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The Group Travel Leader Going on Faith Select Traveler

Meet in The Mountains

Spartanburg, South Carolina

In the northern part of South Carolina, near the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains and perfectly positioned between Atlanta and Charlotte, North Carolina, Spartanburg is a destination off the main highways.

Though it has only one full-service property — the Spartanburg Marriott with 30,000 square feet of meeting space and 247 rooms — Spartanburg is a boon for planners looking to take a meeting outdoors, with a variety of unconventional meeting spaces and hotels that are happy to accommodate.

“We are the home of BMW’s U.S. manufacturing, and for groups of 50 or fewer, they are able to do a performance driving event,” said Patricia Byrd, sales manager for the Spartanburg Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Beyond taking advantage of its unusual team-building opportunities, groups can rent the entire Zentrum public facility to take factory tours and use the 250-seat auditorium and showroom exhibit space.

In the middle of Cleveland Park, which has a mile and a half of walking trails, recently renovated facilities include an outdoor amphitheater and a 6,500-square-foot events center. For small groups, River Bend Sportsman’s Resort offers a British country-style mix of clay shooting or hunting, and meals for up to 80.

www.visitspartanburg.com

 

Seneca, South Carolina

If you’re looking for a departure from the typical full-service hotel, preferably with a heavy natural component, look to Seneca, in the mountain lakes region in the northwest tip of South Carolina, bordering Georgia and North Carolina.

The combination of the Blue Ridge Mountains and the waters of the six local lakes and rivers means Seneca is abundantly gifted with waterfalls, so some of its most appealing meeting spaces are far from your traditional meeting setup.

“Devils Fork and Oconee State Parks both have meeting spaces and cabins with absolutely beautiful surroundings,” said Charlotte Waters, sales manager for the Mountain Lakes Convention and Visitors Bureau. “We have more cabin rentals than major hotels with meeting space. Even South Coast State Park has a rustic place that can be used for meetings. It’s an ideal place for a retreat, evening function or barbecue.”

Seneca’s back-to-basics team-building activities will give your group a chance to reinvigorate as well as convene. Boating and white-water rafting are available as early as March, and though Seneca is in the mountains, it is far enough south that hiking is a year-round activity, said Waters. “Even this winter, we have beautiful pictures from people hiking when the waterfalls were completely frozen over.”

www.scmountainlakes.com