Hi-
I'm a member of a small professional association in the Southeastern U.S. We are thinking about where to have our conference next year. It has to be a city in the Southeast (or Texas), and it needs to be somewhere other than New Orleans, Austin, or Orlando. What are your favorite places? We usually like neat or historic hotels, since we do end up spending lots of conference time in little rooms. Thanks for your input!
Laura

I'll suggest a couple that you don't normally come across. Asheville, NC, Wilmington, NC, Charlottesville. These may or may not be easily accessible depending on where everyone is coming from.

How many people for the conference?

The Carolina Inn in Chapel Hill, NC has a couple of hundred rooms and conference facilities. Right on the UNC campus. Most airlines serve the RDU market.

In Richmond, VA the Jefferson hotel is lovely (AAA 5 diamond rating). Richmond airport has USAirways flights.

Charleston, SC, Savannah, GA, and St. Augustine, Fla are historic cities.

The time of year could be an influence. If it is in autumn, go for a mountain location and look at the pretty leaves. If it is in spring, go for someplace with beautiful gardens.

Lafayette, Louisiana--cajun culture, music and fun.

Asheville would probably be a good place to hold a smaller conference or convention. The historic hotel that could probably suit you best would be the Grove Park Inn, while the Inn on Biltmore Estate is new but has old world charm, and is, as the name suggests, on the Biltmore Estate, which would make up for that new hotel smell. In downtown Asheville there is also the Renaissance Asheville Hotel, a modern high-rise, but it's on the edge of Asheville's historic downtown, and you're within walking distance of all the art and history of the city.

Asheville definitely qualifies as "neat or historic" -- both, actually, which would make up for a modern hotel if you decided to stay at Biltmore or the Renaissance... but remember the Grove Park!

San Antonio has tons of great old hotels (Wyndham's St. Anthony is my favorite, and others love the Menger and Crockett) and the town is great for conventions.

Fort Worth, Texas is also a very historic place to visit, but there aren't many historic hotels there besides the Stockyards Hotel, but it is small.

In order, my preference for a conference:

1. Charleston, SC
2. San Antonio, TX
3. Savannah, GA
4. Winston-Salem, NC (don't laugh before you check out the Graylyn Conference Center near Wake Forest University, consider that there are a surprising number of great restaurants, and remember that W/S is one of the few NC cities that has preserved any of its history).
5. Key West! (why not?)

Asheville: The Grove Park Inn
Savannah: The Westin
Charleston: The Charleston Place Hotel.