Of special interest to planners considering Las Vegas are the spectacular new meeting facilities at two top resorts, one a sumptuous newcomer lording it over the Strip and the other an established hotel popular for its high-energy ambience and exceptionally friendly staff.

The sleek bronze $2.7 billion monolith known simply as Wynn Las Vegas debuted in April 2005. The resort's design encompasses atriums, waterfalls, swimming pools, and an 18-hole golf course with an eye-popping price tag of $500 per round. Wynn's 2,700 guest rooms and suites are Asian-inspired, with clean-line furnishings, flat-screen plasma TVs in all bedrooms and bathrooms, and silky sheets.

The resort has plenty of amenities — a casino, 15 restaurants, two nightclubs, sublime shops and snack spots, and a spa. There are surprises, too, including a 140-foot-high, tree-covered mountain buffering the Strip, the Lake of Dreams environmental theater, and a Ferrari Maserati showroom.

Wynn's 200,000 square feet of elegant meeting space includes two ballrooms (one measures 50,000 square feet), 34 meeting rooms, and two stages, all supported by sophisticated audiovisual systems and high-speed Internet access.

Across the highway, a festive atmosphere pervades the colorful Rio, where every day is Carnivale. In May 2005, the all-suite Rio unveiled a $39 million expansion of 60,000 square feet of new meeting space, bringing the tally up to 163,000 square feet, including 80 breakout rooms. The resort can now accommodate up to 4,000 attendees.

Guest room statistics are impressive too: 2,548 spacious suites with floor-to-ceiling windows afford close-up panoramic views of the Las Vegas Strip. Rio's 130 specialty suites include the $65 million Palazzo Suites, nine plush palaces ranging from 3,000 to 14,700 square feet.

The meeting pavilion, accessed through a rotunda, is in a distraction-free setting. A helpful and cheerful staff welcomes guests to the Rio's casino, 16 restaurants, two nightclubs, indoor shopping mall, spa, and five swimming pools.