Fresh from a $140 million renovation necessitated by a visit from Charley, of hurricane fame, South Seas Island Resort, on Florida's Captiva Island, reopened early this year after an 18-month closure. All guest rooms are fully renovated, with “Euro-top” bedding, granite countertops, and flat-screen TVs. Meeting space now tops 24,000 square feet, all with high-speed Internet access, video and data projection, and state-of the-art sound and lighting technology. The pool area is greatly expanded, and even the white-sand beach is renewed, having undergone a $14 million “renourishment” project. Captiva Island Golf Club is a challenging nine-hole course directly on the Gulf of Mexico.

In Panama City Beach, Fla., Marriott Bay Point Golf & Spa Resort recently opened its new 11,000-square-foot Serenity Spa at Bay Point, a full-service spa, salon, and fitness center. The resort has 316 guest rooms, including 78 one- and two-bedroom golf villas, 40,000 square feet of meeting space, and 36 holes of championship golf.

Fontainebleau Miami Beach is undergoing a $1 billion renovation and expansion. Its oceanfront suites tower now offers 462 luxury suites, all with balconies, 32-inch flat-screen TVs, high-speed Internet access, Jacuzzi bathtubs, and kitchens or kitchenettes. The original hotel closed in early 2006 and will reopen, fully restored and renovated, in June 2008, bringing the total number of guest rooms and suites to 1,500. It will have 107,000 square feet of renovated meeting space. The 40,000-square-foot, two-story Spa of the Fontainebleau Miami Beach will have 33 treatment rooms.

The St. Regis Resort & Residences opened in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., in May. The project includes a 166-room hotel, 28 private residences, and 34 hotel condominiums. There is more than 24,000 square feet of meeting space, including Fort Lauderdale's only oceanfront ballroom. The 8,500-square-foot spa has 10 treatment rooms, and the resort features an 8,000-square-foot fitness center.

Southwest of Atlanta in Pine Mountain, Ga., the new 150-room Lodge and Spa at Callaway Gardens unveiled its 13,000-square-foot Spa Prunifolia in March. The spa has 13 treatment rooms as well as a full-service salon and weight and cardiovascular studios.

The 18-hole Sandia Golf Club opened two years ago at the Sandia Resort & Casino in Albuquerque, N.M. Designed by Scott Miller, the course stretches from 4,900 to 7,700 yards, offering several levels of play. Sandia also features the 12,000-square-foot Green Reed Spa.

Stowe, Vt., is hard at work transforming itself into a four-season destination. The new 139-room Stowe Mountain Lodge opens this fall. The lodge will have 12,100 square feet of meeting space as well as the Spa at Stowe Mountain Lodge; Cooper Wellness at Stowe, with tailored fitness and wellness programs; and Salon Mario Russo.

On Nantucket Island in Massachusetts, The Wauwinet, a Relais & Chateaux property, has just opened the Spa by the Sea, with four treatment rooms. The Wauwinet is a Nantucket Island Resort that also includes White Elephant, Harbor House Village, Jared Coffin House, and The Cottages at the Boat Basin.

In Avon, Colo., a $20 million, nine-month construction project doubled the size of the Park Hyatt Beaver Creek's Allegria Spa. One addition: three dedicated water therapy rooms with private soaking tubs.

Sedona's Amara Resort and Spa, in Arizona's Red Rock country, recently unveiled a 4,000-square-foot spa. The property has 100 guest rooms and more than 11,000 square feet of meeting and event space.

In California's Napa Valley, the Meritage Resort at Napa opened last July with 158 guest rooms. Its 20,000-square-foot Estate Cave holds a spa, a banquet facility for as many as 240 people, and a wine-tasting bar. Meritage also has 3,000 square feet of outdoor banquet space.

In May, the Westin flag was lowered and the Wyndham flag raised over the 600-room Rio Mar Beach Resort & Spa, A Wyndham Grand Resort. Set on 500 acres along a mile-long stretch of beach, it is adjacent to El Yunque National Rain Forest and features 48,000 square feet of function space, a 7,000-square-foot casino, two 18-hole golf courses, and a 7,000-square-foot spa and fitness center.

The Westin Resort & Spa, Los Cabos, on Mexico's Baja Peninsula, has refurbished all 229 guest rooms and installed Westin's signature Heavenly Beds and Heavenly Baths in each room.

Nita Lake Lodge, scheduled to open this summer in Whistler, B.C., will include 77 studio and one-bedroom suites, a full-service spa, and 4,000 square feet of meeting space.

In May, Nikko Hotels International opened the new Hotel JAL Fujairah Resort & Spa in Dibba, United Arab Emirates. Fujairah is known for its scuba diving and snorkeling sites. The hotel has its own diving center on its one-third mile of private beach. All 257 guest rooms face the ocean. There is also a fitness facility and a spa. On the east coast of the U.A.E., the resort is a 90-minute drive from Dubai.

St. Bride's Spa Hotel, perched on a headland above Saundersfoot Harbor and Carmarthen Bay on the Pembrokeshire National Park coast path in southwest Wales, recently opened as a 35-bedroom retreat with meeting rooms. The cliff-edge spa has a thermal suite with a salt grotto, an herbal steam room, a rock sauna, and an indoor/outdoor infinity-edge pool.

Shangri-La's Rasa Sayang Resort and Spa, in Penang, Malaysia, opened in September 2006 with 304 guest rooms and suites after a two-year repositioning and redevelopment program. It now has a meetings “sanctuary” at the heart of the resort. The resort's Pelangi Ballroom accommodates 300 people banquet-style and 700 theater-style in its 5,425 square feet. There are 14 meeting and function rooms, including two Bintang boardrooms, each with its own foyer. CHI, the Spa, features 11 spa villas and a yoga studio.

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