OPENED IN OCTOBER, The Lodge at Buckberry Creek, in East Tennessee's Smoky Mountains, is modeled after the “Great Camps” of the Adirondacks. Nestled above Gatlinburg, the lodge has 46 suites ranging from 575 square feet to 900 square feet in area. Rooms have fireplaces and high-speed Internet access. The lodge offers several meeting spaces for small retreats. www.buckberrylodge.com
Historic hot spot: Skytop Lodge, a member of the National Trust Historic Hotels of America, plans to open a $6 million conference center this winter. The center will have 9,000 square feet of meeting space, with two ballrooms, an executive boardroom, a dining room, and breakout rooms. CAT6 cabling will be installed throughout the facility, and the property will be a wireless hot spot. www.skytop.com
At Bellagio in Las Vegas, the 65,000-square-foot Spa & Salon Bellagio will reopen in December in the new Spa Tower. A treatment menu specifically for men has been added, and the men's area has an indoor relaxation balcony overlooking the pool. Within the Salon Bellagio, a private barber room will provide straightrazor shaves using steamed towels. www.bellagio.com
The totally renovated Ojai Valley Inn & Spa, in Ojai, Calif., debuted a conference center this fall. A 73-mile drive from Los Angeles and 45 minutes from the Santa Barbara and Oxnard airports, the conference center has 35,000 square feet of function space. A new 4,800-square-foot ballroom has lots of natural light and a flexible floor plan so it can be broken into eight smaller sections. www.ojairesort.com
The Hilton Long Beach (Calif.) unveiled its Executive Meeting Center in May. The center is adjacent to the Hilton Long Beach and is the only meeting facility in the South Bay/Orange County region to meet the guidelines set by the International Association of Conference Centers. There are 12 meeting rooms that can accommodate more than 100 attendees. www.hilton.com
Hotel Andalucia will open this month in Santa Barbara, Calif. It will feature 5,000 square feet of conference and event space space for as many as 200 people. The hotel has five dedicated meeting rooms ranging from 500 to 2,000 square feet in area. As the highest rooftop hotel venue in the city, Andalucia's outdoor terrace affords views across the red-tiled rooftops of Santa Barbara. www.AndaluciaSB.com
In Rio Grande, Puerto Rico, the Westin Rio Mar Beach Resort & Golf Club opened a new $1.25 million, 7,000-square-foot spa this fall. Mandara Spa has 11 treatment rooms, with an emphasis on Balinese treatments. www.westinriomar.com