Arizona
California
Colorado
Hawaii
Washington
- The Royal Palms Resort and Spa is scheduled to debut its Montavista Courtyard and Suites enclave in January. The new section of the resort will feature 70 guest rooms surrounding a Mediterranean-style courtyard with reflecting pools, fountains and a tiered garden. The additional accommodations will bring the AAA Four Diamond resort’s total room count to 119. Located at the foot of Camelback Mountain in Scottsdale, the Royal Palms Resort and Spa features more than 20,000 square feet of meeting space, the Alvadora Spa, an expansive 24-hour fitness center, wired and wireless high-speed Internet access, a full business center, a full-service salon, a swimming pool with private cabanas, and dining at T. Cook’s restaurant, recipient of the 2006 WineSpectator Award of Excellence and Zagat’s top-rated restaurant in the Pheonix/Scottsdale area. For more information, call 602.840.3610 or visit www.royalpalmsresortandspa.com.
California
- The Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites Sacramento Airport–Natomas opened recently. The new-build hotel, which cost $11 million to develop, features 100 guest rooms and two connected meeting rooms totaling approximately 1,000 square feet, as well as a boardroom for smaller meetings. Other hotel highlights include a complimentary cafe-style breakfast bar, complimentary high-speed Internet access, free airport and local area shuttle service, and a business center. For more information, call 916.928.9400 or visit www.holiday-inn.com.
- The Lake Tahoe area’s Village at Squaw Valley USA recently added the 1,200-square-foot Alpenglow Room meeting facility. With the new meeting room, the Village offers approximately 5,500 square feet of meeting space, all of which is wired with high-speed Internet access and teleconferencing capabilities. The year-round resort, best known for its world-class skiing, currently consists of approximately 285 one-, two- and three-bedroom condominium suites, six restaurants, 20 retail shops, and a full-service spa. For more information, call 530.584.1000 or visit www.thevillageatsquaw.com.
Colorado
- The Park Hyatt Beaver Creek completed a $20 million renovation in December. The update included a major renovation and expansion of the resort’s Allegria Spa, which now covers some 30,000 square feet and features 23 treatment rooms and a new water sanctuary, as well as an expansion of the property’s fitness center. The project also updated the resort’s Antler Hall lobby with floor-to-ceiling windows, and updates to public areas and meeting facilities, including the addition of billiard tables and high-definition televisions in the Whiskey Elk lounge. The Park Hyatt Beaver Creek features 190 guest rooms, more than 20,000 square feet of meeting and function space, an outdoor heated swimming pool, five hot tubs, wired and wireless high-speed Internet access, a business center, three restaurants, and three cocktail lounges. For more information, call 970.949.1234 or visit www.beavercreek.hyatt.com.
Hawaii
- At press time, the Embassy Suites–Waikiki Beach Walk was scheduled to open in late December. Billed as the only all-suite property in the state, the hotel is the centerpiece of the $535 million Waikiki Beach Walk retail and entertainment development and features 353 one-bedroom suites and 68 two-bedroom suites, all outfitted with an LCD flat-panel television in each living and sleeping room, as well as complimentary high-speed Internet access and free local and domestic long distance phone calls. The fourth-floor Grand Lanai, which connects the hotel’s two guest towers, includes the hotel swimming pool, sundeck and hotel bar, offering live entertainment in the evening. The Grand Lanai is also where the hotel’s 2,000 square feet of meeting space is located. The beachfront hotel also offers a complimentary cooked-to-order breakfast each morning, a 24-hour fitness center, a 24-hour business center, a two-hour manager’s reception with complimentary beverages each evening, and four restaurants—Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse, Roy’s Restaurant, Holokai Grill, and the Yard House Restaurant. For more information, call 808.921.2345 or visit www.waikikibeach.embassysuites.com.
Washington
- The Pan Pacific Seattle opened in November. Situated at the gateway to Seattle’s South Lake Union district, within easy walking distance of downtown Seattle and six blocks from the Washington State Convention Center, the Pan Pacific Seattle features 160 “high concept” guest rooms, each outfitted with modern business and entertainment technology, such as wired and wireless high-speed Internet access and a 32-inch plasma television with KoolConnect technology, offering on-demand access to high-definition television, movies and radio channels. The hotel also offers 5,400 square feet of meeting and function space, a modern library lounge with a full bar and light snacks, and a full-service spa and fitness center. For more information, call 206.264.8111 or visit www.seattle.panpacific.com.
- Great Wolf Resorts, the nation’s largest developer of indoor waterpark resorts, recently broke ground on a new resort in Grand Mound, Wash., approximately 20 miles south of Olympia. The resort, scheduled to open in early 2008, will feature 393 guest suites, a 78,000-square-foot indoor entertainment area with Washington’s largest indoor waterpark, a 30,000-square-foot conference center, a full-service spa, a 100-game arcade, an outdoor miniature golf course, a fitness room, and two themed restaurants. For more information, visit www.greatwolflodge.com.