedly in the works.
One of America’s first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)-certified resorts will open in Middleburg next year. The 340-acre Salamander Resort and Spa will be a 168-room luxury resort with 12,000 square feet of meeting space as well as a number of event venues, such as a restored stallion barn, an herb garden and a pond-side lawn. The resort also has a private suite for up to 30 people at the Verizon Center in Washington, home to the city’s NBA, NHL and WNBA teams.
Destination Hotels and Resorts now manages the 296-room Lansdowne Resort. The AAA Four-Diamond property has a 50,000-square-foot conference center (International Association of Conference Centers [IACC]-certified), an aquatic complex, 45 holes of golf and a 12,000-square-foot spa.
The Executive Conference and Training Center in Sterling, Va., has doubled its meeting space to 10,000 square feet. The center is two miles from Dulles International Airport. The center is an IACC-approved property and is adjacent to five hotels.
The 368-room Washington Dulles Airport Marriott has completed a four-year, $9.3 million renovation that included guest rooms and its 13,500 square feet of meeting space.
Tell me about the main meeting venues.
With 5,500 guest rooms and 50 meeting and conference facilities, Loudoun can host meetings and events for five to 1,800 attendees.
Other meeting properties, in addition to those discussed in the “What’s new” section, include:
The National Conference Center, the largest public residential training center in the country. In Lansdowne, Va., the center has 917 guest rooms and 250 meeting rooms on its 110 acres and is 13 miles from Dulles airport.
At the other end of the spectrum are small inns. A trio in the town of Middleburg are geared toward meetings: the 17-room Goodstone Inn and Estate, the 14-room Red Fox Inn and the nine-room Briar Patch Bed and Breakfast.
The Embassy Suites Dulles North, with 154 guest rooms and meeting space for up to 350, and the 297-room Holiday Inn Washington Dulles, with nine meeting spaces, are among numerous hotels in the Dulles Technology Corridor, near Dulles airport.
