I just did a whirlwind site tour with a client yesterday in San Francisco. 5 Hotels in 5 hours and the day was filled with unexpected surprises.
It had been a while since I saw the Fairmont San Francisco (home to the famous Tonga Room) and I have to say – I was delighted with what I saw. Our sales person showed us the typical meeting space, but I wanted to see something unique.
We came into the hotel with the expectation that the group would meet, then head out for a team building and then to dinner at a local restaurant. They wanted something casual.
The meeting space that she proposed was lovely. The space she was proposing for dinner was very nice as well. Then we decided to completely change things up. Instead of using the traditional space for the meeting, we wanted to use the the space with loads of windows, overlooked the city and the gorgeous gardens. By the way…I had no idea that there were gardens at the Fairmont.
Just as we were about to head to the next hotel, I asked the sales person, what about suites. Do you have any unique suites that could hold 90 or so people? Now, that would have to be a pretty large suite…don’t you think?
My client was wondering where I was going with this. My thought was, what if they had a totally unique and exclusive space that who knows if the attendees would ever be able to experience. How cool would that be?
So, to our surprise, she said…Yes! We have our penthouse suite and I think it could work. There are 3 bedrooms, a full kitchen, so banquets could easily do their thing, a billiards room, a living room, a dining room and a terrace. Oh and by the way, we can remove furniture as well. Of course we had to see it and luckily enough, it was available.
To say the space was spectacular is an understatement. It has just undergone a renovation and it’s gorgeous. See the billiards photo above, that’s all mosaic tile. Now we’re just waiting to see if it’s open the night that we need it. Fingers crossed.
What started out as a typical site visit and pretty basic expectations turned into the possibility of creating an unexpected, once in a lifetime opportunity for the clients employees.
I’d say a day well done!
