CALIFORNIA.

Anaheim and Orange County

The largest public-private development in California's history, the $4.2 billion Anaheim Resort, is nearing completion. Talk about your Magic Kingdom: This dramatic transformation project, when finished mid-2001, will include two major resorts, a new Disney theme park, a 300,000-square-foot entertainment district, and a deluxe 750-room hotel. But first up, a $177 million expansion and redesign of the Anaheim Convention Center will be completed this December, making it the largest convention facility on the West Coast with a spacious 1.6 million square feet of meeting and exhibit space under one roof. With the city breaking records for business travelers, the hotel industry has $6 billion of properties in the works, adding to its inventory of 18,000 guest rooms.

Meanwhile, the Doubletree Hotel Costa Mesa now has more meeting space than any other property in southern Orange County. Its richly decorated ballrooms were renovated at a cost of more than $2.4 million and feature more than 11,000 square feet of flexible function areas. In the past two years, more than $5 million has been spent on major improvements at the hotel, including an upgrade of public areas, guest rooms, and suites.

Huntington Beach

With 21,500 square feet of meeting space and seafaring style, the Hilton Waterfront Beach Resort on California's "Riviera" won't be the only hotel on this stretch of coastline for long. In 2002, Hilton will open its Grand Coast Resort and Spa next door, with 520 rooms and an oceanfront conference center. With 52,000 square feet of meeting space, the new facility includes an 11,000-square-foot exhibit hall and three ballrooms. The largest ballroom is 20,000 square feet to accommodate up to 2,000 people, and it's adjoined by an oceanfront terrace and 15,000 square feet of lawn specifically designed with outdoor events in mind. Guests will enjoy the beautifully appointed accommodations (520 rooms in all), restaurants, and shops. With more than eight miles of white sand and coastline, Huntington Beach offers a variety of recreational activities, most notably surfing and sunset walks on the popular pier.

Monterey

Poet and writer Robert Louis Stevenson once called it "the greatest meeting of land and sea," and Monterey has lived up to its reputation for great meetings ever since. In the heart of downtown is the Monterey Meeting Connection, a formal association for the Monterey Conference Center and three adjoining hotels: Doubletree Hotel, Monterey Marriott, and Hotel Pacific--one of the city's most charming properties, just perfect for smaller executive gatherings.

The Monterey Meeting Connection offers more than 60,000 square feet of newly renovated meeting space and more than 800 guest rooms and suites, so larger groups can meet comfortably under one roof. The award-winning conference center features a 19,000-square-foot ballroom and 500-seat the-after, as well as more intimate boardrooms and breakouts that open to flowering city and bay view terraces. The waterfront Monterey Plaza Hotel and aquarium are a comfortable walk along historic Cannery Row, immortalized by Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist John Steinbeck. Nearby Pebble Beach and the quaint village of Carmel and Pacific Grove offer plenty of pre- and post-conference options and attractions.

Pasadena

The Pasadena Conference and Exhibition Center has completed a yearlong, $1.3 million renovation. "The improvements, both aesthetic and equipment related, have been very well received by our clients and their delegates," says Roger Smith, CEO, Pasadena Center Operating Company "The renovation has only been complete for a short time, but the response has been overwhelmingly positive."

The conference center features three distinct meeting venues under one roof: a 32,000-square-foot exhibition building, which now has new carpeting and more natural light; a 28,000-square-foot conference building, with new window treatments, furnishings, and decor; and the 3,000-seat Pasadena Civic Auditorium, which underwent its own $1.4 million renovation in 1997. A short walk away you'll find the 296-room Hilton Pasadena, which also just completed a multimillion dollar renovation, including the addition of 3,000 square feet of meeting space, for a total of 23,000 square feet.

In other hotel news, a 310-room Courtyard by Marriott opens this month in nearby Old Pasadena and features 5,500 square feet of meeting space. This is the first hotel to be built in the city's 20-block historic district, where 19th century structures and quaint specialty shops are sure to delight delegates.

San Diego

As it celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, the San Diego Convention Center is a little more than halfway through a massive expansion that will almost double its size to 2.6 million square feet by September 2001. Consistently recognized for industry excellence, the convention center is one of the city's most recognized and revered landmarks, with its bright white sails and 90,000-square-foot glass pavilion with sweeping views of downtown San Diego and the bay. The pavilion's 90,000 square feet of column-free function area makes it the largest space of its kind in North America. Located on 11 acres of Pristine bay front property, the center will soon feature more than 615,000 square feet of exhibit space, 204,000 square feet dedicated to meetings, and almost 285,000 square feet of new pre-function, lobby, and registration areas. Neighboring hotels are expected to add almost 2,000 more guest rooms to accommodate the increased convention business. Developments include a recent groundbreaking for a 750-room, 32-story Hyatt Regency expansion scheduled for completion mid-2002; the opening of a new, 253-room San Diego Hilton across from the convention center; and early approval for a 1,200-mom Manchester Resorts waterfront hotel nearby, which is expected to open by 2004.

San Francisco

The Moscone Center, San Francisco's premier meeting facility in the heart of downtown, will soon have a sister site just a half block away The new building, Moscone West, will face the existing center at the corner of Fourth and Howard Streets. Moscone West will offer 300,000 additional square feet of exhibit space on three floors, bringing the total available convention center space to 900,000 square feet by 2003.

Within a block of the Moscone Center, the 423-room W San Francisco Hotel opened its doors in the spring of 1999. Two new Kimpton Hotel properties, the Serrano Hotel and the Hotel Palomar, also opened last year. Construction is under way for the 285-room Four Seasons Hotel & Tower, which debuts in late 2000. There are already 16,000 first-class hotel rooms located within a 15-minute walk of the convention center, and several other properties in various stages of development.

The Moscone Center anchors the central blocks of the 87-acre Yerba Buena Gardens complex in what's known as the South of Market district. Yerba Buena is dedicated to showcasing art and artists from the multicultural community, and features diverse programming in dance, theater, music, visual arts, films, installations, and festivals. Although visitors have long considered the cable cars, Golden Gate Bridge, and the Ghiradelli Chocolate factory the "must sees" in the city, San Francisco has secured a reputation for its rich cultural offerings and thriving arts community. And, with destinations like wine country, Lake Tahoe, Yosemite, and Mendocino just a drive away, it's not unusual for meeting delegates to extend their stay.

San Jose

Good news for convention delegates as the city of San Jose prepares to build three new hotels. This will increase the number of rooms in the city by 1,000 to 7,300 rooms. The four-star Fairmont Hotel is spending $45 million to build a 10-story annex, adding 264 guest rooms by the end of 2001.The annex will feature 20,000 square feet of additional meeting space and a pedestrian bridge to the Fairmont.

Also, this fall Marriott will break ground on a new property adjacent to the city's convention center. The new Marriott will include nearly 500 guest rooms and 35,000 square feet of meeting space, a bar and restaurant, and a full-service fitness center. At 25 stories, the hotel will be the tallest building in San Jose. Marriott also recently announced plans for a new 200-room Courtyard by Marriott Hotel.

In other hotel news, recent room refurbishments have taken place at the Hilton San Jose and Towers and the Hyatt San Jose, where the public areas and guest rooms have been upgraded with modern amenities and style.

Santa Clara

In the heart of Silicon Valley is Santa Clara, and here the region's reputation for leading-edge technology and relaxed lifestyle come together in more than 400,000 square feet of meeting space. First there's the Santa Clara Convention Center, with its elegant yet versatile grand ballroom to accommodate groups from 200 to 2,500. The center upgraded its communication capabilities this year to better meet any group's technology needs--changes include fiber-optic installations and the creation of a local area network to support high bandwidth. All of the center's 25 breakout rooms are served by pre-function areas, and many offer dramatic mountain and bay views.

Right next door is the Network Meeting Center at Techmart, built exclusively for day meetings up to 250 people. Each room's controlled lighting and sound as well as ergonomic chairs combine for comfort. The complex is surrounded by thousands of first-class guest rooms, and a new Santa Clara Hilton will open next door later this year. This $30 million property will add to the region's inventory of more than 3,400 guest rooms with 280 of its own--and of course no Silicon Valley venue would be complete without state-of-the-art technology features like high-speed Internet access and advanced audiovisual offerings.

Just steps away you'll find world-class thrills at Paramount's Great America, as well as great dining, shopping, and museums from the hot, high-tech, new Intel Museum to the de Saisset Art Museum's collection of 19th century works. Santa Clara's brand new entertainment complex, The Mercado, is also available for your special event.