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About Atlanta, Georgia (GA) |
Atlanta Georgia has made a lasting commitment to another aspect of its Big Business: the convention and hospitality industry. The monuments to that commitment have literally changed the skyline of the city.
The Westin Peachtree Plaza, designed by renowned Atlanta architect John Portman, is a 73-story, mirrored cylinder with a seven-story atrium lobby, and is topped by a tri-level restaurant and lounge. The Marriott Marquis, also designed by Portman, is the city's largest hotel and one of the largest in the world.
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The pioneer in Atlanta's splurge of hotels is Portman's Hyatt Regency, with its full-height interior atrium and with a revolving restaurant capping the structure. The blue glass dome of the Hyatt Regency and the shining cylinder of the Peachtree Plaza are landmarks you can easily spot amid the new postmodern office towers as you enter the city. The Ritz-Carlton is a luxury hotel whose 25 stories of glass and marble grace Peachtree Street at Georgia-Pacific Plaza. (A second Ritz-Carlton has become an important center of activity in Atlanta's Buckhead area, along with Swissotel and the Grand Hyatt Atlanta.) The impressive Embassy Suites at Centennial Olympic Park gives visitors easy access to all major sports venues. Days Inn has its first downtown location next to the Apparel Mart. Add to these hotels the Hilton and Towers and the Omni in Downtown, plus Colony Square, Marriott Suites, the Wyndham, and the spectacular Four Seasons in midtown, and you will have a wide choice of hotel rooms in the core city. These hotels mark the first phase of allegiance to the visitor. |
Hotel and office complexes in the Buckhead area to the north and on the Perimeter encircling the city continue this development into the greater metro area.
Atlanta offers multiple options for accommodating visitors. You can find the small European-style hotel, the apartment-type hotel lodging, and suites for short-term leasing. You'll also find intimate bed and breakfast accommodations in small inns and private homes. We will see that you are aware of these special options for your special needs in the chapter on lodgings.
Atlanta's convention business is heavily dependent on four large trade facilities, as well as the meeting rooms and halls of the hotels themselves. The Georgia World Congress Center is one of the largest exhibit halls in the country. Atlanta's Merchandise Mart is the retail distribution center for the Southeast market, and the adjoining Atlanta Apparel Mart and the Atlanta Gift Mart place the city in active national competition as an apparel, fashion, and gift center. Inforum, a mart specializing in high-technology information-processing equipment, including computer, phone, and office automation systems, is also part of this complex, known as the Atlanta Market Center. All four marts were designed and developed by Portman, as was the recently expanded Atlanta Decorative Arts Center (ADAC) in Buckhead. These marts together bring hundreds of thousands of buyers and manufacturers to Atlanta each year.
In addition, the enormous Georgia Dome accommodates the largest shows and functions, along with sporting events such as Falcon football; the Atlanta Civic Center accommodates trade shows and concerts; and the Atlanta Braves play baseball at Turner Field. Next to the CNN Center, the new Philips Arena, with its state-of-the-art technology, hosts some 200 events per year, from wrestling to opera, and is home to the Atlanta Hawks (basketball) and the Atlanta Thrashers (ice hockey). Marts, hotels, restaurants, and exhibit halls, combined with professional sports and a spate of other attractions, all make Atlanta one of the major convention cities in the United States. On the outskirts, the Atlanta Exposition Center hosts the huge Don Scott Antiques Market 12 times yearly as well as the Southeastern Flower Show and other large events. |
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