Desert Meetings

The Southwest continues to bloom with new developments aimed squarely at the meetings and conventions market. Leading the pack, not surprisingly, is Las Vegas. The city redefined itself as much more than a gaming destination with the opening last year of such one-of-a-kind properties as the Bellagio, Mandalay Bay, the Venetian, and Paris-Las Vegas. Few cities can absorb 15,000 new hotel rooms in one year and end up with higher occupancy levels than the year before, but such is the appeal of