Site Inspection
Spicing it Up: Business Meets Pleasure at Florida Resort
by Sandra Nadazdin | Published in April 2007 Departments
When Leslie Hill, an event planner for State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, walked into an event that the staff of Ginn Hammock Beach Resort in Palm Coast, Fla., had helped her organize, she couldn’t believe her eyes.
“They came up with an Arabian Nights-themed evening,” she says, “complete with the décor, on-site entertainment and sarongs!”
Hill is just one of the many meeting planners who got to experience Hammock Beach Resort’s unique combination of business, creativity and pleasure when the oceanfront resort organized a “boot camp” to showcase the hotel. The “cadets” were guided through a program of fitness and yoga classes, image consulting sessions, makeovers and treatments, while enjoying the culinary treats of Chef Steve Schoembs in the resort’s elegant “mess hall.”
Featuring 15,000 square feet of indoor meeting space, including the Ocean Ballroom and Atlantic Ballroom, both of which overlook the Atlantic Ocean, in addition to 19,000 square feet of outdoor venues, Ginn Hammock Beach Resort offers a wide range of options for planners.
The Hammock Boardroom seats close to 20 people in a wood-paneled room with 52-inch plasma video screens, while the Grand Event Lawn overlooks the 18th green of a Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course. The rooms’ interiors feature sound-proof wall panels and tray ceilings that give the meetings an intimate feel, while views of the Atlantic Ocean and white sand beaches provide an inspiring backdrop.
Additionally, Loggerheads Lounge, a common area, has been fitted with permanent food stations, and the water pavilion, with a 4,500-square-foot lawn, features a gazebo and an ocean bar. And that’s not even mentioning the resort’s hallmark Conference Services Department, which helped Hill organize her event.
“The resort staff thinks out of the box,” she says. “They can take a basic idea and really spice it up.”
For more information, visit www.ginresorts.com.