Meeting at Home on Orlando Medical News

Meeting at Home

By: LYNNE JETER

During the month of May alone, Orlando will host 32,350 professionals – forensic veterinary specialists, bike riders, chief financial officers, psychologists, emergency nurses and clinical oncologists – gathering for medical meetings.

And that's just a warm-up to the full summer agenda of medical meetings, conventions, conferences, seminars and summits taking place in Central Florida.

Waldorf-Astoria's First Foray beyond New York City

When Waldorf-Astoria Orlando opens this September on 482 acres surrounded by Walt Disney World Resort, it will herald the first Waldorf-Astoria to be located outside New York City. Built from the ground up, the 498-room resort includes 171 suites with separate living rooms, kitchenettes and spacious baths, and six executive suites and two presidential suites. Waldorf-Astoria Orlando will also feature 28,000 square feet of meeting space, a 72-par Rees Jones-designed championship golf course, signature food and beverage establishments, a formal swimming pool with private cabanas, and a 24,000-square-foot Waldorf-Astoria Spa by Guerlain and Fitness Center. Jogging trails will encircle the property's tennis, basketball and volleyball courts. The adjacent contemporary Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek will complement the resort locale with specialty restaurants and additional upscale meeting space.

Before children head back to school, Orlando will have ushered nearly 60,000 attendees, plus their families in many cases, through medical meetings lasting from overnight for Heartland Dental Care in July at the Sheraton Orlando Downtown Hotel, and the American College of Physicians in August at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin, to nine days for the Radiology Business Management Association's annual national conference at Universal's Royal Pacific Resort.

Smith Travel Research confirmed recently that Orlando is the leading destination for medical meetings in the United States, hosting more medical meetings in 2008 than any other destination nationwide.

The research firm also pointed out that Orlando has held the top ranking for 12 consecutive years, drawing on average one healthcare meeting every five days.

Last year, Orlando was the site of 225 medical meetings with 173,000 attendees, who spent an estimated $111 million.

"We're thrilled to have earned and maintained the trust and confidence of this important meetings market segment for more than a decade," said Gary C. Sain, president and CEO of the Orlando/Orange County Convention & Visitors Bureau, Inc. (Orlando/Orange County CVB). "With our extensive medical infrastructure and support, combined with more than $2.2 billion in new hotels and attractions, the destination will continue to offer domestic and international medical meeting attendees incredible new options along with highly sought-after educational opportunities and memorable experiences."

Show-Stoppers

Some 30,000 attendees are expected May 30-June 1 for the American Society of Clinical Oncology's annual North American convention. McKesson Corporation will bring 4,500 guests to town for its pharmacy strategies conference and trade show July 14-23 at Gaylord Palms Resort and Convention Center. Take Off Pounds Sensibly (TOPS) will bring 3,000 folks to Disney's Coronado Springs Resort July 15-17.

Other groups garnering more than 2,000 attendees per medical meeting in Orlando this summer include the American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery (2,400), Coalition for Marriage, Family and Couples Education, LLC (2,300), and United Spinal Association (2,000).

Additional groups hosting medical meetings include the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Primary Care Education Network, Spina Bifida Association of America, Center for American Nurses, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation and McKesson Corporation.

One special added attraction being built in Orlando isn't an amusement park. It's Lake Nona's medical city, which is emerging not only as Orlando's fastest-growing, most innovative master-planned community encompassing 7,000 acres, but also as a "Project of Promise" featuring Nemours Children's Hospital, M.D. Anderson Orlando's Cancer Research Institute, Orlando VA Medical Center, University of Central Florida's new College of Medicine and Health Sciences campus, Burnham Institute for Medical Research's east coast campus, and a University of Florida research facility dotting the Lake Nona Gateway Interchange in the 600-acre Science & Technology Park.

"Orlando is ushering in a new era for medical meetings, conventions and tradeshows as it morphs into a vibrant world-class medical city that can not only offer a wealth of physicians, specialists and educators as speakers on a variety of medical topics, but also state-of-the-art facility tours," said Sain.

Along with the research firm's good news about the city's top ranking was an unwelcome statistic, one shared by CVBs nationwide. The occupancy rate of Orlando-area hotels dropped 12.5 percent from February 2008 to February 2009. Revenue per available room night dropped 25.7 percent during the same time period. The downward trend continued into March and April, with hotel occupancy levels dropping double-digit percentages year-over-year as meeting planners scrambled to cancel conferences or renegotiate contracts.

Even though the numbers appear ominously dismal, plenty of medical-related events are planned for mid-2009, and healthcare industry leaders living in Orlando can cut travel expenses by attending medical meetings close to home.

"For those in the medical profession living in the Orlando area, the best-of-the-best is right in their backyard," said Sain.