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Conventions and meetings are back in Louisville, and groups can feel confident that the home city of the Kentucky Derby earned its way to the winner’s circle when it comes to the health and safety of its guests.
Over the last year, both the Kentucky International Convention Center and the Kentucky Exposition Center achieved the Global Biorisk Advisory Council (GBAC) STAR Facility Accreditation — the gold standard on protocols on outbreak prevention, response, and recovery.
Four of the city’s hotels recently earned the accreditation as well and are eager to welcome event organizers and their attendees.
Recent renovations of The Galt House Hotel in Louisville included reimagining the hotel’s meeting space to provide, among other upgrades, hybrid-event studios. (Courtesy of The Galt House Hotel)
The Galt House Hotel
As part of its commitment to guest safety and tourism recovery, The Galt House Hotel now offers COVID-19 testing for groups and other guests, conducted by On-Site Health Solutions. Visitors can register online at the Galt House website for one of three testing options — one of which will return test results in less than 24 hours. Testing, along with the hotel’s COVID-19 preparedness guidelines, are only part of the hotel’s mission to put guest health first. As part of a recently completed $80-million renovation, many hallways and common areas are now more spacious, and more check-in stations have been added.
The renovation of Kentucky’s largest hotel, which sits on Louisville’s waterfront and within walking distance of major attractions, also included upgrading all 1,239 guest rooms and reimagining the more than 1.5 million square feet of meeting space. The hotel now boasts five dining and bar concepts as well.
In addition, the hotel is meeting the demands of hybrid meetings, partnering with Audio Visual Management Solutions (AVMS) to offer groups seamless hybrid meetings experiences. Utilizing state-of-the-art technology and the hotel’s floor arrangements, AVMS offers a variety of virtual and hybrid event solutions such as audio and video conferencing, virtual studios, webcasting, webinars, and virtual portals.
Sway restaurant at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Louisville opens to a curbside patio on 4th Street steps from the 4th Street Live! entertainment and shopping complex.
Hyatt Regency
Within walking distance of Whiskey Row, the Hyatt Regency puts guests right where they want to be to experience the Bourbon City. In fact, your group can start their trip on the Urban Bourbon Trail at Sway, the hotel’s in-house bar.
The property has 408 guest rooms and 22,000 square feet of meeting space that includes a ballroom, a theater, and breakout rooms. The Hyatt is connected to the Kentucky International Convention Center and its 204,169 contiguous square feet of exhibit space.
Dedicated to safety and cleanliness procedures, the Hyatt Regency follows the Hyatt’s Global Cleanliness and Care Commitment.
The historic Embassy Suites in Louisville’s busy downtown is within walking distance of many of the city’s top attractions.
Embassy Suites By Hilton Louisville Downtown
The historic Embassy Suites, originally the Stewart’s Dry Goods building, offers 304 guest suites of various sizes, three spacious atriums, and 15,000 square feet of flexible meeting and event space for groups.
As a Hilton hotel, the Embassy Suites offers its Meetings Simplified service to help planners get the most out of their events. The hotel also follows Hilton’s EventReady with CleanStay program to create a safe and comfortable environment for event planners and their attendees.
The hotel is next to the Fourth Street Live! entertainment and retail complex and within walking distance of dozens of other restaurants and bars. It’s just a few blocks from the attractions along Museum Row, the Muhammad Ali Center, Whiskey Row, and the Kentucky International Convention Center.
The Crowne Plaza Hotel near the Muhammad Ali International Airport offers outdoor function space for events.
Crowne Plaza Hotel Louisville Airport Expo Center
Groups meeting there also have quick, easy access to the Kentucky Exposition Center and its 1.2 million square feet of contiguous meeting space that includes 300 acres of outdoor exhibit space. The hotel boasts more than 50,000 square feet of meeting space of its own, including 23 meeting rooms, an executive boardroom, two ballrooms, and outdoor function space. And with an on-staff certified meeting planner, organizers have a knowledgeable ally ready to help them execute their events.
The Crowne Plaza follows the standards set in the IHG Clean Promise, committing to high levels of cleanliness throughout the property’s common areas and its 588 guest rooms.
