When sunny days return to the Northeast, the sounds of backhoes, saws, and hammers rev up to let planners know that the New England states are getting set to give meetings their best seasons of the year. Here are the highlights of what's completed and what's coming.

The bridge connecting Providence, R.I.'s Dunkin' Donuts Center, a concert and event arena, to the third floor of the Rhode Island Convention Center has opened, giving attendees an indoor path from the arena all the way to the Westin Providence hotel and Providence Place mall. The Rhode Island Convention Center Authority is planning a September ribbon-cutting ceremony for the 96-foot bridge and $80.5 million in renovations.

In Boston, there was a sigh of relief last spring when a Massachusetts legislative commission announced that the Hynes Convention Center remains a viable meetings site despite the opening of the much larger Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. The Hynes is scheduled for $18 million in improvements to be completed by spring 2009.

Boston and Cambridge hotels enjoyed a record 2007. Average revenue per available hotel room hit $160, and daily room rates went to $209, passing highs set in 2000. Pat Moscaritolo, CEO of the Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau, noted that the 2.1 million-square-foot BCEC, which opened in 2004, has played a key role in the industry's success.

As with most convention centers that do well, it's not long before an expansion is under discussion. Massachusetts Convention Center Authority executive director Jim Rooney envisions a BCEC expansion with up to 300,000 square feet of exhibit space. If it goes through, the new space will be built on an adjacent 22 acres, but it would not be complete for at least six years.

The Greater Hartford CVB, delighted with the success of the Connecticut Convention Center, has formed a partnership with CVBs in Madison, Wis., and Spokane, Wash., to encourage planners to put the midsize cities into their conventions' regional rotation. The cities have roughly the same metro population, similar convention and hotel space, and an airport close to downtown. One of the partnership's tools is a new Web site: www.HartfordMadisonSpokane.com.

Facilities Update

Connecticut

• The $700 million, 825-room MGM Grand at Foxwoods opened in May in Mashantucket. It is home to a 4,000-seat theater, a new casino and casino lounge, a nightclub, and an additional 115,000 square feet of meeting space. The hotel also has an outdoor pool and spa.

• Foxwoods Resort Casino, next to the MGM Grand, owned by the Mashantucket Pequots tribe, has 55,000 square feet of conference space, including a ballroom that can seat 3,500 people. Foxwoods and MGM Grand will work together but are marketed as separate destinations.

• In January, the 484-room Hilton Stamford Hotel & Executive Meeting Center opened after a multimillion-dollar renovation and rebranding of the former Westin Stamford. The hotel has a new 10,000-square-foot ballroom.

• Harbor Point, a multi-use waterfront project in Stamford, will include a 115-room hotel with two meeting rooms, a spa and fitness center, roof-deck infinity pool, wine bar, art gallery, and library.

• The Trumbull Marriott Merritt Parkway in Fairfield County, surrounded by Connecticut's Fortune 500 corporations, is now managed by Marriott and is undergoing major upgrades to its 323 guest rooms. Plans are also in the works to update the lobby and meeting spaces.

Maine

• Inn by the Sea's multimillion-dollar transformation was completed this spring. The inn, in Crescent Beach, has 57 redesigned guest rooms, a new restaurant, five acres of seaside garden, a spa and fitness room, a fireside bar, and expanded decks, as well as 14 fireplace rooms and 1,300 square feet of new function space.

• Changes at Short Sands in York Beach include a renovated Atlantic House Hotel and the Union Bluff Meeting House on Beach Street, which opened in July 2007.