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In Redding, California, the only thing that competes with the scenery is the service delivered by Choose Redding Lodging, an organization whose sole job is to attract and serve meetings and conventions.
In the state’s less-populated north, 120 miles from Oregon, Redding is known for its natural surroundings.
Mount Shasta is on the horizon, and the Sacramento River flows on downtown’s northern and eastern edges. Shasta Lake, the state’s largest manmade reservoir, is 10 miles north. It’s easy to forget you’re in a city of 100,000, 162 miles north of Sacramento.
Those scenic spots often factor into meeting itineraries, whether it’s a dinner cruise on Shasta Lake, a stop to tour ancient caves, a bike ride on paved paths along the Sacramento River or a rafting trip down the Sacramento River.
A+ Support for Planners
In planning those memorable activities and others as part of a meeting or conference, a meeting planner can be assured that Choose Redding will assist.
Her organization, says Choose Redding executive director Laurie Baker, is not the sort that simply points meeting planners toward local attractions and suppliers.
“We’ll be their tour guide,” she says. “If they want to ride motor-assisted bikes along the Sacramento River National Recreation Trail, we will lead the group, taking them to the bike rental and the trail. When they raft the river, one of our staff can go out with them.”
What Redding aims for is the highly personalized, almost psychic assistance that shoppers once enjoyed at a well-known retailer, explains Baker. “Like Nordstrom, in the old days,” she says.
For example, when a harried planner told Tim Bauer, group events director, that she’d love to have a raffle during her conference but didn’t have time to pull it together, Bauer did the legwork for her, contacting local businesses and providing the planner with a list of raffle options.
Sponsorships are another way Choose Redding supports groups. “If there isn’t enough money in their budget for say, transportation needs, or for an after-hours event, we have discretionary funds that can be used to assist them,” says Baker.
The bureau has also created a gift certificate program to add value. Choose Redding buys $50 gift certificates from restaurants, attractions and other businesses. When an attendee books a stay of two nights or more through the hotel links at chooseredding.com, they can choose among gift certificates that pop up. Among recent options were Round Table Pizza, Le Testimony Organic Bistro, Extreme Escape Redding and Final Draft Brewing.
“This program is a win-win,” says Baker. “It supports group business and local businesses.”
Baker points out that the website, chooseredding.com, is designed strictly for meeting and event planners and is always being improved. Right now, work is being done to add schematics of meeting venues in the city.
Venue Services
Redding’s conference hotels also offer an advantage, with free parking and internet.
The city’s largest meetings are typically held at a pair of neighboring hotels just off I-5. The 125-room Holiday Inn Redding and the 192-room Red Lion Hotel Redding sit side by side and share a parking lot. They team up to serve larger groups, which can use the Holiday Inn’s 8,000 square foot divisible ballroom and the Red Lion’s 8,730 square feet of meeting space. For overflow, there are more than a half dozen cozy accommodations nearby. On the city’s south side, the 93-room Hilton Garden Inn Redding has a 1,722-square-foot conference room and a small meeting room.
The 130-room Sheraton Redding Hotel at the Sundial Bridge, a LEED-certified property, is set apart by its location on the grounds of Turtle Bay Exploration Park, a 300-acre complex where a museum teaches about the area’s natural and human history; butterflies and birds flutter in nature exhibits; and a 20-acre Mediterranean garden and arboretum celebrate botanical life. Almost every aspect of Turtle Bay, from a pavilion and amphitheater to the museum and gardens, as well as nearby Sundial Bridge, a bike and pedestrian bridge that is a Redding icon, can become a meeting or event venue.
For more information, please contact Choose Redding at:
Tim Bauer
530-365-7504
Lisa May
530-515-8485
