Each year, hundreds of meetings and events take place in San Francisco and the Bay Area, as business groups seek out the vibrancy of the area to make their meetings more lively and engaging.
In 2017, smaller business groups choose San Francisco because the large convention groups are delaying their San Francisco meetings until the expansion of the Moscone Center is complete. That means local hotels are offering promotions to smaller business groups that will meet in the San Francisco area in the next two years. Even groups requiring as few as 10 hotel rooms will find promotions such as free Wi-Fi, comped rooms, hosted receptions, and audio/visual discounts from local hotels.
San Francisco usually hosts 50 large meetings per year, and the Moscone Center expansion is expected to result in 30 such events next year, which means more date availability in 2017 and 2018.
Smaller groups can find a variety of venue choices. There are 167 special event venues and 67 art/culture venues, and 25 of these are within walking distance of downtown and available for anything from leadership conferences and in-house corporate meetings to board of directors meetings and recruitment summits. Businesses often choose San Francisco as a meeting site because the city's appeal can entice more people to attend. A meeting in San Francisco might also encourage a person to book extra days at the hotel and bring family members along, combining business and pleasure on the visit.
The construction at the Moscone Center will be completed by 2018, and the number of large meetings is expected to return to even higher numbers. Smaller groups will still find lots of hotel rooms and venues for their meetings after 2019, but the availability is expected to be less.
Written by LaLene Shepherd
San Francisco Travel is the local Destination Marketing Organization (DMO) with more than 1,500 partner hotels, restaurants, and meeting venues. For more information, go to sftravel.com.
