Even though many conferences and conventions are already held in the southern United States, new properties are springing up to accommodate even more meetings. Cities like Atlanta are already adding hotels, restaurants and conference centers, and other cities are following suit.

The hotels are not just places to stay, either–one such hotel in Atlanta is the Hard Rock, which features entertainment sun-up to sun-up, and is in the middle of a modern multi-use urban development. Georgia is not the only state that is poised for the future of meetings–Louisiana and Mississippi are ramping up in the urban deep south as well. Most notable are the Louisiana properties. Baton Rouge has recently proposed constructing two new convention center hotels and nearby in New Orleans renovations are taking place on already-popular destinations like the Roosevelt Hotel and Hyatt.

Middle south states are also getting ready for an increase in meeting traffic. In Charlotte, North Carolina, a new luxury hotel called “aloft” has just opened, with sister properties scattered throughout Alabama, South Carolina, Arkansas, Texas, and Virginia, among other places in the U.S. Read the rest of this entry »