The Renaissance World Golf Village Resort and Convention Center In Jacksonville/St. Augustine Receives Smart Meetings’ “Platinum Choice Award” (United States)
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The Renaissance World Golf Village Resort and Convention Center In Jacksonville/St. Augustine Receives Smart Meetings’ “Platinum Choice Award” (United States)
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Category: North America & West Indies / Carribean islands - United States - Exclusive experiences
- Rewards
This is a press release selected by our editorial committee and published online for free on 2011-11-29
The honors keep coming to The Renaissance World Golf Village Resort and Convention Center in Jacksonville/St. Augustine, Florida, as the resort has received another prestigious award: Smart Meetings magazine’s “2011 Platinum Choice Award.” This marks the first year the resort has received the award, which will be presented to Jeffrey Oliasami, general manager of the 301-room, AAA Four-Diamond resort. Together with the adjacent World Golf Hall of Fame, The Renaissance World Golf Village Resort and Convention Center is the largest combination hotel and convention center between Atlanta and Orlando, with 101,000 square feet of meeting and event space.
The prestigious “Platinum Choice Award” recognizes the resort as one of the top meeting hotels in North America, based on select criteria, as voted on by the magazine’s readers. The winning hotels and resorts will be highlighted in the magazine’s December 2011 issue.
“We are very proud to capture the prestigious Platinum Choice Award, as it reflects what an exceptional choice The Renaissance World Golf Village Resort is for meetings and any type of group program,” said Oliasami.
Located within the lush 6,300-acre World Golf Village, the resort is the only Northeast Florida resort and convention center to receive the prestigious AAA Four Diamond rating. The honor is achieved by less than 4% of the AAA approved properties. Other honors recently bestowed on the resort include Successful Meetings magazine’s acclaimed “Pinnacle Award,” Association Meetings magazine’s prestigious “Inner Circle Award,” and Meetings & Conventions’ sought after “Gold Key Award.”
Not resting on its many laurels, the resort continues to enhance its offerings. This includes a dramatic renovation and expansion of its outdoor meeting, event and recreational space, which was completed in September 2011. The large project included new and expanded outdoor function space with beautiful brick pavers, elegant new furniture in conversational groupings, and a beautiful new fountain; as well as a new and expanded pool deck with new seating areas. The new outdoor function space, now named La Terrazza, is able to accommodate groups of up to 2,000 guests. With this expansion the resort added 15,000 square feet of new function space, bringing the resort’s offerings to 101,000 square feet of meeting and event space.
Other recent enhancements at the resort include the opening of a new casually-elegant Italian Grille named Villagio (in November 2011); the addition of a new 450-square-foot Masters Board Room (which opened in August 2011); the opening of a new The UPS Store and Business Center on-site (in July 2011); the addition of a new destination services and event planning department (in August 2011); and the opening (in August 2011) of The Resort Shop, which serves a full menu of Starbuck’s coffees, pastries, breakfast fare, sandwiches, soups, salads, wraps, and desserts, as well as an array of local gifts and souvenirs.
To coincide with the enhanced meeting and event space offerings, the resort also unveiled its new Intriguing Meetings program. Designed to provide distinctive and inspired programs for groups, the resort’s Intriguing Meetings program includes unique and intriguing tablescaping in the meeting rooms that are designed to be visually appealing and to inspire creativity. Additionally, the program features R Meeting Experts who are ambassadors dedicated to catering to planners’ needs and to ensuring an exceptional program.
Also, the resort launched its innovative White Glove Meetings Services which includes complimentary White Glove transportation to and from Jacksonville International Airport in its own passenger vans for new group business booked in 2011 and beyond. To qualify for the complimentary airport transportation a group is required to contract for a minimum of 50 rooms per night for 2 nights and 2 banquet meals daily.
All of these recent enhancements and new offerings follow a $10 million resort-wide renovation that was completed in 2008, which included the complete remodeling of guest rooms and suites, a dramatically-renovated lobby, newly-remodeled guest room corridors, an expanded fitness center with state-of-the-art equipment, and enhancements to the meeting space.
As part of the renovation guest rooms and suites received new furniture, soft goods, window treatments, lighting, 37” flat-panel screen LCD HDTV televisions, and the Marriott JackPack, which provides complete connectivity to the guests for laptops, MP3 players, digital cameras, and video game players. The rooms and suites feature a contemporary design with an Asian feel, which includes rich red bed coverings, crisp white linens, along with a color scheme of warm neutral gold. In-room offerings also include high-speed Internet access, two telephones with data ports, a wet bar and refrigerator, an in-room safe, and in-room coffee.
The resort also boasts a dramatically remodeled nine-story atrium lobby, featuring a Colonial/Asian theme with lush foliage and a colorful 7-story modern hanging sculpture that is reminiscent of open Florida skies.
Situated adjacent to the World Golf Hall of Fame, the ultimate destination for the celebration of golf with fun interactive exhibits and historic golf artifacts, the resort offers two championship golf courses: the popular Slammer & Squire (just steps from The Renaissance Resort), and the renowned King & Bear (co-designed by Arnold “The King” Palmer and Jack “The Bear” Nicklaus). Guests also have access to four additional golf courses within 15 minutes of the resort, for a total of 108 holes of golf. Additional offerings at the resort include a sauna, pool, hot tub, and full-service concierge.
Guests also are an easy walk to The World Golf Hall of Fame’s 18-hole real grass putting course, a 132-yard Island Challenge Hole, an IMAX® 3D Theater, and the Walk of Champions. In addition, guests can take golf lessons at the renowned PGA TOUR Golf Academy.
When visiting the resort, guests and groups have the opportunity to visit nearby pristine Atlantic beaches, take fun eco-tours and chartered fishing trips, enjoy exceptional shopping at two large outlet malls, and explore historic St. Augustine.
To make it easy for its guests to enjoy area offerings, The Renaissance World Golf Village Resort is now offering a complimentary shuttle for individual guests (based on availability) to and from historic downtown St. Augustine. This new service enables guests to easily visit such sites in St. Augustine, which was founded in 1565, as the historic Castillo de San Marcos fort, The Fountain of Youth, and shopping on the charming, brick-paved St. George Street. Additional options in downtown St. Augustine include the Old Town Trolley Tour, The Old Jail, The St. Augustine History Museum, The Spanish Quarter, The Oldest Wooden Schoolhouse, Flagler College, Whetstone’s Chocolate Factory, Lightner Museum, and a variety of water activities.
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