Petrified Planners: Eight Event Nightmares and How to Handle Them

There are plenty of Halloween-themed venues that meeting planners can use to thrill their attendees this time of year. The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, CO, has 41,000 square feet of meeting and event space including a 300-seat concert hall and a new event pavilion with 8,000 square feet of banquet space overlooking a private pond. But it is also the hotel that inspired Stephen King to write The Shining after he and his wife checked in and found that they were the only guests. You’ll have to book early if you want room 217; it is the most requested room because it’s where King had the nightmare that gave him the plot for his bestseller.

If you are looking for an incentive trip for a history buff, Lizzie Borden’s house is now a museum and bed and breakfast (ax sold separately).

Of course, many hotels have ghost stories associated with them. The Principal in Manchester, U.K., has newly renovated historic meeting spaces and a resident phantom.

But the scariest things for meeting planners have nothing to do with the supernatural. Here are some of the biggest nightmares that petrify planners, and some suggestions on how to manage them.