Embassy Suites by Hilton: Executive Decisions

Embassy Suites by Hilton (Raleigh-Durham Airport/ Brier Creek) to the rescue! The entire world is dealing with the effects of COVID-19 and handling it by re-opening in phases based on how the local government deems necessary based on the current stats. I’m in North Carolina and we’re currently in phase two. Some restaurants have re-opened with special seating arrangements to accommodate social distancing and a modified maximum occupancy. Event spaces have reopened with a max capacity of ten people to stay within the current guidelines. Whether the event takes place indoors or outdoors.

Can you imagine trying to plan a “Oh Baby!” Honey Bee themed gender reveal with all these restrictions? A zoom link was created to share with family members and friends who couldn’t be in attendance due to distance, actively on home-quarantine or social distancing. I can’t forget to mention “trying” to comply with rules and regulations put in place for event gatherings. Originally an outdoor space was secured to host the gender reveal however, that changed when thunderstorms were forecasted for the event date.

I literally had 48hrs to secure an alternate location because invitations had already gone out and I didn’t want to cancel the event. With such short notice, the event venue that I would have loved to host the gender reveal was already booked with a drive-thru baby shower for the same day and time slot. The search was on to find an alternative. I started to look at local hotels that I’ve worked with in the past on blogging events, stayed at for business or leisure and had good recommendations and reviews.

After driving around for half the day and speaking to hotel management, looking at a variety of event spaces within the hotels and comparing space, aesthetics, amenities and pricing… I decided to book the Executive Suite at the Embassy Suites by Hilton (Raleigh-Durham Airport/ Brier Creek). After speaking with the Sales and Catering Manager and sharing my dilemma we brain stormed a few ideas and she quoted me a good rate. It was spacious and I could be the hostess with the mostess!

The Executive Suite is 753 square feet with one King Bed – Bedroom and sitting area with fireplace. Free Wi-Fi and wired internet access. In room entertainment – 42-inch LCD TV with premium channels, pay movies and iPod dock. Food and Beverages – Refrigerator, microwave, coffee/tea maker and room service. Bed Type and Features – Blackout drapes/ curtains and linens. Full (private) and half bathroom to accommodate guests. Extras – Laptop compatible safe, double sofa bed and ironing board.

It’s also non- smoking, wheel chair accessible and you can use the climate control for your heating and air conditioning needs. You can request complimentary rollaway beds if needed. Due to COVID-19 there was no room service or food preparation on the premises. We brought in our own food, beverages and desserts because of this. I arrived two hours before guests were due to arrive so I could check-in, decorate the room and set up the food in the dining area.

Guests were staggered in and out that were in attendance so we could adhere to the rules put in place. Everyone had a mask and we had hand sanitizer set out on the tables. The zoom link was available to everyone in case they weren’t physically present for the actual gender reveal. The event was a huge SUCCESS! By the way, it’s a GIRL! We had a great time and after all the guests left, I stayed the night in the Executive Suite with my family. We enjoyed it and the available hotel amenities. I mean after all, I DESERVE it! Lol!

If I would have rented an event venue it would have been roughly around the same price but, we would have left after the event was finished within a 3 to 4-hour time slot. Checking in at 2:00pm and checking out at 12:00pm the next day was AWESOME! We also got to enjoy the indoor heated pool. I scheduled a time to go with the front desk because they were monitoring how many people would be at the pool at the same time and restricting it to 2 guest rooms at a time.

Overall, I had a great experience with Embassy Suites by Hilton (Raleigh-Durham Airport/ Brier Creek). I’ve stayed with them before but, never in the Executive Suite so now I’m spoiled. Lol! Everything worked out great and I would totally host another intimate event in the Executive Suite. It’s like a luxury Studio Apartment. The suite I booked had more open space for what I was trying to do. There is a different Executive Suite room layout and theme that I’m eager to see. Stay tuned…

Have you ever hosted an event in the Executive or Presidential Suite of a hotel?

How to Win Influencers and Their Fans

marketing-strategy

It would be nice if we could have a million instant fans whenever we created a new project, product, brand or event. When growing something, it takes time and hard work with no guarantee of success. However, sometimes you just need to win over or leverage one person to get the ball rolling. This is why celebrity marketing is so important to so many companies.

You can do this too and it is called influencer marketing. This means utilizing bloggers, vloggers, and other social media stars who have fans in their millions. Many are not famous outside of their niches, but their pulling power via their writing and their videos is huge. You can leverage this source too and use them to bring people in their hundreds, thousands, and possibly millions to your product or website.

To do it, you need to know the 4 ways of using influencer marketing.

5 Tips For Last Minute Party Planning

My birthday is quickly approaching and being the procrastinator that I am… I thought it would be fun to highlight what I’m doing at this very moment. I usually celebrate my birthday all month long dubbing October to be JENtober until Halloween! I create events all month long to keep my friends, family and of course myself busy. However I have ONE official birthday party and that’s next Saturday. I just created my invitation last night. So, where did I go from there and what am I doing to pull this off? Let’s take a look!

Who’s coming? Get your invitation out! In this day and age I don’t know the last time I used stationary or printed invitations for myself. I’m all about Evites! I designed my birthday invitation in Photoshop and created a Facebook Event and started inviting all my friends. I’ll probably have to send out a few emails and text messages for people not on Facebook and I may even tweet it out to local my local twitter peeps so it will give us a chance to connect.

Will there be Food? Well, that depends… I’m actually hosting two events in one day and neither of them is in my home. One event will have food while the other won’t. The first event is my “Pole Party” celebration with all my girlfriends. I’ll have light party snacks, refreshments and cake which we’ll enjoy before the party begins and work those calories right off. Lol! The second event is taking place at a lounge/ nightclub and there will be a cash bar and no food is allowed. Therefore I can’t bring food into the establishment. If I would have opted to have a house party, I would have gone shopping and prepared a fairly non complicated menu along with the ingredients to make the BEST cocktails!

Decorate Much? While I won’t go overboard I think some simple birthday decorations will do at the pole dance studio and lounge/ club to set the JENtober tone. Besides I love balloons and any reason I have to use balloons and streamers I will. I won’t go as far as confetti that can be a bit of a hassle to clean up! A HUGE plus is that I opted not to have a house party so I didn’t have to massively tidy up my home and there’s no clean up after the party for me!

Send Reminders: As the event gets closer, in my case it’s next weekend… Send out reminder messages on the Facebook event wall, email or twitter. I’d say a few days before and then the night before or the day of the event so that everyone has is in their mind! If you want to get snazzy make a cute little video and add some “birthday” music to it and send it to everyone. I think I’m going to do that this weekend, My Video Birthday Invitation!

Enjoy your Day! You’ve done everything to get your event(s) embedded in everyone’s brain so just relax and get ready to have FUN! Being that it’s a last minute event… Don’t get stuck on the number of attendees. I always have a great time with my friends whether it’s two of us or fifty two of us! However I feel if you are hosting you’re birthday party, your friends will know it’s the place to be and won’t want to miss the event. If you have any additional last minute party planning tips, please share.

The Lack of Decorum in Planning Today’s Launch Parties

Lately I’ve been head over heels in event planning mode, not just for myself but for my employer as well. I’m strategically planning four events at one time. One being my personal launch party, details coming soon… AND the other three are community events for my company. I’m going to focus on my party at the moment to try and get my point across. I’m in the process of planning a launch party, lately I’ve seen and received many invitations to attend launch parties, whether it’s a new service, product, business or brand being launched! Many of these invitations are set up on an online event platform and have a cost attached to them. I personally don’t think there should be a cost attached to it. Why should I pay to come to your launch party? What am I getting for my money? Are the proceeds benefiting a particular cause? Aside from you promoting yourself, will there be food, open bar, swag or a celebrity speaker? Even with some of my questions I feel they should be complimentary at a launch party.

Now, in my mind if I am launching something new and fresh I want it to be publicized, I want media and potential clients to attend along with colleagues, friends and family. I’ll plan a press release strategy to get all local and national press outlets in the loop. I’ll design Evites and printed invitations to the event and send them out to people on my guest list but, I am NOT going to charge you to come to my launch party. Planning an event takes time; you need a budget, a vision, and what you hope to gain from hosting a launch party. I personally want a great turnout for my party and to be able to share information, showcase a new project, gain clients and have my guest’s network and connect with one another in a laid back but, classy atmosphere. I plan on having swag, there will be a cash bar and my venue doesn’t allow food but, I’m trying to work something out to be able to at least bring in light h’orderves.

If you have a small budget then you can try to trade or barter with people or businesses where it makes sense to cut costs. If you can guarantee the venue a particular headcount maybe they’ll give you the venue at no cost on a slow night because you’ll be bringing people into their establishment and they can potentially bring in decent revenue for that evening vs. not hosting an event and it being just another slow night. Also let them know that their business will be mentioned in all promotional and advertising materials. Try to pitch for sponsorship or to get an investor to help with the event costs and advertising. This will allow you to plan a great party and invite everyone on your list without having to attach a cost to it to help pay for the event or recoup the money you put into the event, budgeting is essential! Now if there is an organization involved that is benefiting from the proceeds of the event tickets well, that needs to be disclosed on the invitation and in all press kits. Otherwise I still see no reason to charge for a launch party.

You want to give your guests a reason to attend, whether it is a free consultation, or discount offered on your products or services. Themed parties are very popular, have a theme and stick to it throughout your planning process and at the event itself. Stay true to your brand; and potential sponsors will be motivated to help and participate if it makes sense to them and they’re a good fit. You can also look into virtual launch parties if that might work better for your brand, business, product or service. Now, I plan events all the time and some of them do have costs attached to them but, NEVER with launch parties! Most launch parties I’ve attended were FREE. Showcase your product or services and make it available to attendees but, don’t sell your launch party ticket? What are your thoughts on this? I want to know…

error: Ask And You Shall Receive!!