Florida
Sirata Beach Resort completed a $25 million renovation of its guest rooms, suites, lobby and fitness center. The resort offers 228 guest rooms and suites that have been updated with new furniture along with amenities and activities such as daily fitness classes, watersports, an onsite restaurant, beachfront bar and swimming pool, volleyball courts and more.
The resort also has 30,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor meeting space spread across nine event venues. The largest of these venues is the Majestic Palm Ballroom, which can accommodate up to 500 attendees in its 5,100 square feet of space. The resort also has an additional ballroom, several breakout rooms, a beachfront tent pavilion and outdoor decks.
Georgia
Origin Hotel Atlanta, a Wyndham Hotel is a 122-room boutique property in Atlanta’s south downtown area that offers an onsite restaurant and bar, a state-of-the-art fitness center and flexible meeting and event spaces. The property is situated in the city’s original business district, close to local attractions such as the Mercedes-Benz Stadium and the Georgia Capitol Museum.
The hotel has more than 2,500 square feet of event space across four venues, the largest of which is the 1,113-square-foot Olympic Meeting Room, able to accommodate up to 74 attendees.
[Related: New and Renovated Southern Event Venues and Hotel Properties]
Texas
The Highland Dallas completed a renovation that includes upgrades to its guest rooms, lobby and public spaces. The lobby now features new custom chandeliers, a handcrafted terracotta mural and a grab-and-go coffee bar and marketplace.
The 204-room property features an onsite restaurant, fitness center, spa and over 13,000 square feet of meeting space. The property’s largest venue is the 6,588-square-foot Opus Ballroom, able to accommodate up to 500 attendees. The hotel is also located close to Dallas attractions such as the SMU Campus, George Bush Presidential Library and the Katy Trail.
The Driskill Hotel in Austin announced plans for a renovation project that will transform the property’s 189 guest rooms and suites, lobby, common areas, meeting spaces and culinary options while adding a new ballroom, cocktail bar and retail space. The project will be completed in two phases, with the first phase set to debut this fall and the second to be completed by summer 2026.
The first phase will include upgrades to 110 tower guest rooms, a new 2,800-square-foot ballroom, refreshed fitness center and three new onsite restaurants. The second phase will include renovations to the hotel’s lobby, grand staircase and original guest room tower of 74 rooms along with the new retail space.
[Related: These Group Offsites and Activities Can Only Be Experienced in Austin, Texas]
A Serene Caribbean Secret
Secrets Playa Esmeralda Resort & Spa is a new adults-only, all-inclusive resort located along the shoreline of Playa Esmeralda in the Dominican Republic’s Miches region. The property includes 500 suites, with many offering ocean views, beach swim-out access and furnished balconies.
The resort features amenities such as 11 onsite dining venues, seven bars, a fitness center and a spa offering hydrotherapy options such as a sauna, whirlpool and cold plunge. The property also has 15,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor event space across 11 venues, including breakout rooms and the Miches Ballroom that can accommodate up to 1,440 attendees.
Secrets Playa Esmeralda Resort & Spa is located nearby many of the Dominican Republic’s eco-destinations that attendees can experience through excursions such as mountaintop swinging at Montaña Redonda, mangrove kayaking in Los Haitises National Park, hiking to the secluded Salto La Jalda waterfall and seasonal whale watching in Bahía de Samaná.
The resort also recently installed a protected sea turtle nest along its beachfront in collaboration with Promiches, a local organization that promotes the sustainable destination of the Miches region, where visitors may have the opportunity to see the release of sea turtle hatchlings on their journey to the ocean.
