The Pacific Northwest destinations of Seattle, Spokane, Portland and Boise have been building their business events resume via several high-profile additions, such as the Seattle Convention Center’s Summit building, which reinvigorated the downtown of the region’s largest metro in 2023.
Following are major developments in each city that may sway a site selection decision.
[Related: How Pacific Northwest Convention Centers Are Agents of Positive Change]
Seattle
Aside from the aforementioned Summit building, Seattle is celebrating numerous big-ticket projects.
Seattle’s waterfront has been ground zero of the city’s transformation since 2019, when the Alaskan Way Viaduct, an elevated roadway that separated the dynamic waterfront from the rest of the city, was torn down.
“We’re benefiting from the completion of several billion-dollar projects that have transformed our city, none more visible than our expansive, reimagined waterfront,” said Kelly Saling, SVP and chief sales officer for Visit Seattle. “We’re talking about a 20-acre park that connects our iconic Pike Place Market and the waterfront, with views of Mount Rainier, the Olympic Mountains, our skyline and Puget Sound all at once. What makes it even more spectacular is the addition of amenities like [Seattle Aquarium’s] new Ocean Pavilion, activations on Pier 62, public restrooms, bike paths, greenery and expanded seating.”
Connectivity between downtown and major event facilities, as well as between the airport and downtown, has been a major goal.
“One thing we’ve really been trying to spread the word on is the accessibility of our downtown core,” Saling said. “It’s less than a 10-minute walk from Seattle Convention Center’s Summit building to Pike Place Market. Our Monorail provides a short trip from downtown to the Space Needle and Climate Pledge Arena. Link Light Rail brings visitors from SeaTac airport right to downtown and other neighborhoods like Capitol Hill and the University District. There are so many ways to get around.”
[Related: Seattle's Summit and One-of-a-Kind Vibe Have the Emerald City Soaring]
The biggest hotel news is the opening of the 120-room Populus Seattle in May 2025, bringing a carbon-positive property with biophilic design to the heart of the city’s downtown Pioneer Square District. Housed in a historic, circa-1907 building, Populus is located near Seattle’s major sports stadiums and offers 7,000 square feet of event space.
Saling said Seattle is benefiting from the completion of five different billion-dollar projects in the last few years, transforming the waterfront, airport, light rail, convention center and Climate Pledge Arena.
A little more than 10 miles from Seattle across Lake Washington, Bellevue has emerged as an enticing option for groups that want a relatively sequestered environment only minutes from a major city. Bellevue is also the gateway to region’s technology industry, with Microsoft’s Redmond headquarters only five miles away.
“It’s really a city that punches above its weight, given the concentration of the tech industry and all the different headquarters that are out here,” said Alexander Kandalaft, general manager of the InterContinental Seattle Bellevue. “It’s a clean city. It’s a safe city. It’s a walkable city. You’ve got the nature that’s all around.”
The 208-room InterContinental Seattle Bellevue, which offers more than 12,000 square feet of meeting space, is the first InterContinental hotel in the Pacific Northwest and located above the $1 billion Avenue Bellevue mixed-use luxury development.
And with luxury boutiques such as Hermes, Prada and Gucci, and a full complement of international restaurants—sort of a Pacific Northwest Rodeo Drive—Bellevue is a great option to be close to the city without actually being in the middle of it.
The hotel partnered with Saks Fifth Avenue to offer The Saks Fifth Avenue Experience, which sets up two combined suites for curated fashion shopping and styling by appointment.
Spokane
The second-largest city in Washington, Spokane seems a world away from Seattle, with cultural ties that are closer to Idaho than Western Washington.
Spokane is home to the iconic Davenport Hotel, Autograph Collection, which is one of five Davenport Hotel Collection luxury hotel properties downtown, also including The Davenport Grand, The Davenport Tower, The Centennial and the newest edition, The Louie, a 48-room Autograph Collection hotel that rebranded from the Davenport Lusso last March.
The original Davenport is expected to wrap a room refresh in mid to late spring 2026 that will feature new beds, TVs, refrigerators and furniture.
Davenport Tower is set to launch a room refresh that will bring new beds, TVs, carpet and room accessories, and The Davenport Grand is embarking on a complete renovation set for a late-spring 2026 completion.
The DoubleTree by Hilton Spokane City Center is undergoing a major renovation following its acquisition by JMA Ventures in late 2024. Highlights include a full renovation of all of its 375 guest rooms, 17 meeting rooms, lobby, outdoor pool, business center and fitness center, and dining outlets, including Spencer’s Steakhouse. The project is expected to wrap by the end of summer 2026.
Spokane International Airport is expanding its Concourse C by 144,000 square feet as part of the multiphase TREX (Terminal Renovation and Expansion Program) project, which added three gates.
Other Spokane happenings include a new zipline over Spokane Falls, which is targeting a summer 2026 completion.
Portland
Portland revels in its reputation as a quirky outsider powered by a creative citizenry and tolerant vibe.
Cindy Wallace, the newly named executive director of Portland’s Oregon Convention Center (OCC), is a longtime Portland meetings industry veteran who joined the convention center staff in 2005 and held a number of leadership roles before landing the top spot in December 2025.
In her long tenure at the facility, Wallace has helped oversee everything from the 2019 reopening of the building following a $40 million renovation to its use as a pandemic-era vaccination center, drive-through Covid testing site and evacuation location for the American Red Cross during wildfires.
Wallace pointed out a few things that make Portland a standout events destination.
“There’s no sales tax [in Oregon], so already their event is going to cost less, and then we’ve got such great culture and food, beverages, activities,” Wallace said. “But the thing that I think stands out for our clients is how well our hospitality community works together.”
Some major Portland happenings include the completion of an $111 million transformation of the Portland Art Museum in November 2025 that included the renovation and addition of several event spaces, including the Rothko Pavilion, which connects the museum’s buildings and is ideal for networking events. Other event spaces include the Kridel Grand Ballroom, Fields Sunken Ballroom, the outdoor West Plaza (for tented and seasonal events) and conference rooms.
[Related: Portland’s Natural Spaces Are Fertile Ground for Meetings and Events]
Attendees will also be excited to learn that the new James Beard Public Market, plating up the best of Oregon’s culinary heritage, is slated to open in 2027.
Portland prides itself on diversity and inclusion, with the OCC offering a Portland Indigenous Marketplace pop-up that features direct interaction with Indigenous and Black artists and entrepreneurs.
Boise
Another regional center of the tech industry, Boise has made major meetings moves in the past few years, perhaps chief among them the May 2024 opening of the 122-room Hotel Renegade blocks from the Boise Centre convention facility.
Itself offering a little more than 5,100 square feet of meeting space across seven rooms, the Renegade threads the needle by presenting a warm, boutique feel while also boasting big-city sophistication with The Highlander Rooftop Bar & Lounge and Baraboo Super Club.
The destination’s newest hotel, AC Hotel & Element by Westin, will offer 296 guest rooms and more than 8,000 square feet of space when it opens in downtown by the end of summer 2026. Highlights include a rooftop bar and a 15th floor meeting space.
[Related: Good Networking Drives Reconnection in Boise, Idaho]
“It’s a block away from the Boise Centre, so it’s helped us win a couple of nice pieces of larger business because it allows us to boost our peak rooms we can offer at two to three hotels,” said Andrew Heidt, vice president of sales for Visit Boise. “It’ll be 150 rooms on peak, so it’s going to be a gamechanger for us for those larger citywide conventions. Now we can do 300 on peak with two hotels; before we would need multiple hotels for that same package.”
Heidt mentioned that another Boise meetings property staple located next to Boise Centre, the AAA Four-Diamond The Grove Hotel, just wrapped a complete room renovation.
“The hotel product in Boise truly feels brand new,” he offered, adding that because The Grove has long been the destination’s primary convention center hotel, that major renovation project has really helped Boise secure business after site inspection visits.
[Related: Technology Meetings Are Changing Perceptions of Boise, Idaho]
Heidt also mentioned that the addition of El Gaucho, a Pacific Northwest steakhouse favorite, in the beginning of 2026 has really upped the downtown group dining scene as it offers six private dining rooms and the capacity to host upwards of 250 for a private event.
And in an outside-of-the-box twist that is sure to grab the attention of meeting planners, Heidt emphasized the destination’s ongoing promotion offering craft coffee at $40 per gallon at Boise Centre, and also the offer of fully covered site visits for qualified planners.
