Meetings & Events: What’s New for Opal in 2025

With exciting expansions and a focus on creating memorable retreats, 2025 is the year to plan your transformative gathering at one of Opal’s 28 resorts and hotels.

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“Add meaning to your meeting.” When it comes to Opal Collection’s meeting and events business, you could consider this a core mantra. Because the hotel and resort collection strives to offer its groups something more than just state-of-the-art meeting spaces or luxurious accommodations. Yes, of course, those certainly are important pieces planners naturally look for in a venue and vendor – and Opal makes sure they find just that in our 26 (soon to be 28) properties. But, more importantly, the Opal events team recognizes that, in order to make a meeting memorable, groups are looking for better ways to connect with each other over shared experiences. If that sounds like your group, it might be time to starting planning your 2025 retreat. With exciting developments ahead, Opal is poised to redefine what a meeting can truly be.

CLEARWATER BEACH’S MOST EXCITING NEW MEETING FACILITY

Ten dining outlets, two spas, four sparkling pool experiences, and all the activities of Clearwater Beach just steps outside. It’s not just the 106,000 square feet of meeting space or 400-plus guest rooms that has planners excited, it’s the unparalleled resort amenities and destination activities that are at a group’s beck and call. We’re talking about the soon-to-premiere “sol mate” properties, Opal Sol and Opal Sands.

While Opal Sands has stood as a Clearwater-based beacon of hospitality since 2016, Opal Sol will be opening as a newly connected resort in February 2025. And by “connected,” we don’t just mean affiliated: Set shoulder to shoulder, the two resorts are physically linked via a scenic skybridge, allowing groups seamless access to all the spoils of both resorts. That means not just multiple ballrooms and boardrooms, two open-and-airy pool deck event lawns, and a myriad of breakout spaces, but endless options for creative team-building experiences – i.e. Iron Chef-style cookoffs in the alternative spaces of our signature dining outlets, sunset cocktails from Opal Sands’s beach bar that transitions to an evening spent at Opal Sol’s sleek pool bar, and beach-based Olympics.

PRIVATE MIDWEEK ICE BAR EXPERIENCES

The annual Glacier Ice Bars are a January tradition that draws tourists and locals alike to two of our Northeast resorts, The Sagamore Resort (Bolton Landing, New York) and Samoset Resort (Rockport, Maine). And for good reason, too. Held on the resorts’ patios outside the restaurant lounges across two weekends, a frosty 50,000 pounds of ice are carefully sculpted into bars, barstools, chairs, tables, even glassware. It makes for an unbelievable icy spectacle that – for the first time ever – the resorts are giving exclusive access to for groups who book during the weeks around these events. Essentially, your team gets to see all the sculptures and interactive elements up close and on your own time – without having to share the experience with other hotel guests or ticketholders.

The Sagamore Resort’s Glacier Ice Bar

January 24, 25, 31 and February 1, 2025

• Inquire About Booking Midweek Ice Bar Experience

Samoset Resort’s Glacier Ice Bar

January 17–19, 24 & 25, 2025

• Inquire About Booking Midweek Ice Bar Experience

RECENTLY REFRESHED RESORT EXPERIENCES

Signature hospitality, the best in food and beverage, and locations set in prime waterside destinations may be what Opal properties pride themselves on most. But stunning spaces come in as a close second. That’s because our properties are far from four-walled spaces with mass-manufactured furnishings. Or just sterile places to sleep. Groups select Opal properties to experience a unique vibe and energy, which is why we’re excited to announce several resort refreshes, including…

New in the Last Year:

Jupiter Beach Resort & Spa

Thanks to a 2022 and 2023 resort-wide refresh to the 175 rooms, restaurant, and spa, contemporary elegance and elevated island vibes leave their mark on every corner of this South Florida beach resort.

• Related Reading: Jupiter Beach Resort & Spa’s Elevated Island Vibes

Sandpearl Resort

Completed in February 2024, all 253 guest rooms and suites underwent a top-to-bottom renovation. It’s a trade-out that is more in line with this premier Clearwater resort, regularly recognized by major travel brands – like Travel + Leisure and Condé Nast – year after year.

• Related Reading: Sandpearl Resort’s All-New Seaside-Chic Rooms

Elevate at Opal Grand Resort

Newly opened in January 2024, Delray’s only oceanfront rooftop bar serves up a sophisticated open-air setting alongside hand­crafted cocktails and shareable plates.

• Related Reading: Best Rooftop Bars on the Eastern Seaboard

Coming In Early 2025:

Restaurants at Opal Key Resort & Marina

Coming to Opal Key Resort in winter of 2025, Lolita’s Coastal Cocina and its rooftop bar blends the relaxed ambiance of the coast with the vibrant, flavorful essence of Mexican cuisine. Expect dishes with bright flavors – like citrus-marinated ceviches, seafood tacos topped in bold salsa, and tart and smoky margaritas.

Cirque St. Armands Beachside

Opening February 1, this Lido Beach property takes whimsical touches inspired by Sarasota’s circus heritage and blends it with a sophisticated Roaring ’20s vibe that is unlike anything you’ve ever seen.

• Related Reading: Cirque St. Armands’s Circus-Sophisticated Spin

COMPLIMENTARY PROGRAM BREAK OFFER

Some traditions are too good not to share. Tom’s Blueberry Muffins are one such example. Who is Tom? Thomas Walsh was the founder of Opal Collection hotels and resorts. Since opening his first hotel in 1969, Tom always had a signature way he liked to pause and recharge during the day: by enjoying a homemade blueberry muffin. Today, it’s an iconic treat served across all Opal Collection properties – made from the same recipe dating back to the ’60s. Wonder what all the fuss is about? Groups who book a meeting program at any Opal Collection hotel or resort by June 30, 2025 receive a complimentary blueberry muffin break baked into their program, including, of course, the muffins, as well as an array of other goodies (fresh seasonal fruit, granola and energy bars, vegetable crudites, and more).

CURATED MEETINGS EXPERIENCE GUIDES

When it comes to adding meaning to a meeting, seasoned planners know to look for ways to incorporate immersive experiences and activities that leave a lasting impression on attendees. Perhaps that is group volunteer opportunities to give back to the immediate surrounding community, novel team-building activities, or health and wellness-oriented programs. But doing the legwork to find those perfect activities in unfamiliar destinations can be a lot of work.

Which is why Opal’s events team helped to launch the portfolio’s new online Meetings Experience Guides – essentially a curated collection of vetted local activities and opportunities to help meeting planners build travel-worthy experiences for their attendees rooted to Opal destinations. Available on the “Meetings” webpage for each of our Opal hotels and resorts with meeting facilities is an “Experiences” section detailing anywhere between 12 and 14 top programming/opportunities to excite and intrigue planners. And for planners looking for something specific, all content is organized by four activity types: Community, Energize, Sustainability, and Wellness. Check out an example of one of the guides on Jupiter Beach Resort & Spa’s page, including a private charter on a tiki-themed pontoon boat, as well as scaling the iconic landmark of the Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse.