PLENARY Whistler, B.C. Q Boy Scouts of America Q Washington Hilton
CONVENE ON SITE
Ski Town a Stunner Even In Summer
ism British Columbia, my companion and I were collected by Vancouver All-Terrain Adventures for the two-hour drive to Whistler along the Sea to Sky Highway. Lushly forested, cloud-cloaked hills ran right down into the water beside us as we sped northward. We were delivered to the rustic yet sophisti-
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cated, 273-room Four Seasons, and checked into a deluxe room with gas fireplace and cedar- scented balcony. After freshening up, we had dinner at the hotel’s weekly “backyard barbe- cue,” featuring juicy barbecued chicken, roasted corn on the cob, watermelon salad — and live music. Groups of up to 120 can have a private barbecue of their own. Early Friday morning, our small group met
over breakfast with Senior Sales Manager Danny Ng in the Singing Path meeting room, one of the hotel’s four meeting rooms, each of which can accommodate up to 60 people. In addition, the hotel’s 3,800-square-foot Harmony Ballroom can be divided in two. Ng briefed us on Four Seasons University,
which provides an introduction for groups to the company’s “service culture.” Last year, Eddie Bauer bought out the resort for 400 of its store managers, who took part in the program. They
CONVENE ON SITE A Capital Restoration
WASHINGTON HILTON: Recently, Steve Cowan (1), general manager of the his- toric Washington Hilton, in Washington, D.C., gave Convene a private tour of the 1,070-room property’s $150-million restoration project, which included the new, 6,100-square-foot Heights Executive Meeting Center, with nine light-splashed confer- ence rooms (2); the overhaul of the hotel’s signature, 36,000-square-foot International Ballroom (3); and an elegantly designed Executive Lounge (4). For more information, visit www.washington.hilton.com.
FTER LANDING IN VANCOUVER ON Aug. 5, for a fam trip hosted by the Four Seasons Resort Whistler and Tour-
IN SEASON: The Four Seasons Resort Whis- tler, minus its customary shroud of snow, welcomes groups no matter the season.
attended the hotel’s daily morning meeting and, among other activities, learned how to make a bed just like a Four Seasons housekeeper. Next, we enjoyed an alfresco spice-making
class (also available to groups) with Edison Mays, chef de cuisine for the resort’s new Sidecut restaurant. Following the class, the day contin- ued at the nearby 30,400-square-foot Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre, which celebrates the heritage of the local “First Nations” tribes. For lunch, we took a chairlift up Blackcomb
Mountain, site of winter skiing and snowboard- ing and summer mountain-biking, to Christine’s, a fine-dining restaurant with killer views of the surrounding peaks — which we then pro- ceeded to cross via the PEAK 2 PEAK Gondola, a 2.7-mile-long, 1,430-foot-high traverse between the tops of Blackcomb and Whistler mountains. continued on page 103
Scouting
SCOUTS’ HONOR: More than 72,000 Boy Scouts and leaders gathered
at Fort A.P. Hill, Va., on July 26–Aug. 4 for the 100th Anniversary Na- tional Scout Jamboree. Managed by Corpo- rateMagic, the event featured a main stage with a 60-foot-high