Meeting News - March 9, 2009 - (Page 18)

Convention Centers While many destinations are trying to just survive the economic storm, Fort Worth is seemingly bucking the trend with record convention bookings, buoyed by the city’s first-ever anchor hotel, the 614-room Omni Fort Worth. Across the street from the Fort Worth Convention Center, and to be minted by an official grand opening later this month, the Omni has been in operation since Jan. 17. The hotel joins the 431room Sheraton Fort Worth Hotel & Spa, which reflagged last summer one block away, to push room inventory in the convention center’s immediate vicinity over the 1,000-room threshold that attracts national group attention. In years past, some 70 percent of Fort Worth’s group business had come from within the state, according to Larry Auth, the Omni’s sales and marketing director, but the city has been increasing its national exposure upon the Omni and Sheraton developments. Association bookings from Washington, DC, have jumped 20 percent in the last two years, Auth said, and he cited the Fort Worth Convention & Visitors Bureau’s record-shattering 258,000 future convention room nights booked in fiscal-year 2008 (October to October). “We didn’t have a quality hotel product in the past, but now we have a bright downtown [package], and [groups] are catching hold,” said Auth. The Fort Worth Convention Center has 253,226 sf of exhibit space, a 28,160-sf ballroom, and a 13,500-seat arena. The 350-staff Omni, with 68,000 sf of meeting space—and which exclusively handles the convention center’s F&B with a separate staff of 75—caps off a downtown hotel transformation after Fort Worth for years endured convention hotel development problems. The delays lasted through last year, when both the Omni and Sheraton had to push back their opening dates. Now the Omni has about 75,000 room nights booked for 2009 thus By William Ng william.ng@nielsen.com Omni Anchor Hotel a Big Part of Fort Worth’s New Sensation far, most of the business from firsttime Fort Worth groups, and it has bookings as far out as 2016 and 2017. Auth expects up to 550 rooms to be occupied on peak nights and summertime to be busiest, when it is filled by regional and religious groups. Despite the economy, “the rest of the year is shaping up really nice,” he said. Not only is the Omni eyeing state and national association business, it intends to be a hub for corporate and government meetings. Fort Worth is home to the U.S. Department of Treasury’s engraving and printing bureau, a major armed forces base, Pier 1 Imports, pharma giant Alcon, RadioShack, and aerospace companies. For convention breakouts and corporate affairs, 60,000 sf of meeting space, including an 18,788-sf ballroom, is on the Omni’s second floor, while the third floor has 8,000 sf of meeting rooms. In addition, a rooftop garden has 10,000 sf of usable group space. According to Auth, groups and planners have been wowed esthetically by the Omni’s Western chic of natural stone and rich hardwoods, which proliferate the property. Guest rooms feature touches like saddle-blanket throws and saddlestitched pillows. Auth also noted favorable planner feedback on the hotel’s layout and natural light in the meeting facilities. The hotel has a Bob’s Steak & Chop House, an all-day casual restaurant, a Starbucks, both wine and sports bars, a fitness center, and a full-service spa. H DC Convention Center Preps HQ Hotel Funding The Washington Convention Center Authority (WCCA) is floating $187 million in bonds to cover its cost for a public-private Marriott Marquis hotel due across the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in fourth-quarter 2012. Marriott International is responsible for the bulk of the hotel’s $550 million price tag and is sourcing financing for its part. The WCCA expects to secure its financing ahead of the 1,167-room hotel’s scheduled summer groundbreaking. The Marriott Marquis is slated to be a four-star property with atrium architecture and a 400space underground garage. It will have 100,000 sf of meeting space, a full health club and pool, six retail and F&B outlets, and a boutique hotel-within-hotel. A concourse beneath 9th Street will connect the hotel to the convention center’s lower exhibit hall level. At the same time, DC Council approved a $10 million convention center retrofit to bump up the current 150,000 sf of meeting space by another 40,000 sf, by converting staff offices. Construction begins in June, and completion is expected by year end. The building has a 52,000-sf ballroom and 703,000 sf of exhibit area. The retrofit was passed after a plan to expand group space by 75,000 sf—as recommended by a feasibility study—was abandoned due its $100 million cost. While an expansion would have been ideal, WCCA CEO and GM Gregory O’Dell said the retrofit will still improve the convention center’s ability to host larger simultaneous or overlapping events. The WCCA also will work with the Marriott Marquis to give the convention center additional, as-needed capacity. “We’re going to have some flexibility, though Marriott will control that space,” said O’Dell. The Marriott Marquis’ 100,000 sf of group space will include a 30,000-sf ballroom and a 20,000-sf junior ballroom. But more critical than that meeting space is the lodging support the hotel provides, said O’Dell: “Before we grow our customer base, we have to make sure we have the hotel inventory.” 18 MeetingNews March 9, 2009 www.meetingnews.com http://www.meetingnews.com

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Meeting News - March 9, 2009

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