West United States
 
If you’re familiar with the Century Plaza Hotel adjoining Beverly Hills, get ready for some surprises. After being owned by the Japanese and managed by Westin from its beginning, the 726-room property was purchased last year for $293 million by southern California investors who gave the management contract to Hyatt. So it’s now the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza. And just finished a couple weeks ago was a $22 million total room renovation. Yet to be completed are upgrades to public spaces to include a new Concierge Club concept. It will feature a private ground level reception and check-in area and lounge and 132 upgraded rooms on the 17th  18th and Penthouse levels. All guestrooms are equipped with HSIA at $9.95 per day.  Interestingly, to protect their communications, defense contractors, pharmaceutical companies and other security-conscience outfits have requested that the hotel not offer Wi-Fi. A handy gadget found outside The Breeze restaurant is Hyatt’s Fast Board computer. With it, guests can do their airline check-in and get their boarding passes. For meetings, the Hyatt Century Plaza Hotel offers some 150,200 square feet of space that includes the city’s largest ballroom…Available to business visitors now is the 243-room Holiday Inn, Downtown Everett, Washington. The property offers complimentary high-speed I-net access in rooms and Wi-Fi in the property’s 11,000 square feet of meeting space and other public areas. Other amenities include complimentary breakfast, free underground parking. 
 
South United States
 
Got a conference or meeting scheduled in the Williamsburg, Virginia area? There’s a new $12 million “Next Generation” Holiday Inn to accommodate you. The 96-room hotel offers in-room ergonomic workstations, AT&T VoIP, high-sped Internet, Wi-Fi and refrigerators. You’ll find this new hotel at 515 Bypass Road, in Williamsburg.
 
Northeast United States
 
The new 424-room InterContinental Boston is a gem. Located in the Financial District, along Fort Point Channel, it’s within decent distance of the Federal Courthouse and the new Boston Convention & Exhibition Center. Walkable are Little Italy, Faneuil Hall and Quincy Marketplace. The business center is open 24/7, and the Spa and Health Club are similarly accessible—among the best in the city. Looking for meeting space? There are 11 meeting and function rooms—including a gorgeous 10,500-square-foot waterfront Grand Ballroom. Before you hop the nearby water taxi to Logan International, kick back while the boat pulls up with a glass of bubbly from the InterContinental’s champagne bar. The new InterContinental enters a suddenly competitive Boston hotel market. By the end of 2008 there will be 2,421 new hotel rooms in Boston and Cambridge—a 16 percent increase. Right now, the area boasts some 35,000 rooms.

Worldwide

Everyone wants to do business in Shanghai, and that’s spurred an apartment and hotel boom. Latest entry: the Union Square Shanghai Pudong Marriott Executive Apartments, a 223-unit project. Apartments are full-service, and come with fully equipped kitchens, a plasma-screen television, high-speed Internet and thrice-weekly housekeeping. You’ll find it in the heart of Pudong’s Lujiazui district…A dramatic new look for a London landmark. The entire ground floor of the Athenaeum Hotel and Apartments on Piccadilly has been rendered far more open. Lobby, restaurant, bar and lounge now meld into one very stylish space. A sunken garden highlights the hotel.