1. The 215-room Hilton Carlsbad Oceanfront Resort and Spa opened in June with more than 25,000 square feet of indoor-outdoor meeting space. A 5,900-square-foot ballroom can be divided into five smaller meeting rooms; additional space includes an ocean-view terrace seating 450 and an event lawn that seats 475.
2. The 133-room Courtyard by Marriott San Diego Oceanside opened in Oceanside’s Rancho del Oro business district in November 2011 near Camp Pendleton. The hotel includes three meeting rooms that seat as many as 160.
3. Kimpton Hotels took over management of Hotel La Jolla, a 108-room oceanfront property, and reopened in July after an extensive renovation. The hotel now includes a 950-square-foot, sea-facing meeting room that seats 60, plus luxury guest rooms with patios and balconies.
4. The iconic La Jolla property known as “the Pink Lady,” and once renowned as a hotbed of Hollywood glamour, La Valencia Hotel underwent an extensive, $10 million renovation in 2012. The rehabbed, 122-room hotel has both a fresh exterior and three newly remodeled meeting rooms that seat 20, 40, and 80.
5. The North County’s Rancho Valencia Resort & Spa completed a $20 million renovation, reopening to the public in October. The resort’s 49 all-suite rooms were updated with a modern, colorful design scheme, as was the 5,000-square-foot Hacienda cottage-style guesthouse. Additions include a 1,000-square-foot meeting room and a new restaurant and bar.
6. In April, the former Stratford Inn space reopened as the Hotel Indigo San Diego Del Mar. The 94-room property in downtown Del Mar now includes a full-service day spa, two pools, a hot tub, and sauna. The 850-square-foot Seabiscuit boardroom seats 30, and the hotel also offers an on-site restaurant.
7. Once a favored destination of stars like Bob Hope and Ava Gardner, the circa-1943 Lafayette Hotel reopened in 2012 as a boutique property. Set in the hip North Park neighborhood, the hotel has 131 guestrooms, many of them set around the expansive pool, which hosts music-filled parties on summer weekends. Event space includes a ballroom that holds 500, the 200-person pool deck, and an eight-seat boardroom.
8. Legoland California Resort in Carlsbad will open the nation’s first Legoland Hotel. The 250-room property is slated to open in April 2013 and will include playfully designed guest rooms, a restaurant, bar, swimming pool, and activity areas for kids.
9. The Holiday Inn San Diego Bayside has begun work on a four-story, 44,000-square-foot addition that will add 57 oversize guest rooms, a boardroom, and a 3,400-square-foot ballroom to the hotel property. The expansion will bring the hotel’s total guest room count to 291 and meeting facilities to 8,200 square feet.
