Watch for (Dallas):

• The Hilton Bella Harbor opened on the shores of Lake Ray Hubbard in Rockwall, 22 miles east of Dallas, with 231 suites and a 25,000-sq. ft. conference center. Amenities include a “Sailing into the Future” national executive training program that has indoor and waterbound team-building components.
• Texas de Brazil Churrascaria now offers catering services in Dallas, Fort Worth, Addison, Richmond and Fairfax locations.
• Green news: The Dallas Convention Center expects to earn its LEED Silver certification by January 2009. Dallas Yellow Cab will have an entirely hybrid fleet by 2011. Check the Dallas CVB Web site for other existing green meeting initiatives.
• The Ritz-Carlton, Dallas, opened in Victory Park with 218 rooms and suites, a 12,000-square-foot spa, Fearing’s Restaurant and 14,000 square feet of meeting space. The W Dallas Victory Hotel also opened in Victory Park. Amenities include 251 rooms, 11,000 square feet of meeting space, restaurants Craft and Ghostbar, and a full-service Bliss spa.
• Other new Dallas properties include the Hotel Indigo (formerly the Holiday Inn Dallas Aristocrat) and the Hotel Palomar (formerly the Mockingbird Hilton) and the 129-room Joule, Dallas.
• Construction has been delayed on the Mandarin Oriental, Dallas, and a new opening date has not yet been announced.
• A $10 million renovation of the Renaissance Dallas is underway. Its new, 16,000-sq. ft. ballroom, opening summer 2009, is designed to qualify for LEED Silver certification.
• Expected to open in 2009, the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts will be a multi-venue center for music, opera, theater and dance with multiple stages and an urban park.
• The Old Red Courthouse was named the ISES 2008 Facility of the Year.

Watch for (Fort Worth):

• The 614-room, $115 million Omni Fort Worth Hotel is expected to open in January 2009 with 68,000 square feet of meeting space.
• The Sheraton Fort Worth Hotel & Spa (formerly the Plaza Hotel Fort Worth) opened adjacent to the Fort Worth Convention Center with 430 guest rooms and 22,000 square feet of meeting space after completing a $54 million renovation.
• Other new Fort Worth hotels include the Embassy Suites Fort Worth–Downtown. Recently renovated Fort Worth properties include the Mariott DFW Hotel and Golf Club at Champions Circle, Holiday Inn North, Holiday Inn South, the Radisson Fort Worth Fossil Creek and the Hilton Fort Worth.
• New hotel restaurants will include Bob’s Steak & Chop House (Omni Hotel), Shula’s 347 Grill (Sheraton) and Ruth’s Chris Steak House. Grace and The Vault are new downtown restaurants.

Dallas

Want to pamper attendees?

In 1924, the Warwick Melrose Hotel cost $2 million to build. Today, the AAA Four-Diamond property has the award-winning (DiRoNa, Wine Spectator) Landmark Restaurant, popular networking bar The Library, oversized guest rooms and suites, and elegant meeting space for up to 300 guests. The Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek is a Mobil Five-Star/AAA Five-Diamond hotel synonymous with old money Dallas, even though the restaurant has relaxed its dress code to allow jeans. Amenities include meeting space for up to 350 guests and a multi-venue dining room with outdoor and wine cellar banquet space. The Magnolia Hotel has the charm and style of a luxury boutique hotel (complimentary evening cocktails and milk-and-cookies bedtime buffets) as well as the generously sized rooms most boutiques lack (450 to 900 square feet); meeting and event space accommodates groups of up to 250. The AAA Four-Diamond Fairmont Dallas has meeting space for up to 1,200 guests, 545 recently renovated guest rooms and suites, Four-Star dining, and three private concierge floors with 47 designer rooms. Maestro Personal Assistants and Big D VIP are personal concierge/assistant services attendees can use to have questions answered, arrangements made, errands run and anything else they need done while in town.

Want events that wow?

The AT&T Plaza in Victory Park is an outdoor events venue surrounded by LED screens mounted on five-story glass buildings. Planners can use screens to brand events, screen videos, make presentations, advertise sponsors, or create a 360-degree environment of light and sound. DFW Elite Auto Rental rents classic and exotic autos by the day and has a one-day, five-car tour of Texas roadways planners can use as an incentive or team-building program.

Want to meet in a place with history?

Two miles east of downtown Dallas, Fair Park is the largest collection of 1930s Art Deco exposition-style architecture in the United States, covering 277 acres of landscaped grounds, and home to the annual State Fair of Texas. Indoor and outdoor venues include exhibit halls, a bandshell, a theater, gallery space and sports arenas. Fair Park also is home to an impressive collection of museums and attractions planners can use as special facilities, including the Smithsonian-affiliated Women’s Museum, the African American Museum, the Museum of Nature & Science, the Texas Music Center, the Hall of State, the Texas Discovery Gardens and the Dallas Aquarium.

Want caterers?

A la Carte Cakes & Catering’s owner, executive chef and pastry chef/cake designer each have more than 20 years’ experience in the field; the company specializes in creating corporate banquets, buffets and social events for up to 2,000 people. Tejano Brothers Southwest Cuisine “Black Tie” Catering specializes in delivering sophisticated versions of traditional regional dishes; wine dinners and cooking classes also are available.

Want group dining?

Fearing’s at the Ritz-Carlton, Dallas, is helmed by celebrity chef Dean Fearing; amenities include a glitzy bar and seven dining areas, including a chef’s table, a glass dining pavilion, a wine cellar and garden event space. Boi Na Braza Churrascaria, an award-winning Brazilian steak house in Grapevine, has private and semi-private banquet facilities and meeting space. Amenities at N9NE Group restaurants (Ghostbar, Nove Italiano) include audio/visual equipment, patio dining, bar/lounge areas and private dining rooms. Nobu serves upscale Japanese cuisine and sushi, and has private indoor and outdoor dining areas. III Forks in North Dallas has one of the largest wine cellars in Texas and serves Texas French cuisine; several private dining areas, including a courtyard and a piano bar, are available. Stephen Pyles’ eponymous restaurant has two private dining rooms and group cooking classes; the chef’s cookbooks and handmade tamales are available for take-aways or gift baskets. The Deep Ellum and West End districts have several restaurants and nightclubs planners can use for progressive dinners or events.

Want team-building activities?

Serving U guides attendees through the coordination and preparation of meals for the North Texas Food Bank. The Dallas CVB can help planners organize a treasure hunt through Dallas’ shopping districts or a scavenger hunt based around famous Dallas landmarks. Texas Motor Speedway has several driving schools. Chef Kent Rathbun leads interactive Dirty Dozen cooking classes at his restaurant Abacus, dividing groups into teams to create a four-course meal. Dave & Buster’s has private meeting rooms, an arcade and billiards area for team-building activities; its Murder Mystery Players also are available for off-site team-building programs.

Want Texas-themed venues?

The Old Red Museum of Dallas County History & Culture is housed in a restored 1892 courthouse building within walking distance of Dealey Plaza, the West End Historic District and the convention center; meeting and event space is available in turrets, a great hall and the historic courtroom. Gilley’s Dallas is a 65,000-sq. ft. honky-tonk with five event areas accommodating up to 6,000 people; it’s classic Dallas, with live music, hearty food and plenty of room to dance (or meet). Circle R Ranch in Flower Mound has team-building programs, a roadhouse venue, a 5,000-sq. ft. conference center, an enclosed 28,000-sq. ft. pavilion and outdoor event space for up to 8,000 guests. Eddie Deen’s Ranch, on the south side of the convention center, accommodates up to 3,500 people in its Western-themed saloon, town hall and patio venues, and sells custom-fitted boots, cowboy hats and bandanas. The Hall of State in Fair Park has a beautiful atrium event space and galleries devoted to the different regions of Texas.

Want to meet in creative settings?

The Dallas Arboretum has multiple event venues, including the lakefront Alex Camp House, the 21,000-sq. ft. DeGolyer Estate and the 5,000-sq. ft. Rosine Hall. The Dallas Contemporary has 6,000 square feet of gallery space for meetings, receptions and banquets; the museum allows groups to employ outside caterers/service providers and supply their own alcohol. The Nasher Sculpture Center has meeting rooms and an outdoor sculpture garden displaying the works of Picasso, Calder and Rodin, among others. The Belo Mansion & Pavilion has indoor and outdoor banquet, pre-function and reception space overlooking the sculpture center and the Meyerson Symphony Center.

Fort Worth

What you should know …

The Fort Worth Convention Center is within walking distance of Sundance Square, a 14-block downtown entertainment and shopping district. To experience what Fort Worth was built on, attend the daily cattle drive in the Stockyards. For a sense of where the city is headed, walk through the Cultural District and look at the newly opened and soon-to-open properties planned for downtown.

Want to break out of the boardroom?

Planners can charter one-way or roundtrip journeys aboard the Grapevine Vintage Railroad, traveling the historic Cotton Belt Route between Grapevine and the Fort Worth Stockyards National Historic District; entertainment options include interactive “train robberies,” saloon girls, piano players and a built-in bar. Billy Bob’s Texas is a honky-tonk with team-building, concert, meeting and banquet facilities for groups of up to 5,000 people; groups can end a day of meetings by attending a rodeo, hearing a concert, and learning how to line-dance or ride bulls.

Want outdoor venues?

The Fort Worth Water Gardens, adjoining the convention center, is an urban park with a meditation pool, an aerating pool with multiple fountains and an active pool with 38-ft. cascades surrounded by more than 500 species of plants and trees. After dark, the Fort Worth Zoo transforms into a 1890s Texas town for private group functions. Banquet and reception space is available at the Japanese Gardens Pavilion at the Fort Worth Botanic Garden, which also has indoor classroom, meeting and auditorium space.

Want to meet in a place with history?

Stockyards Station is located in the Fort Worth Stockyards National Historic District and has four special event venues, including the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame and a 12,000-sq. ft. outdoor covered pavilion. Attractions include historic walking tours, daily cattle drives, trail rides, a cattle pen maze, the Livestock Exchange Building, an outdoor concert venue, seasonal rodeos, themed restaurants and shops, and the Grapevine Vintage Railroad, which transports riders between two of the oldest cities in Texas.

Want to surround your group with culture?

Fort Worth is home to several Western-theme museums (Sid Richardson Museum of Western Art, National Cowgirl Museum & Hall of Fame, National Cowboys of Color Museum & Hall of Fame), traditional museums (Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth Museum of Science and History) and quirky, one-of-a-kind museums (Vintage Flying Museum, Monning Meteorite Gallery, Texas Civil War Museum) — all of which have function and/or meeting space. The Hip Pocket Theater offers dinner, drinks, live music and original theater shows. Team Craft facilitates movie-making workshops in which attendees make short films inspired by meeting themes; sessions end with a festival-style screening.

Want team-building activities?

The Four Day Weekend Comedy Theater can conduct corporate training workshops or customized improv comedy shows from its home theater in Sundance Square or off-site. The Texas Motor Speedway has driving schools as well as special event facilities, tours and a hall of fame. The Go Game equips teams with cell phones, cameras, maps and creative challenges to complete throughout the city; planted performers are available to enhance the interactive challenges.