WHAT'S NEW

The recently formed Seattle Southside district, which includes Tukwila and SeaTac, the community surrounding the region's main airport, offers meeting planners a new destination. Five minutes from the airport, with more than 50 hotels, the area has the state's greatest concentration of accommodations at prices well under those of downtown Seattle, which is only 15 minutes away by shuttle.

In downtown Seattle, the Seattle Art Museum plans to open an 8.5-acre, $60 million downtown Olympic Sculpture Park that creates a seamless connection to the waterfront. The park will contain a glass and steel pavilion for special events and an outdoor amphitheater for product launches, recognition ceremonies, and theater performances. The downtown oasis is scheduled to break ground next year and open in spring 2006.

Washington State is in the midst of a convention center building boom. Tacoma, which is 18 miles south of SeaTac, is adding a new convention center and hotel to make itself a standalone group destination. Everett Events Center opened last year; Yakima Center completed its 11,000-square-foot expansion last September; Redmond Town Center, with 10,000 square feet of convention space, opened in the spring; Kitsap Conference Center at Bremerton Harborside opened its doors in August; and the Greater Tacoma Convention & Trade Center opens in November. In Bellvue, Meydenbauer Center's expansion is in the works, but city officials are stalling until a hotel can be built next door. Schnitzer Northwest, the developer that owns the land next door, says its $500 million hotel-office complex hinges on an expanded convention center. The fur is flying, and competition is fierce.

Bellingham chose to invest $15 million to renovate historic Mount Baker Theatre and downtown core instead of building a convention center. “Our thinking was with so many convention centers being built around the state, we might be chasing the same dollars,” said Don Keenan, Bellingham's spokesman.

FACILITY UPDATE

WASHINGTON

SEATTLE and PUGET SOUND

• Pan Pacific Hotels plans to build a 160-room PAN PACIFIC HOTEL SEATTLE with seven conference rooms and 5,405 square feet of function space. The facility is scheduled to open in summer 2006.

• HOTEL ÄNDRA (circa 1926) opened in April in trendy Belltown. The boutique property features 119 guest rooms and suites and 4,000 square feet of meeting and banquet space. Amenities include wireless Internet access.

• The SILVER CLOUD INN — BROADWAY opened in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, blocks from downtown Seattle. The property has 179 guest rooms and suites and 2,080 square feet of meeting space, including a boardroom. It can host up to 180 people for a meeting.

• KITSAP CONFERENCE CENTER AT BREMERTON HARBORSIDE opened August 1 on Bremerton's downtown waterfront with 10,000 square feet of meeting and event space. An elaborate water highlight includes a fountain and stair-climbing tubes of water timed to music. High-speed Internet access, videoconferencing, and a business center add to a complex that includes a 105-room Hampton Inn & Suites, an upscale restaurant, office space, and retail shops.

• The REDMOND MARRIOTT TOWN CENTER hotel opened in June with 262 guest rooms and suites. A grand ballroom, three meeting rooms, and two boardrooms total 10,000 square feet; wireless capabilities extend through meeting rooms and public areas.

UNION

• The ALDERBROOK RESORT, on the Hood Canal, 20 miles west of Seattle, completed renovations in June. There's a challenge course for teambuilding, a 1,500-foot marina with a wide range of waterfront activities, and hiking trails in the hills above the resort. A revitalized stream with resting pools for salmon habitat runs through the property. Alderbrook has 77 guest rooms and 16 cottages, a spa and fitness center, a waterfront restaurant and bar, and 8,000 square feet of meeting and banquet space.

BLAINE

• The 198-room SEMIAHMOO RESORT expanded its spa from 2,000 to 3,100 square feet. The resort, situated on a saltwater sand spit near the Canadian border, features 35,000 square feet of meeting space and two Arnold Palmer — designed golf courses. It is surrounded by a 1,100-acre wildlife preserve.

IDAHO

• TAMARACK RESORT, a new ski, golf, and lake property 90 miles north of Boise at Donnelley, on Lake Cascade, will open for alpine skiing this December with 60 new cottages; the Lodge will be completed late in 2005. The four-story Lodge will include 30 hotel rooms and suites and 16 two-bedroom units, as well as indoor and outdoor dining, meeting space, a Nordic Center, underground parking, golf pro shop, pools, spa, and exercise room. The Robert Trent Jones II 18-hole course will open next May.

OREGON

• THE INN OF THE SEVENTH MOUNTAIN in Central Oregon is finishing a three-phase, $20 million renovation that has renewed its 250 lodging units and added a reception area, meeting rooms, and a small amphitheater. It is under new ownership after the former owners went bankrupt.

• The SALISHAN LODGE AND GOLF RESORT in Gleneden Beach completed its retail wing, the 20 Shops at Salishan. The Lodge and grounds also got a new golf course, spa, and gift shop and refreshed guest suites, as well as a replenished wine cellar and the return of the Sunroom Restaurant.

ASK THE CVB

WASHINGTON

>SEATTLE CVB
(206) 461-5800; www.seeseattle.org
Total Hotel Tax: 15.6%

SEATTLE SOUTHSIDE VISITOR SERVICES
(206) 575-2489; (877) 885-9452
www.seattlesouthside.com
Total Hotel Tax: 12.4%

TACOMA REGIONAL CVB
(253) 627-2836; www.traveltacoma.com
Total Hotel Tax: 12%

IDAHO

BOISE CVB
(208) 344-7777; www.boise.org
Total Hotel Tax: 11%

OREGON

PORTLAND CVB
(503) 275-9770; (800) 962-3700
www.portlandcvb.com
Total Hotel Tax: 11.5%

PHANTOM PLANNER

• All of the new convention and event space has made normally high-priced Washington good for bargains. Convention center personnel are ready to deal. Incentives such as volume discounts on multiple-year contracts, free keynote speakers, and reduced fees for moving dates are helping event planners put together more economical packages for cost-conscious clients. Because many of the centers involve hotels, there are even more willing partners to help bring meeting costs down.

• Is the budget pinching? Seattle Southside hotel rates regularly run 30 percent to 50 percent below rates for comparable space downtown. If it's downtown your attendees want, they can have it by spending 15 minutes on a shuttle and then shop with their savings. Hotel taxes are just slightly lower, but the difference in restaurant meals is also appreciable.

• Has anyone mentioned that it rains? It does, but these are mists, not downpours, so leave the knee-high rubber boots at home unless you plan to fish. Many locals just hold a folded newspaper over their head to save a hairdo — or dash inside for a few minutes.

Special Venues

• Could your group dine with dinosaurs and then stroll among hundreds of butterflies, and wind up the night viewing stars, planets, and entire galaxies? Only after hours at PACIFIC SCIENCE CENTER IN SEATTLE CENTER, in the heart of the city. Seattle Center was built for the 1962 World's Fair and includes the Experience Music Project, Marion Oliver McCaw Hall, and the Space Needle. The center can accommodate groups of 45 to 4,500 people. (206) 443-2001; www.pacsci.org

• There is something about taking High Tea at the five-star FAIRMONT OLYMPIC HOTEL that fairly reeks of grandeur and the royal treatment. Perhaps it is that English clotted cream, the infinite variety of teas, or the scones … Oh, the scones. (866) 662-6060 LE MEITOUR, in PORTLAND, is an antique emporium where owner Yves Meitour has recreated the 19th-century salon, in which “deals may be struck and harmony established.” The shop can accommodate more than 100 people in the salon and two smaller rooms. Decor is constantly changing. “We can make it very formal as when we prepare it for a board meeting, or we can make it more relaxed as when we serve tea,” Meitour says. (503) 246-3631

• In TWIN FALLS, Idaho, the expanded HERRETT CENTER FOR ARTS AND SCIENCE includes a new observatory and meeting space. A 24-inch, research-grade telescope is for public use. Meet in the 2,700-square-foot Rick Allen Hall for lectures, dinners, and other events. The hall can accommodate up to 260 people auditorium-style or 230 for a banquet. (208) 732-6655; www.csi.edu/herrett

• The SAN JUAN ISLANDS OF PUGET SOUND offer unusual meeting spaces or a resort can be bought out for a group. Kayak with the Orca whales, about 90 of which hang out here year-round. FRIDAY HARBOR SUITES has 63 suites and a new banquet hall that accommodate 10 to 110 people in the resort setting of San Juan Island (800) 752-5752). DEER HARBOR INN on Orcas Island is much more remote, with a national wildlife refuge and woods so quiet you'll hear the waves splash all night. Ten to 20 people would be the max here. (360) 378-5240

Seattle Library Has More Than Books

Seattle's new $165.5 million Central Public Library, designed by acclaimed Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, opened downtown in May. The 11-story, 362,987-square-foot building has an angular glass-and-steel facade surrounding five levels; the fourth level hosts meetings for 10 to 400 people. Other features include a 275-seat auditorium. (206) 386-4636; www.spl.org