December 16, 2025

End-of-Year Gatherings: Meetings & Events in La Paloma’s Remastered Spaces

There’s a certain clarity to the Sonoran Desert in winter – sunlight that sharpens the ridgelines of the Santa Catalinas, evenings that glow gold then indigo, and air that makes every conversation feel a little crisper. It’s also the perfect backdrop for year-end retreats, award dinners, and “new-year, next-chapter” planning sessions. At The Westin La Paloma Resort & Spa, that setting meets substance: expansive indoor-outdoor venues, on-site tech support, and a multi-phase meeting-space transformation designed to elevate everything from strategy breakouts to gala toasts.

A canvas as big as your agenda

With 110,000 square feet of versatile event space – including 18 meeting rooms and an 18,000-square-foot ballroom – La Paloma scales cleanly from executive workshops to full company celebrations. Think morning general session, sun-splashed lunch with mountain views, then an evening reveal in the ballroom for awards and a final toast. The resort’s on-site event technicians keep presentations crisp and pacing seamless, so your program lands exactly where it should.

What’s new? La Paloma’s Meetings, Remastered initiative – an ongoing, multi-phase transformation of meeting spaces slated to complete by Fall 2025 – is reimagining the guest flow and aesthetic while protecting the desert-modern character that planners love. Translation: familiar ease, refreshed possibilities, and smarter space for the way teams actually meet now.

Immersive days, effortless nights

Year-end gatherings work best when every element lives under one roof. Here, your daytime productivity dovetails into a resort evening without ever starting a car. After a productive day, guests can rotate to La Luz Restaurant for dinner, slip into Casa 71 Tequila Lounge for a curated tasting, or head to Contigo Latin Kitchen for lively, shareable plates—all of which remain open throughout the meeting-space transformation. The La Paloma Spa stays open too, making it easy to weave in recovery time (or a team wellness hour) before your closing celebration.

The Sonoran “third place”

Between sessions, the resort’s desert setting becomes a natural third space: terraces for stand-up brainstorms, walking paths for one-on-ones, and twilight patios for impromptu debriefs that feel more like conversations than meetings. When it’s time to shift from content to connection, your team can transition outdoors for a sunset reception, then re-enter a transformed ballroom for the year-end “wow” moment.

Design a year-end arc that breathes

Morning momentum. Open with a tight keynote and a clear run-of-show; rely on the resort’s integrated A/V and on-site techs to keep slides, video, and mic swaps smooth. Midday reset. Move outside – desert air does wonders for attention spans – then return for workshops in adjacent salons to keep energy focused without fragmentation. Evening celebration. Reveal the ballroom with warm lighting, a concise awards block, and a closing toast that looks cinematic on the in-room screens. The result is a day that feels curated rather than crowded.

For planners: the practical advantages

Scale and flexibility. From boardroom to ballroom, you can right-size every segment without sacrificing flow.
On-site expertise. House technicians and resort teams coordinate production, transitions, and timing – less vendor wrangling, more guest experience.
Continuity during renovations. Meetings proceed as normal while the remaster progresses; restaurants and spa remain open, so guest experience stays whole.

Make it a milestone

Year-end meetings are more than agendas; they’re cultural moments. Pair your strategy reveal with a mountain-view reception. Trade a standard coffee break for a mindful walk beneath desert sky. Close with a celebratory dinner that feels like a “thank you,” not just a calendar line item. With La Paloma’s breadth of space, integrated support, and a reimagined meetings experience coming online through Fall 2025, you’ll send your team into the new year connected, focused, and genuinely energized.

Ready to design your end-of-year arc? Start with your guest count and desired format; the La Paloma team will help translate intent into rooms, timing, and an experience that fits your goals – and the desert’s golden light will do the rest.