AFTER A $65 MILLION renovation, the 480-room Hyatt Grand Champions Resort & Spa, in Indian Wells, Calif., now has remodeled guest rooms and meeting rooms (including the 20,000-square-foot ballroom). Every guest room and suite is now fully wireless and features a sitting area, a work desk, a private terrace, and a marble bath with separate shower. Guests can swim in seven free-form swimming pools, and 16 poolside cabanas are each equipped with Internet access. The 30,000-square-foot Agua Serena Spa has 18 treatment rooms, plunge pools, and a full-service salon. The fitness center offers yoga, pilates, and aerobics. The resort is surrounded by two 18-hole championship courses. http://grandchampions.hyatt.com/property/index.jhtml
Estancia La Jolla Hotel & Spa opened last summer north of San Diego with 210 guest rooms, 11 suites, and 25,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor meeting and event space. The IACC-certified Learning Retreat features a 125-seat amphitheater and a 6,000-square-foot ballroom. The 8,000-square-foot Spa at Estancia has 11 treatment rooms and a heated outdoor pool.
www.estancialajolla.com
In Temecula, Calif., Temecula Creek Inn has added 50 guest rooms with private balconies and patios overlooking the golf course. The project also included the addition of the Yula Ballroom, which seats up to 350, banquet-style. An hour from Los Angeles in the heart of Southern California's wine country, Temecula Creek Inn has 9,000 square feet of meeting space, 130 guest rooms, and 27 holes of championship golf. www.temeculacreekinn.com
The Newport Beach Marriott is undergoing a $60 million renovation that will include a new restaurant and a new 14,000-square-foot spa with 16 treatment rooms, a full-service salon, and a fitness facility. A fall 2005 opening, in time for the hotel's 30th anniversary, is expected. www.marriott.com
In Sedona, Ariz., a new Breathe Spa opened earlier this year at Hyatt Piñon Pointe resort. The 7,000-square-foot spa has 10 treatment rooms. It is the second Breathe Spa to open; the first is located at Daufuskie Island Resort & Breathe Spa on Daufuskie Island, S.C. www.breathespa.com
Tucson's first new resort in 18 years, Starr Pass Marriott Resort & Spa, opened in December. Along with 575 guest rooms and suites, 88,000 square feet of meeting space, seven restaurants, and a full-service spa with 23 treatment rooms, the resort has a 27-hole Arnold Palmer Signature Golf facility. www.starrpassmarriott.com
The Omni Tucson National Golf Resort & Spa has begun construction on a new desert course, designed by 2006 Ryder Cup Captain Tom Lehman, to complement its traditional parkland Orange/Gold championship course. The course, which will take advantage of the views of the surrounding Sonoran Desert, will be created by adding nine holes to the existing nine-hole Green course. Construction is expected to be complete by November. www.tucsonnational.com
The new Golf Academy at Springhouse Links opened in May at Gaylord Opryland in Nashville, Tenn. The Scottish links — style, par-72 course, designed by former U.S. Open and PGA champion Larry Nelson, offers 18 holes bordered by limestone bluffs and federally protected wetlands. The fourth hole features the century-old springhouse that gives the club its name. This summer, the 27,000-square-foot Relâche spa will open at Gaylord Opryland, featuring an indoor-outdoor pool, 12 treatment rooms, and a fitness center. Relâche will have more than 30 separate stations for cardio, circuit training and weight training. Gaylord Opryland's restaurants will offer spa cuisine among their menu selections. The spas at all Gaylord Hotels can provide “stretch breaks” in the middle of a general session, chair massages at the end of a meeting, or even offer guest speakers who are experts in wellness topics.
www.gaylordhotels.com
In Chantilly, Va., Westfields Marriott has opened a new boardroom in the clubhouse at the Fred Couples — designed Westfield Golf Club. Westfields Marriott has 335 rooms and suites and 28 meeting rooms, totaling 40,000 square feet. http://marriott.com
Turf Valley Resort in Ellicott City, Md., has 40,000 square feet of meeting space, including 28 conference rooms, an amphitheater, and two ballrooms, to accommodate up to 800 attendees. The resort has a spa and two championship golf courses. www.turfvalleyresort.com
The St. Kitts Marriott Resort and The Royal Beach Casino reopened its Royal St. Kitts Golf Club for play last November. Now managed by Marriott Golf Management, the 125-acre, par-71 links-style course was redesigned by Canadian course architect Thomas McBroom. It features a variety of holes that overlook and play along the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea. The resort, on the windward side of St. Kitts Island in the Caribbean, has 636 guest rooms, suites, and garden houses; 33,000 square feet of indoor/outdoor meeting space; three pools; a 35,000-square-foot casino; and the 15,000-square-foot Emerald Mist Spa.
www.stkittsmarriott.com
In Panama City Beach, Fla., Bay Point Marriott Resort & Spa is undergoing a multimillion-dollar renovation that began last fall and will continue into 2007. The resort remodeled its guest rooms this spring, and will upgrade meeting areas, expand its current spa offerings, and revamp one of its golf courses.
Guests can be accommodated in 190 executive rooms, five parlor suites, and 150 one- and two-bedroom golf villas. When the golf course renovation is completed this fall, Bay Point will have the only Nicklaus Design course in Northwest Florida. It will replace the former Lagoon Legends course, and will feature a signature island lagoon hole (No. 5) and water features throughout. Last September, Bay Point opened The Spa and Fitness Center. The resort offers 40,000 square feet of meeting and function space, with two ballrooms and 22 breakout rooms. The pre-function areas and the Grand Lagoon Ballroom were totally renovated this spring. www.MarriottBayPoint.com
After an eight-month, $6 million reconstruction, the course at Breakers West, 11 miles west of The Breakers hotel in Palm Beach, Fla., has reopened as The Breakers Rees Jones Course. The new layout adds four acres of new lakes, lengthens the course to more than 7,100 yards, and changes it to a par-72. The Breakers' other championship golf course, the Ocean Course, is the oldest in the state of Florida and is adjacent to the hotel. www.thebreakers.com
Renaissance Ross Bridge Resort and Spa on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail opened in the Birmingham, Ala., suburb of Hoover in May. The resort offers 258 guest rooms and a private concierge floor. Indoor and outdoor function space tallies up at 20,000 square feet. A 12,000-square-foot, full-service spa and the 18-hole, 8,100-yard golf course, with clubhouse and pro shop, top the recreational options.
www.rossbridgeresort.com
In Brewster, Mass., Ocean Edge Resort & Golf Club on Cape Cod has finished a multimillion-dollar renovation. The historic 429-acre property has 335 guest accommodations, a 700-foot private beach, six swimming pools, two USPTA tennis facilities, an 18-hole PGA championship golf course, bike paths, a fitness center, and four restaurants. In the $5.5 million project, all guest rooms have been redone, a new executive boardroom has been added, and the golf course has been renovated, including new cart paths and restyled holes.
www.oceanedge.com
The Westin Mission Hills Resort & Spa in Rancho Mirage, Calif., has a 14,000-square-foot spa that opened in 2001 with 14 treatment rooms. With 512 rooms and suites, the resort is surrounded by two 18-hole golf courses.
www.westin.com
In Naples, Fla., The Inn on Fifth, a boutique hotel with 87 rooms, opened The Spa on Fifth last fall. The property specializes in small- to medium-sized meetings and caters to groups of 50 to 200 with a variety of indoor and open-air venues. www.naplesinn.com
The 15,000-square-foot Remède Spa at the St. Regis Resort, Aspen (Colo.), is the flagship of a new global spa brand developed for St. Regis Hotels & Resorts. The entire resort is newly remodeled, and last month it unveiled the Red Mountain Wing, with 20 guest rooms and suites, all with fireplaces. All St. Regis guest rooms have high-speed and Wi-Fi Internet access and printers/faxes. www.stregis.com