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Located in the heart of midtown Manhattan, Lighthouse International
is the world's leading vision rehabilitation agency.
Now marking the centennial of its founding in 1905,
The Lighthouse helps people who are partially
sighted or blind remain productive and independent.
The agency serves as a worldwide resource on vision
impairment and vision rehabilitation, and also
advocates for its clientele and conducts extensive
research at its own in-house research institute.
As part of its extensive facilities, the Lighthouse
runs a busy Conference Center with a theatre,
meeting rooms and rehearsal space, hosting both
in-house and external events. According to
Lighthouse policy, non-profit organizations are the
main users.
"The Conference Center is actually an important
part of our mission," says William C. Bechman,
Senior Vice President for Administration. "We
want to make more people aware of our services so
attracting external business does just that. Anyone
could have a visually impaired friend or relative,
so visiting our Conference Center may encourage them
to refer that person or to make a donation."
To better manage the booking of these facilities,
the Lighthouse installed Rendezvous, NFS
Hospitality's advanced browser-based conference,
meeting room and catering management solution. The
Lighthouse had previously used MS Outlook but needed
a more robust system. "We looked at several
systems," Bill says, "but Rendezvous was the
best. It is an excellent software solution."
Soon after installation, Rendezvous began to
produce positive results in terms of capacity - and
revenue flow. Bill explains further, telling how
"with the scheduling functionality in Rendezvous, we
were able to convert some office space on the floor
above our Conference Center into ten new meeting
rooms for external use. So the system gave us a
terrific new opportunity to expand our facilities
and attract more outside business."
As food service at the Lighthouse was managed by
the Compass Group, Bill decided to expand Compass'
role to cover the Conference Center. Now Helder
Silva, General Manager of the Conference Center,
works closely with Annmarie McFarlane, Projects
Manager for Compass. Both Annmarie and Helder are
enthusiastic about the new installation.
"Rendezvous is working very well," says Annmarie.
"We already rely heavily on the daily calendar.
We especially like all the statistics we get and the
fact that multiple users can access the database.
We're all saving a lot of time." At present, she
receives and confirms booking requests by email, but
this is set to change.
The Lighthouse's facilities include five different
and fully modular spaces that can accommodate any
group - from 15 to 240 people - and are of course
fully accessible for guests with and without
disabilities. For example, the Lighthouse Theatre is
a state-of-the-art auditorium that seats 240 people
in cushioned comfort. As well as offering
accessibility for wheelchair visitors, there is a
two-channel infrared system to assist guests who are
both hearing and vision impaired.
The Benay Venuta Hall is a large and popular venue
used for every kind of event, from dinner dances to
symposia. For smaller groups, the hall can be easily
divided into three smaller rooms. The Lighthouse
also offers two lobby-level conference rooms that
are often used for educational or board meetings,
committee discussions, breakout sessions, or working
luncheons, as well as a café dining room with a
two-storey wall of windows.
In addition, many New York-area performers and arts
organizations in search of affordable rental space
book into the Lighthouse Music School for practice,
rehearsals or classes, taking advantage of the
professional-quality music facilities provided. The
availability of excellent A/V allows for many film
screenings to be held at this venue. |
