Palace Hotel

Type: Venue Reveiw

Location: San Francisco

Overview:  It is always fun to produce events in historical great hotels like the Palace.  Older hotels like this one are great for attendees and provide a great backdrop for events. However, they do offer some logistical challenges.

Ballroom:  There are a number of ballrooms on the first floor of the Palace, all of which are the same size. These are good for small to medium meetings. For this event we were in the Grand Ballroom.  The Gold Ballroom is very close the Grand and works great for attendee meals.  The foyer area is also very nice and offers a great location for registration and event support.

The second floor offers numerous ballrooms of various sizes.  In contrast to the historical look of the main ballrooms, the breakout space has a modern look and feel.

AV Staff and Equipment:  PSAV is in house. For this event we continued our trend on smaller events to partner with in house.  Main show leads were provided by Tri-Marq and primary audio and projection was shipped in.  PSAV provided support for the general session and all breakout rooms.

One note, PSAV has a union contract so if you use in house av you need to utilize local union techs.

The loading dock is very small and any trucking needs to be carefully coordinated.

Producer’s Notes:  Great hotel for smaller events in an amazing city.  Room rates can be expensive at this hotel but the attendee experience always seems very positive.

Terranea Resort

Rancho Palos Verdes, CA (near Los Angeles)

Overview: When I need a high-end resort to hold an event, this is the first place that comes to mind. Located about 40 miles from LAX (closer to Long Beach airport) this is truly a gorgeous property.

Ballrooms: The property has a couple of large ballrooms and multiple breakout rooms. Rigging in the ballroom is easy and the ballrooms themselves are beautiful. The main ballroom features street level doors for easy load-in and load-out.

Note: There is truck parking but make sure you arrange this ahead of time and confirm. This property is very aware of its image and trucks need to be in select designated areas. Deliveries from outside vendors also required some attention to detail, but was easy with the right amount of pre-production.

AV Staff and Equipment: We really didn’t use in-house AV for anything other than rigging.

Location: This is a destination resort so attendees really don’t have to leave the property for anything. While expensive, there are numerous restaurants and bars on the property and the areas for outdoor receptions are, like everything else, exceptionally beautiful.

Con: The cost. This is not an inexpensive property to stay or work at but if budget allows, this should definitely be a property to look at.

Hotel del Coronado

San Diego, CA

Overview: This is a historic hotel right by the water in San Diego. The rooms in the main hotel are the best rooms—the rooms in the adjacent buildings are a little dated. There are a couple of nice restaurants and shops right on the property and you are within walking distance to a number of great restaurants. Everything is a bit pricey, but that is to be expected from a classic hotel like this.

Ballrooms: There are a couple of ballrooms. Off the main lobby there is the ballroom called “The Ballroom”, which has an existing stage and windows that wrap around the room. This is a great room for food events or gala dinners. 

Another ballroom on the property is called the Crown Room. This is a beautiful wood-lined ballroom, which works great for meals and could be used for a small general session.

The final ballroom is the Grande Hall. It is located in an adjacent building and features an upstairs ballroom with multiple breakout rooms on the first floor.

Note: There is a large elevator stage that is ideal for load-in and load-out, but I’ve heard it breaks often. This means load-in to the Grand Hall can be an issue as there is only one other small elevator.

AV Staff and Equipment: In-house AV is expensive at this property. We mainly worked with them to handle a few breakout rooms, but the staff was attentive and the equipment was in good shape. 

Note that in-house AV is exclusive for AV on the garden lawn by the beach. Again, I thought the equipment cost was expensive but they set lighting out there often and provided some nice options for lighting and décor.

Producer’s Notes: The hotel is a historic hotel with a great vibe that is frequented by movie stars. For a destination trip, it would be fantastic. While the rooms for general session are not very large, there are a ton of breakout rooms so the hotel is well suited for a medium size show.

Disneyland Grand Californian

Anaheim, CA

Overview: Located in the heart of Downtown Disney the Grand hotel is the upscale cousin to the original Disneyland Hotel.

Ballrooms: The Sequoia ballroom is very nice and is located in an enclosed conference section, which also includes many of the breakout rooms. The enclosed space includes a couple of registration desks as well as a board room and many breakouts. The location provides a sense of being away from the Disney experience and focused on the event.

Rigging is a little challenging in the ballroom so a careful rig plan is required. The ballroom and foyer are attractive and offer great possibilities for branding and stage design.

As with all Disney properties, load-in and load-out requires some planning. PSAV handles in-house video and sound. They handle the breakout rooms set well but responsiveness can be a little slow, so a plan for support should be reviewed.

Breakout Rooms: The breakout rooms in the conference center work great. There are a few rooms outside the conference center that share a hallway along the main path to exit the hotel. Be aware that there is mixing of conference attendees and Disney vacationers during peak times, and can make for a crowded area.

Location: The hotel is located in the heart of Downtown Disney so attendees have many options for dinner and entertainment.

Producer’s Notes: Great property with a great location. Of the Disney properties in California it is in my opinion the nicest property.

Disneyland

Anaheim, CA

Overview:  Who doesn’t love Disney? We have produced multiple meetings at the Disneyland hotel in all of the ballrooms. The event staff is responsive, the ballrooms are a good size and the attendees always seem to respond well to the property.

Ballrooms: The Magic Kingdom and Disneyland ballrooms (as well as the Disneyland Exhibit Hall) all work well for general sessions. The Exhibit Hall requires some creative stage design, as there are a couple of pillars that need to be worked around.

The Center Disneyland Ballroom has an existing stage and AV and works great for dinner functions.

In-house AV is handled by PSAV for video, and Disney Engineering handle lights and sound. PSAV seems to have a lot of turnover at the property. Many of the Disney Engineering staff have been on-site for many years and work well with outside production companies.

Internet is something to pay attention to, as it is expensive. We have had some issue with bandwidth as well. The on-site team is willing to work with you but you have to address this early and test immediately.

Loading docks: Disney has very particular loading dock requirements so careful attention to detail on load-in and load-out is required.

Breakout Rooms: There are a lot of breakout rooms but they differ greatly in location and size. There also are a number of rooms located in adjacent buildings which require attendees to walk outside. A thorough review of breakout rooms on the site visit is recommended and good show signage has proved valuable.

There are breakout rooms next to the Exhibit Hall, which can work well when moving back and forth between sessions, but not all rooms have air walls that go to the ceiling. This has not been an issue for us in the past but is something to look at.

Location: Downtown Disney is located next to the hotel so attendees have many options for dinner and entertainment.

Producer’s Notes: Great property with lots to offer. Some past experience working at the property definitely pays dividends and improves the overall working experience.