San Francisco
- The 400-room San Francisco Marriott Union Square (415.398.8900; www.marriottunionsquare.com) opened last year with more than 10,000 square feet of meeting space.
- The Parc 55 Hotel San Francisco (415.392.8000; www.parc55hotel.com) was branded as a Wyndham property in late April. The new affiliation follows a recently completed $30 million renovation that included expanding the meeting facilities to 30,000 square feet.
- The Hilton San Francisco changed its name to Hilton San Francisco Union Square (415.771.1400; www.hiltonsanfranciscohotel.com). The hotel recently completed a $13 million renovation that included the addition of 13,600 square feet of meeting space, bringing its total to 134,500 square feet. Also new is a 13,000-square-foot spa and wellness center and a restaurant named Urban Tavern.
- The Westin St. Francis (415.397.4000; www.westinstfrancis.com) completed a $40 million renovation that included a makeover of the 614 guest rooms and meeting spaces in its historic main building, as well as a new lobby bar.
- The San Francisco CVB (415.974.6900; www.sfcvb.org) created an online toolkit for meeting planners named The MeetingMarketer, which is located in the Meeting Planners section of its website and designed to help with attendance-building. Resources include promotional materials, letters from government officials to welcome attendees, a media center with videos and logos, a link to a restaurant reservations system, tips for increasing international attendance, maps of San Francisco and attendee discounts. The CVB also launched an online virtual tour of Moscone Convention Center.
- The Walt Disney Family Museum (415. 346.6800; www.waltdisney.org) recently opened in three historic buildings in the Presidio of San Francisco. Ten galleries contain interactive exhibits on the life of Walt Disney and his creations.
San Mateo County
- The Rosewood Sandhill (650.561.1500; www.rosewoodsandhill.com) opened last year in Menlo Park, a mile west of Stanford University. The luxury hotel, which features California Ranch-style architecture and views of the Santa Cruz Mountains, offers 123 guest rooms, 13,000 square feet of meeting space and a full-service spa.
- The former Sheraton Gateway San Francisco Airport was recently reflagged the Hilton San Francisco Airport (650.343.1546; www.hilton.com). The hotel received a property-wide renovation in 2008.