Rhanee Palma, Vice President of Sales & Services, Visit Oakland

I recently had a chance to connect with Rhanee Palma of Visit Oakland, and here’s a recap of a few things she had to share about the latest and greatest in her city.

Can you share with us an update on what new developments are happening in Oakland?

Yes, the Claremont Club & Spa, a Fairmont Hotel just finished the renovation of their meeting space. The hotel invested more  than $59 million dollars to complete a renovation of sleeping rooms, public space and meeting space. They are currently updating their spa facilities.

We also have a couple of hotels that will be opening in 2019.  The Hampton Inn Oakland Downtown will be opening in late Summer 2019.

• Owned and managed by Ridgemont Hospitality
• Plans are under review to build a six-story Hampton Inn, with slightly over 100 rooms, by Hilton at 378 11th St. in Downtown Oakland
• This is one of first major developments east of Broadway

In addition, the Springhill Suites Oakland Airport will be opening in February 2019.

• Martin Harris Construction’s Operations Group is building the Springhill Suites Oakland,
• The hotel is sitting on 2 acres near the Oakland International airport.
• The hotel will have 134 guestrooms, a swimming pool, business center, meeting rooms, select-service kitchen, lobby bar and bistro.

AND we have a new venue:

Esports Arena Oakland

• The Esports Arena Oakland is the third location in the Esports Arena franchise located in North America.
• The Arena is a 16,000 square foot facility that opened in March 2018
• It provides a unique modular facility allows for small to large scale highly produced esports and entertainment events.

How does your support and partnership with the Northern California chapter of PCMA provide value?

For Visit Oakland, our support and partnership with the Northern CA Chapter of PCMA provides value in multiple ways:

• It serves as a connector to the overall SF Bay Area meetings/ events industry
• The educational programs keep our Visit Oakland staff and our hotel partners well informed with the most up to date meeting industry trends

Karen Grayson, CMP
[email protected]