Chicago-based Hyatt Hotels Corporation announced this week it will manage the 428-room Hyatt Regency Trinidad in Port of Spain, Trinidad. It will be Hyatt´s first business and convention hotel in the Caribbean and its fifth property overall in the region, joining Hyatt Regency Aruba, Hyatt Dorado Beach (Puerto Rico), Hyatt Regency Grand Cayman, and Hyatt Regency Curacao (opening in late 2007). Construction on the hotel has already begun. The hotel will be a welcome addition to Trinidad for business travelers and convention goers. Located 30 minutes from Piarco International Airport, Hyatt Regency Trinidad will be one of the few local venues to offer expansive state-of-the-art meeting facilities. With 43,000 square-feet of flexible meeting space, the hotel will accommodate both large and small gatherings. Included in the function space are a 16,000 square-foot Grand Ballroom and a 10,000 square-foot multipurpose facility.

Hilton Hotels Corporation continues to monitor the status of Hilton, Doubletree, Embassy Suites Hotels, Hampton, Hilton Garden Inn and Homewood Suites by Hilton hotels in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Guests with reservations whose travel plans have been disrupted directly by the storm, or who are planning to travel to nearby areas where evacuees are being relocated, are encouraged to contact Hilton Family toll-free reservations at 1-800-HILTONS to determine hotel availability.

Sandal´s Dunn´s River Golf Resort & Spa in Ocho Rios, Jamaica, will be closed through December 18 to complete the final phase of its $14 million renovation project that will include a redesigned lobby, upgraded rooms in three categories and the debut of the Red Lane Spa. Sandals Inn in Montego Bay, Jamaica, meanwhile, will close for refurbishing from September 5 to December 18. In addition, also closing September 5 is Beaches Sandy Bay in Negril, Jamaica, which reopens October 5. Refurbishments are to include painting and general sprucing up of the guest rooms and lobby areas at both hotels, according to a spokesman.

Club Med will debut the new $60 million Club Med Buccaneer´s Creek resort on the island of Martinique as soon as December 2005. The opening of this spectacular resort, set on one of the island´s most beautiful beaches, represents an important step in Club Med´s ongoing global expansion and part of its commitment to appeal to the needs of today´s upscale traveler. The new Club Med Buccaneer´s Creek is being constructed on the site of the original resort which, since its opening in 1969, has become a legend in the Americas, virtually redefining the resort experience.

Sol Meliá Hotels & Resorts said it will launch a new advertising campaign in September aimed specifically at attracting a larger share of the meetings and conventions market to its 330 hotels worldwide. Sol Meliá was expected to preview the ads at the National Business Travel Association convention, being held in San Diego Aug. 14 to 17.

Le Paradis Hotel, a new luxury resort and condominium complex, has broken ground in Praslin Bay, halfway up St. Lucia´s East Coast, according to Kierron Dolby, managing director of DCG Properties, the development company. The 554-acre site, located along two-and-a-half miles of coastline, reefs, small bays and peninsulas, is just south of the fishing village of Dennery and the Fregate Islands Nature Reserve.