- Chris Lee nominated for ADME Achievement Award
- Mega yacht cruises into Newport Harbor
- "Loretta's Hideaway"
- ACCESS Amazing Race!
Chris Lee nominated for ADME Achievement Award
Christopher H. Lee, DMCP, CEO of ACCESS Destination Services, was nominated for the Association of Destination Management Executives (ADME) “Destination Management Professional of the Year” Achievement Award, recognizing an individual who has given his/her time, dedication, leadership, and knowledge towards the advancement of the destination management industry. Chris is a founding member and Past President of ADME, a contributing author to The Guide to Successful Destination Management, and was recently a featured speaker at the 2006 ADME Annual Conference held at the Broadmoor, in Colorado Springs.
In response to the need for an association that could specifically address priority issues of destination management companies in numerous ways, the founding members of ADME established the mission “to increase the professionalism and effectiveness of destination management through member and industry education, establishment of standard ethical practices and promotion of the value of the industry to the general public.”
ACCESS Partner and President-Elect to ADME, Ilene B. Reinhart, DMCP, CMP, summarizes our commitment to ADME: “All of the partners of ACCESS Destination Services are committed to ADME and the service that it provides, not only to its members but to the hospitality industry as a whole. The strides that have been made by ADME to certify destination management professionals, author a book about destination management, and present a united front in addressing specific industry needs, have helped to raise the bar of awareness of the value of DMCs. This does not happen by standing by and watching but by participating and giving back to the industry that has supported us for over 35 years.”
To date, ACCESS boasts the highest number of California certified DMCPs: ACCESS President, Candace Bisconte, ACCESS CEO, Christopher Lee, Partner, Ilene Reinhart, and Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Barbara Smith as well as Teri Harbour O’Keefe, Director of Operations in the Los Angeles office. More ACCESS certifications will be announced shortly. In addition, Barb Smith was recently named Co-Chair of the ADME conference committee for the 2007 Annual Conference to be held at the Westin Mission Hills in Palm Springs.
The accompanying photo, taken at the ADME Annual Conference, features ACCESS team members Steve McCleave, Sr. Sales Manager-Los Angeles, Jennifer Miller, General Manager-San Diego, Partners Barbara Smith, Chris Lee, Ilene Reinhart, and Mark Fiorentino, General Manager-Orange County.
Orange County
Mega yacht cruises into Newport Harbor. MV Majestic, the newest yacht of its size to enter service in the Orange County coastal area is a magnificent 400 passenger mega yacht. With an overall length of 148’ and a beam of 30’, Majestic sports an enormous bow area where guests may enjoy the passing scenery, sip a cocktail, or enjoy a cigar.
The plush interior features hand crafted cherry wood, burlwood, custom granite counter tops and custom aluminum ceilings as finish appointments. The food service galley and primary restrooms are placed below decks, made possible by a ten foot deep hull. All of the interior decks of the vessel are clear span with a 7’6” ceiling and no obstructing posts. The three deck vessel features a magnificent full length dining salon with a wraparound buffet center on the main deck. The second deck is a large multi-function entertainment area equipped with full service bar, cocktail/lounge areas and dance floor.
This luxurious motor yacht is a grand addition to an already impressive array of area dining yachts and is available for day and evening cruises through Newport Harbor, one of California’s most picturesque and exclusive coastal communities. Consider a “Sizzling Salsa” sunset cocktail cruise for the group followed by a dine-around at some of the areas finest restaurants. Or, perhaps a “Chocolate Fantasy” Dessert Cruise as an afterglow to a dinner on property or a Flotilla with Majestic and area vintage vessels and sailboats best fits your agenda.
We are excited about the trend toward the spacious new “mega yachts”, able to accommodate our larger sized groups. Southern California has proudly been the destination of choice for no fewer than three of these magnificent vessels in the past two years. With ACCESS creativity and “access” to exciting talent options, additional space allows for showcasing the best of local interactive entertainers.
Contact the Orange County Office of ACCESS Destination Services for an “Evening under the Stars” dinner cruise on MV Majestic and for all your corporate event planning needs.
Palm Springs
"Loretta's Hideaway" is the proposed name for a 300 seat fine dining and entertainment venue celebrating the history of old Palm Springs located in what was once the venerable Oasis Hotel. Playing up the celebrity connection, the restaurant will be named after Loretta Young, the glamorous Hollywood actress and frequent guest to the hotel in the years prior to her death in 2000. The centerpiece of the old Oasis Hotel is a 40’ bell tower, which has been known as the Loretta Young tower for decades and offers 360-degree views of the San Jacinto mountain range and downtown. The Art Deco structure, built in 1922 and designed by Lloyd Wright, son of Frank Lloyd Wright, is considered to be the only local example of Wright’s work and his first major commercial project.
“Anyone who was anybody” stayed at the old Oasis Hotel, and soaked in the flower-shaped hot tub, including Young, Clark Gable, Shirley Temple, John Wayne and Humphrey Bogart. Photographs of the celebrities, previously hung in the hotel rooms, wait for the day when they will grace the restaurant walls.
Since Palm Springs diners prefer dining al fresco, the majority of dining will be outside, with multi level seating and a hidden courtyard. In addition, plans for a bar to seat 40, and a possible cigar bar are in the works. When the $2 million renovation is completed, the restaurant will be first class offering a continental, cosmopolitan cuisine that befits the 1940’s era, when Palm Springs hosted the daring and the darlings of Hollywood’s elite crowd.
This prime site, in the busiest area of Palm Springs, will be reminiscent of the heyday of Palm Springs, with photographs of Hollywood icons, a history of the building, and perhaps even panels signed by entertainers from the now defunct illegal gambling Club 139 in Cathedral City. Viewed as a “wonderful sign” of what is to come for the downtown Palm Springs area, this venue will definitely tell a story – the story of old Palm Springs, its celebrities, and its architecture. Pending final approval, look for completion in the latter part of 2006.
We’ll keep you posted on the progress of this venue which may just be the perfect central gathering point for an ACCESS “Hollywood Heyday Road Rally” where we meet “mystery celebrities”, including the very best “Clint Eastwood”, along the way in our clue-solving pursuits.
For your next corporate event, contact the Palm Springs Office of ACCESS Destination Services.
San Diego
ACCESS Amazing Race! Do you have an intimate size group looking for action? Or, perhaps you have an all male group with discerning taste, seeking an adrenalin charging alternative to Golf? If yes, then consider ACCESS Destination Services very own version of the television spectacular “The Amazing Race”. With or without cameras, your guests will be given instruction and cryptic clues which take them (via chauffeur driven van) to several exciting areas and attractions in San Diego. Once at a destination, carefully monitored by an ACCESS staff member, a task must be performed successfully before a clue is provided giving direction to the next hilarious challenge. With the resources available in San Diego, we have the ability to gear the momentum and content to your specific needs. This is also the perfect opportunity to integrate any corporate message into the task challenge portion of the event.
Because safety is at all times adhered to, the “need for speed” is fulfilled not on the road, but in the second portion of the event with a stop at K1Speed, where guests will experience the thrill of wheel to wheel racing in high performance Italian carts. Guests are timed on their laps around a race course at the largest indoor go-cart facility on the West Coast which recently increased the power of its electric carts by 20 percent to allow for speeds of up to 40mph. The track is professionally designed and made of asphalt to create the feeling of being on an outdoor track.
The 20 horsepower Italian-made carts, produced in Maranello, Italy, the same town in which Ferraris are made, have a fully computerized system which provides maximum safety. Laps are timed to the 100th of a second and the results are displayed on the scoreboard and on monitors as guests race the course. Following the race, guests receive detailed result cards, and scores are incorporated into the overall Amazing Race scores for the day.
ACCESS Sr. Sales Manager, Sterena Strickland, along with our Program Management team, recently designed and produced an Amazing Race familiarization activity for the Conference Services team at one of our local resorts. Sterena’s comment, “I had as much fun creating the event as the guests who participated”, partnered with a “good sport” guest comment, “Thank you for the upbeat attitude…Sorry we didn’t win but I thought we had a good name for our team” reflects the overall level of camaraderie and sportsmanship generated by the event.
Stay tuned for information on a new K1 course, coming soon to Irvine to supercharge our Orange County groups.
Contact the San Diego Office of ACCESS Destination Services for next your team building event.Newsletter Sign up
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