Southeast.

Fort Lauderdale's standing as the second largest cruise port in the world gains steam this year when the $780 million Queen Mary 2 makes Port Everglades its official winter home. It's no wonder, given Fort Lauderdale's more than 300 miles of inland waterways and more than 44,000 registered boats.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Things are just as hot on land in Fort Lauderdale, where nine new or newly renovated hotel properties are located. Among the new hotels that have opened (or will do so) this year alone are the 174-room Courtyard by Marriott Fort Lauderdale, 155-room Pelican Beach Resort, 278-room Costa Dorada Resort & Residences with 12,000 square feet of meeting space, and the 123-room Atlantic, which features a spa.

Also scheduled to open this spring in nearby Hollywood is the $200 million Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Resort that will have 500 guest rooms, a 130,000-square-foot casino, European-style spa, 100,000 square feet of meeting and exhibit space, and an expansive outdoor entertainment district with 12 restaurants, eight nightclubs, and dozens of shops. And the legendary Turnberry Isle Resort & Club just south of the city became a Fairmont Hotels property in January.

Other major hotel projects set to open soon include the $200 million W Fort Lauderdale Hotel with 346 rooms (December 2006), the $135 million St. Regis Resort & Spa with 169 suites (May 2005), and the Q Club Resort & Residences with 333 luxury accommodations and 15,000 square feet of retail space (October 2005). These properties will join 33,000 area guest accommodations in more than 610 hotels, including the 996-room Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa, which opened in 2002. The opulent Westin, built at a cost of almost $1 billion, includes an 18-hole golf course, 30,000-square-foot spa, and a 217,000-square-foot convention facility that features a 50,000-square-foot exhibit hall.

The Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention Center is boasting a lot more space of its own with its recent $34 million, 230,000-square-foot addition that brought the facility's total gross square footage to 600,000.

A fashionable phenomenon, Greater Miami is eternally hip and bursting with appeal as a convention destination. Some of the finest meetings-oriented resorts and hotels can be found in Greater Miami, including the area's newest addition, the Ritz-Carlton South Beach, which opened in December. The 375-room hotel was born from a $200 million restoration of an original Morris Lapidus-designed landmark hotel in the city's historic Art Deco district. It includes a spa and 20,000 square feet of meeting space, and it joins the recently opened Ritz-Carlton Key Biscayne, a 402-room property featuring a 20,000-square-foot spa.

Located in the heart of downtown Miami's financial district is the Conrad Miami, which opens this spring with 308 guest rooms. Also opening this spring is the Hotel Victor, located on Ocean Drive adjacent to the famed Versace Mansion. Featuring 91 guest rooms and suites and a 6,000-square-foot spa, the Hotel Victor is housed in a 1938 building that was transformed into a luxury hotel through a $60 million restoration.

The $110 million Trump International Sonesta Beach Resort opened last spring featuring 390 guest rooms and 22,000 square feet of meeting space on Sunny Isles Beach just north of Miami Beach. Yet another luxury hotel that opened in Miami last year was the Four Seasons Miami Hotel, located in a downtown tower with 221 guest rooms and more than 14,000 square feet of meeting space.

The legendary Foutainbleau Hilton recently completed a $65 million upgrade that included renovation of its famed lobby and lobby bar and a new, 7,000-square-foot water park that is open year-round at the 920-room resort on Miami Beach. Another Miami Beach landmark, the Miami Beach Convention Center, is located in the heart of South Beach only two blocks from the ocean. Fresh from a $13 million refurbishment, the center offers more than 500,000 square feet of contiguous exhibit space and 70 meetings rooms encompassing 144,800 square feet.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Palm Beach County touts itself as "The Best of Everything" and with all it has to offer, it's a point that's difficult to argue. Palm Beach is offering a lot more to associations these days as the result of the November opening of the new Palm Beach County Convention Center. The $83 million, 350,000-square-foot center features a 100,000-square-foot exhibit hall that can be split in half, a 25,000-square-foot ballroom, and 23 separate breakout rooms encompassing 23,000 square feet. With an infrastructure that supports high bandwidth access and facilitywide fiber optics, superior technology is an attractive feature of the new center.

Located three miles from the Palm Beach International Airport and its more than 200 daily flights, the new center also has 3,000 hotel rooms within three miles. An on-site hotel is planned and more than 16,000 hotel rooms are available countywide, including the new, 95-suite Delray Beach Residence Inn by Marriott and the luxurious Boca Raton Resort & Club that recently completed a $100 million renovation.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Delegates won't go wanting for things to do in Palm Beach with more than 160 golf courses, 47 miles of shoreline, the nation's second largest freshwater lake (Lake Okeechobee) nearby, and more than 40 cultural venues, including the Florida's largest art museum, Norton Museum of Art. Nearly 20 restaurants and leading retailers are located in CityPlace, the new $600 million complex near the convention center and the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts. Trendy shops and outdoor cafes line nearby Clematis Street as well.

The Florida Keys are an exotic yet accessible destination where America's tropical islands are surrounded by some of the most beautiful water to be found. Key Largo, Islamorada, Marathon, Big Pine Key, and Key West offer a collection of meetings-oriented hotels and resorts that are perfect for executive retreats and a wide range of other group events.

Several recent developments have made meeting facilities on the Keys even more appealing. On Key West, the 142-room Pier House Resort & Caribbean Spa completed a $5.3 million renovation that expanded its total meeting space to 4,700 square feet in five rooms. Hawk's Cay Resort on Marathon completed a $50 million upgrade that added 269 villas, renovated 177 guest rooms, and expanded its meeting facilities, which now encompasses 25,000 square feet.

Another major meetings facility is the 404-unit Ocean Reef Club on Key Largo with more than 30,000 square feet of meeting space and two 18-hole golf courses. Come December, Ocean Reef will open a new, 12,000-square-foot conference center with a rooftop terrace suitable for various outdoor functions. Other major hotels on the Keys include the 311-room Wyndham Casa Marina Resort on Key West, and the 203-room Islamorada Cheeca Lodge on Islamorada, which added a 5,000-square-foot spa in 2003.