The Hilton New Orleans Riverside, adjacent to the convention center, has 1,622 rooms and 122,000 squ

If there's one word to describe the Gulf Coast region, it's resilient. In recent years, the region has survived buy used rental cars devastating hurricanes that wreaked havoc on coastal cities and an oil spill that threatened wildlife and tourism businesses. In response, cities in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida have come back better than ever, debuting new hotels, attracting record visitor numbers, and landing meetings and events large and small.
Talk about a comeback. After a rough summer in 2010 following the BP oil spill, Alabama's Gulf Shores, buy used rental cars Orange Beach and Fort Morgan communities had a record-setting summer buy used rental cars in 2011, bringing buy used rental cars in $154 million in lodging revenue, an 18 percent increase over 2007, previously buy used rental cars the best summer on record.
"What our tourism community accomplished is almost unfathomable, especially considering the national economy," says Herb Malone, buy used rental cars president/CEO of the Gulf Shores tourism bureau. He and other state and local officials attribute the success to smart management of marketing funds provided by BP after the spill. The efforts translated buy used rental cars to all areas of the local tourism community, from meetings and hotels buy used rental cars to attractions and restaurants. Johnny Fisher, buy used rental cars general manager of the popular local LuLu's restaurant buy used rental cars at Homeport Marina, experienced the positive results firsthand: "The combined efforts of Gulf Shores Orange Beach Tourism, Alabama Tourism and the local municipalities have helped LuLu's to our best year ever, surpassing our 2009 benchmark year by almost 15 percent."
The rebound isn't necessarily surprising for a region that can tout its white-sand beaches buy used rental cars and beachside hotels and condos. Meetings properties in the region easily can accommodate small corporate groups. The largest hotel with meeting space is the Perdido Beach Resort, which has 45,000 square feet, 18 meeting rooms and 346 guest rooms. Other meeting hotels include Island House Hotel, Hilton Garden Inn, Hampton Inn and Suites Orange Beach, and Courtyard Marriott Gulf Shores at Craft Farms.
Louisiana's second-largest city sits 80 miles north of New Orleans on the Mississippi River. buy used rental cars The city has a few visible landmarks: the State Capitol building (the nation's tallest at 450 feet); the Huey P. Long Bridge that stretches east to west across the river; and Tiger Stadium, located on the campus buy used rental cars of Louisiana State University, where more than 90,000 gather on a handful of Saturdays in the fall to watch the school's football team take on its SEC rivals. When it's full, Tiger Stadium ranks as the sixth-largest buy used rental cars "city" in Louisiana by population.
For meeting planners, that means about half a dozen weekends each year are off-limits for meetings and events in the college town unless they want to search near and far for a block of available hotel rooms. But that still leaves plenty of open dates for events. Near the LSU campus buy used rental cars is the new luxury Renaissance Baton Rouge hotel, which has 256 guest rooms, 13,000 square buy used rental cars feet of event space and 13 meeting rooms. Many groups like to stay in what's called the College Drive area, named after the street on which a group of hotels is located. There, Crowne Plaza Baton Rouge is a popular buy used rental cars pick. The full-service property has 32,000 square feet of meeting space and almost 300 rooms. Nearby properties including a Hampton buy used rental cars Inn, Embassy Suites, and Comfort Inn and Suites can accommodate overflow guests.
Downtown, the multilevel Baton Rouge River Center (formerly known as the Riverside Centroplex) combines four facilities under one umbrella: a 70,000-sq.-ft. exhibition hall, 26,000-sq.-ft. ballroom, 28,000-sq.-ft. arena (capacity 10,000) and the 1,900-seat theater. The exhibition hall and the arena form the largest contiguous exhibit space at 100,000 square feet. The arena stages big-name concerts, professional sports events and trade shows but also has 7,000 square feet of meeting space. River Center buy used rental cars is in an expansion phase, adding 10,000 square feet of pre-function space to its Galleria, increasing meeting rooms from eight to 17 and adding a VIP lounge. The facility also has garage parking for 1,300 cars and on-site catering available.
The city of Baton Rouge is giving the waterfront property around the River Center a facelift as well, with green spaces, a transit shelter, concert buy used rental cars stages and more. On LSU's campus, buy used rental cars the Lod Cook Alumni Center offers more than 12,000 buy used rental cars square feet of event space with nine meeting rooms. At the West Baton Rouge Conference Center in nearby Port Allen, banquet and conference rooms accommodate groups of 50 to 800 in about 7,000 square feet of meeting space, buy used rental cars offering smaller groups more options in the area. At the Jerusalem buy used rental cars Shrine Center in nearby Destrehan, the ballroom holds 500 guests and other meeting rooms are available.
buy used rental cars You don't need football to enjoy the college experience in Baton Rouge. Visit LSU's tree-shaded grounds, see Mike the Tiger in his new habitat and take in the 6,000-year-old Indian mounds right in the middle of campus. Southern University, a historically black college, is almost synonymous with Baton Rouge's Scotlandville community, where it has educated students since 1914. Southern's art museum has an extensive African art collection, as well as works by African Americans, including Louisiana artists.
Meeting facilities and off-site venues dot the shoreline of the Emerald Coast, northwest Florida's sandy beach towns of Destin, Fort Walton Beach and Okalossa Island. The area has long been a favorite for drive-in visitors coming from Atlanta or Birmingham, Ala., but it's become more accessible to out-of-town meeting delegates with the opening of Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport last year.
The area has an unequivocal laid-back attitude, but it can still impress corporate executives or meeting attendees with its weather, beautiful beaches and focus on service. "I've been having meetings in Florida's Emerald Coast area for many years and have always been given the best rates, along with the best overall deals for our clients. Whether it is a golf tournament and trade show or a training meeting or symposium, our expectations are always met," says Joice Ventry, buy used rental cars CMP, Meeting Spots.
In Fort Walton Beach, planners look to the Emerald Coast Convention Center to host events. It has more than 35,000 square feet of space, which makes it easily buy used rental cars accommodating for large groups. The Air Force Armament Museum at Eglin Air Force Base is another popular choice for events in the town.
Other options for lodging and meetings in the area include The Palms of Destin Resort and Conference Center with a 5,200-sq.-ft. ballroom and five meeting rooms; Resorts of Pelican Beach, which includes Pelican Beach Resort and Conference Center and The Terrace at Pelican Beach; and ResortQuest by Wyndham, which manages two beachside towers—SunDestin Resort and TOPS'L buy used rental cars Beach and Racquet Resort—with meeting space.
It's been more than six years since Hurricane buy used rental cars Katrina buy used rental cars ripped through buy used rental cars New Orleans, flooding much of the city and causing major damage in other parts. Since then, the city has undergone massive revitalization efforts with more than $500 million invested in hotel renovations. Maybe that's one reason why tourism is still a $5 billion-plus industry in the city, drawing 8.3 million visitors in 2010. More than 22 percent of those visitors came to the city for business meetings such as conventions, trade shows and corporate events.
In downtown New Orleans, planners will find more than 22,000 overnight rooms within a two-mile radius and more than 35,500 rooms in the entire city. Beyond the meeting space, planners can organize off-site trips to a wide variety of nearby attractions, including touring the city's unusual above-ground cemeteries or experiencing nature at one of the Audubon Nature Institute properties. buy used rental cars Attendees can spend free time dining at a jazz brunch, cruising the Mississippi River on a paddle wheeler or just wandering the French buy used rental cars Quarter. In 2010, almost half of business travelers extended their stay by two days for pleasure.
Much of the old city, including the French Quarter, sits on the Mississippi River. buy used rental cars One mile south of the French Quarter riverfront, the sprawling Ernest buy used rental cars N. Morial Convention Center lays claim to being one of the largest convention centers in the country. Built the year after the 1984 World's Fair and renovated in 2006, the convention center has 3.1 million buy used rental cars square feet of total space. buy used rental cars More than 1.1 million square feet of exhibit space is complemented buy used rental cars by two ballrooms, a 4,000-seat theater and 140 key-card-access meeting rooms. A new ballroom, which will become the largest in New Orleans, is currently under construction at the center
The Hilton New Orleans Riverside, adjacent to the convention center, has 1,622 rooms and 122,000 square feet of function space. And after a $275 million redesign and overall hotel upgrade, the Hyatt Regency New Orleans reopened in October. The hotel doubled its meeting space, now totaling more than 200,000 square feet. The 1,193-room property also has a new food and beverage program.
"In planning the hotel's redevelopment, we conducted three economic studies and spoke directly to the industry's top meeting buy used rental cars planners for unbiased feedback and recommendations," says Michael Smith, general manager. "I think meeting planners will be both surprised and delighted by all that we have to offer."
The Hyatt is now the largest meeting and convention hotel in the city with 80,000 square feet of exhibit space, and it has five Meeting Planner Suites, which have oversized work areas with access to a printer, fax machine and copy machine. When in New Orleans, "Laissez les bons temps rouler," or "Let the good times roll," buy used rental cars by scheduling receptions and other events at some of the city's more distinctive venues, such as Blaine Kern's Mardi Gras World, where colorful floats are created for the annual Mardi Gras parade. The facility also rents out Grand Oaks Mansion, a replica of an antebellum mansion.
Allow free time to explore the Riv