The 640-room La Quinta (CA) Resort and Club, 19 miles southeast of Palm Springs, is building a spa of approximately 18,000 square feet to open next spring. It will offer hydro tubs, wrap rooms, an outdoor massage area, a skin-care salon, and a fitness area, among other facilities. The resort has 25 meeting rooms, the largest of which accommodates 1,465 persons, 72 holes of golf, and 30 tennis courts.

Hamilton Park, a conference center in Florham Park, NJ, completed an expansion early in June that added two private dining rooms, a 1,450-square-foot meeting room, and ten guest rooms, bringing its total to 219. Two full-size basketball courts were also scheduled to be completed.

Everything is big in Texas, especially the new ballroom under construction at the Adam's Mark Hotel Dallas. The 41,000-square-foot ballroom will be the largest in the state when it opens in October 1998 as part of a $150 million expansion. The project will add 60,000 square feet of exhibit space and five ballrooms, and expand the guest room count from 505 to 1,825.

The Tutwiler Hotel, a historic property in downtown Birmingham, AL, this spring began a renovation of its undeveloped eighth floor. The hotel is spending $1 million to create a 1,900-square-foot ballroom, a 550-square-foot meeting room, a health club, and 15 new guest rooms and suites, which will bring the total to 162.

From offices to guest rooms in a little over a year's time: That's the plan at 633 St. Clair in Chicago, where Wyndham Hotel Corporation and Oxford Capital Partners have signed an agreement to lease a significant part of the building and turn it into a hotel. By late 1998, the Wyndham Hotel Chicago will have 413 rooms (averaging 400 square feet with nine-foot ceilings), 14,300 square feet of meeting space, and a 5,000-square-foot ballroom, all within walking distance of the Loop.

Caesars Palace, a classic on the Las Vegas Strip, will open its new 29 story, 1,200-room Palace Tower in two phases this November and December. The expansion will bring the resort's guest room total to 2,500 and add 110,000 square feet of meeting space, including a 30,000-square-foot ballroom and two boardrooms. A new 22,000-square-foot spa will also debut with 28 treatment rooms and every amenity from a rock-climbing wall to a boxing ring to a relaxation chamber with a "Zen waterfall."

One mile from the Philadelphia Airport, DoubleTree Guest Suites has been converted to The Westin Suites, Philadelphia Airport after a $4.5 million renovation. The hotel has 251 two-room suites, 8,000 square feet of meeting space, a steakhouse, an indoor pool, and an exercise room.

In July, the Innisbrook Hilton Resort in Tarpon Springs, FL, converted to a Westin. The property plans to spend $10 million to add nine new holes of golf; build a new reception center, health club, and pool; and update rooms, conference space, and the clubhouse. The Westin Innisbrook Resort now offers 1,000 guest suites in 28 lodges, 63 holes of golf in three courses, 13 tennis courts, and 65,000 square feet of meeting space.

At Park Avenue and 56th Street in Manhattan, the 1926 landmark hotel, The Drake, has $45 million in improvements and a new name. Now called SwissoStel New York, The Drake, the hotel's 495 rooms have been remodeled and the number of suites has gone from 62 to 108. Rooms feature fax machines set up for express checkout by fax, three phones, remote-access voice mail, free 800-number and credit card access, oversized desk, and complimentary in-room coffee. Guests may have two hours complimentary use of a boardroom in the business center.