Southern California is famous for its deluxe resorts, but what company would go to one in today’s age of stretched corporate budgets and intense public scrutiny?

Insurance giant AIG was nearly handed its head 1½ years ago after spending $440,000 at the ultraluxurious St. Regis Monarch Beach in Dana Point.

Enter Lake Arrowhead Conference Center and Mountain Resort, a meeting place run by UCLA in the mountains just 100 miles northeast of Los Angeles.

There, in a community best known as a local mountain getaway, as many as 200 conferees can hold meetings in a rustic lodge, eat three square meals a day and utilize audiovisual equipment for $180 per person per night – just a fraction of what a fancier venue would cost. It’s the kind of place where companies can still hold an executive retreat but not be embarrassed about the name of the lodge.

“We’ve seen a definite increase in business conferences,” said Steve Caloca, director of the 42-acre site and a former Hyatt Hotel executive. “I think a lot of companies realize that the days of having their retreats at the Ritz-Carlton are over.”

The conference center has been operated by UCLA since 1982 and has historically hosted mostly academic gatherings. However, when Caloca came on board in 2008, he pushed to add more businesses to the mix. Last year, about half the 325 annual conferences were business related.

What’s more, in addition to the smaller companies that have visited the mountain resort, the center is booking such big names as Staples, Nordstrom and Nestle.

“We wanted something different that was more affordable,” said Kristen Deleo, senior executive assistant at L.A.-based Neutrogena Corp., which recently held a weekend conference at the Arrowhead center for 50 members of its marketing team. “We usually do hotels, but this was cheaper and we had a great time.”