The Fairmont Southampton's convention business is rebounding.The 593-room resort has been almost fully booked while hosting a huge group of 6,000 people from a major US company.Many of the thousands of convention goers are understood to be from State Farm.The resort said the 6,000 guests stayed in waves of five-night stays over the past month and a half."We are having our best (convention) year since 2008," Fairmont Southampton director of sales Shelley Meszoly said. "Certainly the convention business has been better than it's been since the recession."The resort had been planning for its busy convention and summer season since January and a spokesman said it had hired 157 Bermudians since then.He added the resort's staff is 71 percent Bermudian.The same company has booked another convention at the resort next year and Ms Meszoly said customer service feedback has been "very positive".Still Ms Meszoly is cautiously optimistic, expecting to finish 2011 with around 60,000 group rooms, which compares to 80,000 back in 2007, one of its best years."We are not out of the woods yet - we still have a way to go," she said.Online reviews at site like Expedia and TripAdvisor were mostly positive: ("blissful", "paradise"). Although a few who were not convention goers complained about "slow" service and some weren't happy about the noise and crowds ("too many kids", "overcrowded") caused by convention-goers and their families.Ms Meszoly attributes the increase in group bookings at the hotel to the economy picking up in the US. Also, she said: "We are seeing some compression in the US market with the big resorts there getting busier, therefore certain companies are willing to go offshore for their meetings. People have to meet and network, and companies have to bring their teams together. It's just a matter of whether or not a property in Bermuda works for them."Ms Meszoly said the Fairmont Southampton is now the only hotel on the Island now that can handle a huge group like the one it just hosted. However, there is plenty of competition from the smaller hotels for smaller group business.Together with its sister hotel, the Fairmont Hamilton Princess, the two hotels have more than 25 percent of the total guest rooms in Bermuda.The Fairmont Southampton has more than 50,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor meeting and function space, plus the largest ballroom on the island and a multimedia amphitheatre.