When In-Person Meetings are Calling, Small is Beautiful and Safe
During times like these, when small is beautiful as well as safer, The Alfond Inn at Rollins is working with business clients to offer modified and highly flexible meetings tailored to small working groups.
“We’re seeing a remarkable uptick in the number of requests for micro-meetings, many of them a lot more casual than those of the past,” says Debbie Potter, the hotel’s Director of Sales and Marketing, who has hosted groups from the financial, insurance, medical and retail industries. Potter notes the pent up need for human interaction and a growing trend for small, safe team meetups. “The fatigue from virtual meetings is real. Colleagues are longing to connect with their peers in person, not always on Zoom.”
Plenty of Open Space to Meet & Munch
The 112-room boutique hotel, long-known for accommodating C-level meetings, board retreats and other types of business gatherings in the greater Orlando area, has plenty of flexibility when it comes to welcoming this new breed of meetings. The Alfond Inn at Rollins has 10,000 square feet of dedicated meeting space and another 10,000 square feet of landscaped gardens, which offer space to distance, spread out and gather indoors or outside. The areas can be configured in myriad ways, providing distancing and privacy. The lavishly landscaped grounds and manicured gardens surrounding the property are perfect for alfresco meetings, after work cocktails and evening gatherings around the fire pit.
To ensure safe dining experiences, The Alfond Inn’s Executive Banquet Chef Bryan Butler creates gourmet boxed lunches and individualized breakout snacks for attendees to enjoy in the meeting space, or in relaxed outdoor settings, including alfresco on the patio or poolside under the shaded pergola.
Meeting Breaks to Explore Historic Winter Park on Foot
The Alfond Inn is in the heart of the historic city of Winter Park, just 15 minutes from Orlando. Meeting attendees quite literally have the world at their door just a short walk from the hotel. The Alfond Inn at Rollins has an in-town location and is just a couple of blocks from elegant Park Avenue, with its upscale boutique shopping, vibrant restaurant and sidewalk café scene, Winter Park’s southern charm is highlighted by centuries-old Spanish moss trees, lush urban plantings and cobblestone streets lined with 19th and early 20th century homes.
Working groups can explore Winter Park on foot, get a bike rental or take a canal boat tour on the city’s chain of lakes, where capacity is limited to ensure distancing, to see some of the most stunning examples of Spanish Mediterranean architecture in the state of Florida.
Art also provides a creative backdrop at The Alfond Inn at Rollins. The hotel was designed as the imaginative extension of the Cornell Fine Arts Museum at Rollins College, displaying important masterpieces from The Alfond Collection of Contemporary Art. It is the only hotel in the world that also serves as part of an art museum.
Net operating income from the hotel is directed to The Alfond Scholars fund, the Rollins College's premier scholarship endowment program. Meeting attendees appreciate the pay-it-forward reward that comes with doing business with a purpose-driven hotel as they help to contribute to the education of deserving students.
