Industry News for November 1, 2024

Venue News

Houston-based Midway, a privately owned, fully integrated real estate, investment, and development firm, announced that a portion of The Moran CITYCENTRE’s transformative renovation is now complete. The multi-million-dollar renovation, aimed at enhancing the overall guest experience, features a new restaurant concept, expanded and enhanced meeting spaces, and refreshed guest rooms. 

The AC Hotel and Residence Inn by Marriott Reston (Reston, VA) located in the next phase of Reston Town Center, the dynamic and thriving mixed-use development in Northern Virginia, is set to open its doors in January 2025. Operated by Donohoe Hospitality Services, this striking, state-of-the-art, dual-branded hotel offers guests an option of choosing the hotel that best suits guests’ unique travel needs with two hotels paired to perfection under one roof. 

The Cordish Companies, in collaboration with the Shreveport and Bossier City Arts Councils, has selected 12 local artists to create original artwork that will be displayed inside the new $270+ million Live! Casino & Hotel Louisiana, set to open in the East Bank Cultural District in Bossier City in Q1 2025. Following an open call to artists across Northwest Louisiana, a panel of judges—including representatives from Live! Casino, seasoned artists, and art professionals—evaluated numerous submissions to determine the final selections. 

Awards and Accolades

Events DC, the official convention and sports authority of Washington, DC announced that the Walter E. Washington Convention Center was named one of North America’s best convention centers for trade shows and events by Exhibitor Group for the sixth year in a row. The Walter E. Washington Convention Center is also a finalist for the Best Convention Center Award (500,000–1 million square-feet of exhibit space) and Best Customer Service and On-Site Support Award.   

Hot off the Press

Destination DC (DDC), the official destination marketing organization for Washington, DC, announced that more than 50 members have joined its Sustainability District. The initiative promotes local businesses in tourism and hospitality that have prioritized practices to become a more sustainable place to live, visit, and meet. The Sustainability District showcases DC businesses with clear initiatives, supporting the city's mission and benefiting the community. It includes six categories—hotels, attractions, transportation, venues, restaurants, and DMCs—for event planners and attendees to easily identify participating businesses.   

Meetingselect, the global meeting and event management platform and venue marketplace, announced a new integration partnership with Shiji Group, a global leader in hospitality technology solutions. The collaboration addresses the growing demand for efficient and automated meeting room management. With direct and instant bookings made possible by the Meeting Booking Widget, venues can handle large volumes of booking requests with ease and precision. 

Preferred DMCs, the boutique consortium of selected Destination & Event Management Companies from around Europe specializing in bespoke high-end incentive travel, special interest groups, VIP travel, events, meetings and conferences, has added a new member to its portfolio: Performance Travel, one of the top players on the Dutch DMC market. 

Products on the Market

Eventbrite has launched a free timed entry tool, empowering organizers to easily set up and sell multiple daily time slots for their events. This fully customizable solution is ideal for tours, attractions, excursions, and classes, where attendees can book a ticket for their preferred time slot. Paired with Eventbrite’s existing AI-powered tools to easily generate event descriptions and categorization, the timed entry tool simplifies event set-up and capacity management for organizers.