NATIONAL REPORT—As millions of Americans get ready to celebrate all things ghosts and goblins—and eat lots of candy—Hotel Business is taking a look at how some hotels are putting a scare in their guests.
Great Wolf Lodge Georgia Scares up 16-Ft. Pumpkin Sculpture
Great Wolf Lodge Georgia recently introduced the latest addition to its wolf pack, a 16-ft.-tall sculpture made out of 110 “funkins” (uniquely carved pumpkins) and 500 lights.
This larger than life friend is at the center of the lobby to welcome guests to Georgia’s Howl-O-Ween extravaganza. After 240 hours from creation to installation, the sculpture has become a photo op for families to enjoy this festive season.
Visit the “Ghosts of Alcatraz”
Through Booking.com the San Francisco Dungeon offered a slumber party in the bone-chilling “Ghosts of 
Alcatraz” suite, for up to two (un)lucky devils. Additional amenities include the following:
- Dungeon-issued PJs, midnight snacks and a spooky welcome cocktail
- A ghost story before being tucked-in for a not-so-comfortable night’s sleep
- A “witching-hour séance” to conjure up the dead
- VIP entry for each guest to the final San Francisco Dungeon show of the evening during the stay
- Breakfast in bed along with a swag bag of Dungeon goodies
National Conference Center Offers Scream-Building Meeting Package
The National Conference Center, in Leesburg, VA, partnered with the wickedly fun and haunted, Shocktober, featuring an authentic 19th Century Victorian Gothic Mansion, to create a Halls of Horror Scream-building meeting package this month.
The National’s Halls of Horror Scream-building package includes all the components of the Complete Meeting Package, an inclusive per person charge for the critical components of a successful meeting. Among the items included in the Hall of Horror Meeting Package were a shuttle to/from Shocktober Haunted House, a Trick or Treat candy bag and one of three Scream-Building activities:
- Hallways, Tunnels and Spooky Hiding Places: Depending on the size of a meeting, The National’s individualized meeting space offers conference rooms, outdoor space and team-building on the Challenge Course. With 265,000 sq. ft. of meeting and event space, offering 250 purpose-built conference rooms, breakout rooms and general session rooms, The National connects this space through miles of maze-like hallways and underground tunnels that provide unsurpassed spookiness. The National’s conference planning team can create scavenger hunts, wayfinding games and nighttime creepy, crawly adventures throughout a meeting, allowing for creative team-building and scream-building.
- Create a Hyper-Local Haunted Food Experience: October is not only the month of spookiness and haunted houses, but it’s Virginia Wine Month. Virginia, ranked fifth in the country, has more than 400 wineries. The National focuses on hyper-local, farm-to-table cuisine incorporating more than 60 local products, including wines from Loudoun County, VA. The National is the only conference center with a Chief Wine Officer on staff Mary Watson-DeLauder. The conference planning staff can arrange dinner, snacks and/or drinks in the Black Olive Bar & Grill, which has been decorated for spookiness.
- Develop a Memorable Scream-Building Experience: Once attendees visit Shocktober’s authentic Haunted House, they will bond—they will scream together, hold hands, support one another—and then join in the fun at The Black Olive Bar & Grill. The next day they can continue their experiential learning on The Challenge Course, an action-based learning experience with a high ropes course and other elements strategically placed within the 65-acre campus of The National.
Shocktober’s Haunted Mansion benefits the nonprofit, The Arc of Loudoun, an organization dedicated to serving children with disabilities and their families.
During October’s Hall of Horror event, the Black Olive Bar & Grill was transformed into a Haunted pop-up bar with themed cocktails such as the Vampire’s Kiss Martini and the Zombie, as well as Witches Brews from local Solace Brewing Company. Proceeds from the Halls of Horror Package as well as 10% of the spirits sales from the Black Olive will be donated to The Arc of Loudoun.
