The war in Iraq and heightened terrorist alerts are naturally discouraging business travel. Major airlines are cutting flights, and hotel occupancy is down -- in New York City it fell 6.2 percent in the war's first week. "We're also seeing softness in small group conferences," says Joseph Greff, a lodging analyst at Fulcrum Global Partners in New York. Big gatherings, too, are affected: Last month, for instance, UBS canceled a major investor conference in London.

Yet the need to hold meetings is so ingrained in businesspeople that companies are finding ways to arrange get-togethers despite the problems and perils. "Whereas the conference and the convention are discretionary, small executive and board meetings are not," notes hotel consultant John Fox, who heads the New York office of PKF Consulting.

So why not make the best of the situation and stage your next meeting close to home, in one of the grand local hotels that make confabs their affair? (For some of Institutional Investor readers' favorite meeting hotels, see below.)

The case for staying close to home right now can be compelling. After the Iraq war began, the Business Travel Coalition, an advocacy group for corporate travel customers, surveyed its members and found that one fifth had banned international travel; one third said they would consider doing so if the war expanded outside Iraq or was prolonged. Other organizations are maintaining their travel plans, but with modifications. Meeting Professionals International, a group that represents the conference industry, said that its April 4­6 conference in Berlin would happen as planned despite the war -- but that U.S. staff would stay home.

The long buildup to war did give hotels a chance to prepare for travel disruptions. Many, including InterContinental Hotels & Resorts and Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, have relaxed their penalties for war-related cancellations. Hotel consultant Fox notes that "international travel dropped substantially post-9/11."

Nonetheless, hotel managers say that financial firms have been booking as many board and executive meetings as ever, although a dearth of capital markets deals has reduced the number of Wall Street road shows. But, the managers add, the meetings are smaller and shorter -- and the tighter schedules demand extra-responsive service.

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Security concerns combined with financial pressures are driving the trend toward quicker, more intimate -- and closer -- meetings. Firms that once sent 20 people to meetings at the St. Regis in New York now send as few as ten, according to the hotel's managing director, Guenter Richter. And the agendas are likewise pared down: "One that would have lasted three days is cut to one and a half," he says.

Four Seasons Chicago general manager Hans Willimann says that although business travel has decreased at his hotel, the meeting trade has actually increased since 9/11. "It seems to be the security of being close to home that appeals to companies," Willimann observes.

Security -- and its close corollary, privacy -- have become bigger concerns for those planning meetings. Several readers who responded to an II questionnaire approvingly mentioned hotels that provide dedicated elevators and discrete street entrances to meeting rooms. Some hotels assign firms code names to keep their identities secret even from hotel staff.

The Four Seasons hotels in Chicago and New York and the Grand Hyatt Singapore all feature full-fledged boardrooms that are located on guest room floors, allowing groups to slip into their meetings without parading through the lobby. The Sheraton Frankfurt Hotel and Towers at Frankfurt International Airport has a meeting-concierge desk. (Most of the hotels on our list can set up "virtual" meetings by Webcasting, Webconferencing or videoconferencing, but this can be expensive.)

Rather than risk a steep cancellation fee, cost-conscious firms are booking space on much shorter notice: Instead of six months to a year ahead, it's likely to be three months or less. Cautious meeting planners don't need to worry about cancellation charges because they can negotiate airtight force majeure clauses with hotels. And companies planning meetings are making contingency plans -- booking conference calls -- just in case.