The JW Marriott Marquis Miami in downtown Miami is a busy meetings and event hotel with its array of 32 meeting rooms totalling 80,000 sf of flexible meeting and function space. We especially love the full-size basketball court and golf instruction facilities on the 19/20th floors that open out to the swimming pool overlooking Biscayne Bay.
The Daniel Boulud restaurant on the ground floor is another important amenity, which is considered among the best restaurants in the entire city.
We spoke with Paul Pebley, director of sales/marketing, to better understand how the 313-room JW Marriott Marquis Miami serves specific industry sectors such as pharma and financial.
Prevue: Does your hotel cater well to meeting groups in specific industries, based on the overall hotel product and its location in the community?
Paul Pebley: The JW Marriott Marquis Miami serves a broad spectrum of industries but benefits from a large percentage of financial and pharmaceutical meetings. Miami is a large financial hub with a focus on Latin America. So, as the gateway to Latin America, many US companies in many industries have regional headquarters here, and/or find Miami the perfect place to bring their management and employee workforces in Latin America for sales and training meetings.
Prevue: What makes your hotel well suited to host meetings in a particular industry that helps companies achieve their business goals?
Pebley: The pharmaceutical industry is attracted to our hotel for a few reasons. First, we offer a luxury product within a reliable brand that is considered to be contrary to perceptions of over-indulgence. Second, we offer a new, modern product with excellent meeting facilities and some fun elements, such as our indoor basketball court, without being a “resort on the beach.” And we cater to the pharma industry’s unique needs such as having specially designed banquet menus.
For the financial industry, when we opened we designed technology that exceeds all hotel industry standards, because in order to service the financial industry specifically, connectivity for every attendee was critical as these guests are watching markets and financial news by the minute, all day long.
Prevue: Are your group sales teams educated in ongoing trends relative to any specific industries?
Pebley: Marriott Global Sales does an excellent job of educating hotels who serve specific markets on those markets’ trends, as well as the fact that our salespeople belong to and attend major industry organizations that are industry or market specific.
Prevue: Do you partner with specific thought leaders in your destination that are aligned with the industries you target?
Pebley: We have a great partnership with the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau. They certainly work with important industry leaders and associations to make sure that Miami is on the top of their list as a destination for their professional meeting.
Prevue: What are some takeaways for meeting owners and attendees when hotels design systems to cater specifically to their industry?
Pebley: Everyone wants their job to be as easy as possible. Hotels that serve specific industries and markets by virtue of product, location or service understand the unique needs of both the planners and the attendees. Knowing this should provide planners with a higher level of confidence in choosing one hotel over another.
