Plan Your Meetings

Case Study: Bella Palazzo Exclusive Private Estates / Audi AG

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Despite all the dreary discussion around the U.S. housing market in the past year or so, there does exist one clever little housing niche that an Arizona-based meeting planning professional has exploited quite nicely. Bella Palazzo Exclusive Private Estates, with an inventory of 32 multi-million dollar, palatial homes in Arizona, California, Nevada and Colorado, offers private homes as event venues.

“Once you’ve been to all the great hotels, you get to a point where you want something different, something more unique,” says Margie Van Zee, president and founder of the company. “These homes are something the general public can’t access. Once you get into one of them, you get to see amazing architecture, world-class art collections in some cases, and spectacular views and vistas. People are always blown away.”

With daily venue rental fees ranging from $4,500-15,000, a planner has to be truly committed to creating a dream program. But once the decision is made, imagination and creativity run wild.

“One group did a progressive dinner in a European-style home that had all these beautiful gardens. We moved from one location to another with each of the courses, which gave them the opportunity to enjoy a tour of the home and gardens during an actual dinner event,” Van Zee recalled. “Another time, we did a luncheon for spouses with panini sandwiches served right by a beautiful lily pond while a landscape architect explained the design of the garden and talked about the various plants and flowers. After lunch, we moved to another location where they did an olive tasting.”

Assignment:

For Van Zee, the piece de resistance came when Germany-based Audi AG rented one of Bella Palazzo’s private homes overlooking Camelback Mountain in Arizona — for 30 days.

Challenge:

“They were rolling out their new Q7 vehicle to the international auto press and wanted to so something really memorable,” she says. Originally, the company wanted to stage a Q7 on a platform in the home’s negative-edge, infinity pool but decided at the last minute the risks were too high.

Solution:

Instead, they took advantage of the home’s spectacular vista as they hoisted a Q7 onto the side of Camelback Mountain (some 300 feet in the distance) with high-powered spotlights trained on it for dramatic effect. The home’s 2,000-square foot garage area was turned into a fully-equipped press center with TVs, high-speed internet, office equipment, etc., as 12 groups of 50 international journalists were rotated through every other day. As each press conference ended, the journalists were ushered into the home for a seated dinner overlooking the new vehicle in the distance.

Results:

“It was simply incredible,” Van Zee says.

Information compiled by Pete Foley, director of creative services at Access Meetings & Events. Read more about Dream Meetings in the latest edition of Plan Your Meetings magazine. Sign up for your free subscription here.