Venture Up: September 2015

Wednesday 23 September 2015

Orlando & Las Vegas CVB Teams Rival for Corporate Meetings

Orlando and Las Vegas have long been rivals for attracting corporate business meetings. The cities hold the top two slots in North America for having the most hotel rooms. Orlando has 145,000 rooms compared to 150,000 in Vegas.

VIDEO -- Las Vegas Team Building

Both cities have mild weather on their side, a big selling point. But if meeting planners are seeking a large outdoor team building programs, Orlando wins over the Vegas Strip. Orlando is more spread out, with open space, and theme parks relatively free of congestion.

Orlando & Las Vegas team building - venture up

Venture Up has been running programs in Orlando and Las Vegas for three decades. Most of our Vegas clients stay at hotels on the Strip and we host their corporate team events in ballrooms. Corporate meetings in Vegas are not all about fun and games.

Orlando & Las Vegas team building events - venture up

These days, most of our team events involve social responsibility, for example a bike-building event to benefit the Boys & Girls Club, or large check donations for a social service organization.

Other corporate groups spend grueling days in training sessions, leaving the nights free for the casino and shows. “When Venture Up arrives on site to break up a daytime classroom meetings, the executives couldn’t be happier,” says Mike Donnelly, a Venture Up team leader for more than 25 years.

When it comes to outdoor team building in Las Vegas, the Amazing Race gets high marks. Its fast, fun, competitive and chaotic, usually held on the flashiest street in America, the Strip. Other outdoor events take place at sprawling resorts beyond the Neon city.

Orlando & Las Vegas team building activities - venture up

Orlando is no slouch when it comes to fun events. It tops the scales with its theme parks, and a big one is coming soon. Disney just announced a project to build a Star Wars Theme Park in Orlando and Anaheim. Each will span a 14-acre spread and have two signature attractions. Visitors can take to the controls of the Millennium Falcon on a custom secret mission. The Star Warsadventure ride will propel guests in the center of a galactic battle.

“We are creating a jaw-dropping new world,” said Disney CEO Bob Iger in a recent USA Today article. “We’re bringing Star Wars to life in a big way … These new lands … will transport guests to a whole new Star Wars planet.” No time frame was given for the completion of the parks.

Friday 18 September 2015

Miami Hospitality Teams to Take a Break

Employee teams in the hospitality industry are experts in providing exceptional service catering to the whims of leisure travelers and corporate business executives. But do they take time for themselves? Hospitality teams in Miami and elsewhere need a vacation from the intense routine to build their inner resources and nourish their personal lives. The Greater Miami & The Beaches Hotel Association is gearing up to make vacations happen in Southern Florida, in cooperation with local hotels and the industry’s human resources group.

Wendy Kallergis, CEO of the GMBHA, is one of many industry leaders across the nation taking part in Project Time Off, a U.S. Travel Association initiative to encourage workers to take a break. “Project: Time Off aims to shift culture so that using personal time off is not considered frivolous, but essential to strengthening families and improving personal health, a business investment with proven returns, and an economic necessity,” according to the project’s website.

In 2014, 41 percent of American workers let paid vacation days go to waste, a US Travel Association study shows. An industry that goes 24/7 is a natural setting for a compulsive work ethic to thrive, but it comes at a steep price. Failure to meet a healthy work and life balance ultimate affects employee performance and retention.

According to a recent Miami Herald article by Hannah Sampson.

Kallergis considers her own industry “probably a major offender because of the nonstop nature of hotels and restaurants.” Kallergis joined forces with the South Florida Hospitality Human Resources Association and launched a summer wellness program for industry employees beginning in 2015.