Meeting News - July 27, 2009 - (Page 19)

Mid-America Regional By Frank Rosci Kansas City Considers Convention Hotel To Power Demand A proposed convention hotel and the new Power and Light District should help Kansas City, Mo., which has seen its share of highs and lows since the heyday of its corporate and association meeting scene, when it was consistently in the country’s top 10 meeting destinations and hosted the 1976 Republican National Convention, through the current leaner times. “While many groups still come to Kansas City, overall demand for meetings is down this year, notably over the last three months. It had been pegged as a poor year and we’re in a stall right now. During the last six years, 2009 was the one that was a little soft,” said Kansas City Convention & Visitors Association president Rick Hughes. “2010 should be a banner year, with 2011 a good one and 2012 a bit soft also; but our bookings are ahead of pace, our future is well ahead of pace, based on our projected averages, and overall we’re tracking above our historical average. And, of course, geography doesn’t change; we’re still in the middle of the country, accessible from both coasts.” People are being a bit tentative now, he said. “Many are holding out on their meeting plans for 2009, even though there are deals here because our hotel negotiating stacks up pretty well for groups, but the bottom line is people have to feel good about the economy,” Hughes said. A bit of news that could help lure planners to Kansas City is a proposed new $350 million conwww.meetingnews.com vention center hotel, still in its early stages and controversial locally, Hughes said, because of the state of today’s economy. “This is big: a 33 percent boost to rooms downtown, where density was missing, but there are Light District, a new $850 million, eight-block dining and entertainment venue with residences, that opened in the spring of 2008, within walking distance of hotels and the city’s convention center. groups are actually making calls and inquiries now for next year, as opposed to holding off as they have in 2009, so there is a lot more potential for 2010 to be better but not as good as 2008.” The negotiating climate 31,000 hotel rooms in the metro area. The impact on meetings would be enormous, but as everyone knows, how do you get the thing financed? A steering committee that is meeting soon will set the entire process more in motion. We should be at the bond table at the end of 2010 and breaking ground in the fall of 2013,” he said. However, he added, “we won’t do it unless there is net impact and can’t do it if there is undue risk to the city.” The new hotel would be part of a downtown Kansas City renaissance, along with the Power and “Last year was one of our best years to date,” said Tricia Clement, manager of the events division of destination management firm Agenda: Kansas City. “This year has been very slow with some cancellations, and our venue reps are being a lot more flexible about dates and price.” Agenda, she said, works with a mix of local, national and international groups, who are making last-minute plans this year and opting to hold bare-bones events without a lot of extras. “Things are looking better for 2010,” Clement said. “We’re working on multiple proposals because between corporation and association groups and Kansas City’s hotels remains conciliatory, according to Janice McClain, owner of Kansas City-based meetings management company J.M. McClain and Associates. “My clients, who are agricultural and pharmaceutical groups of 15 to 500 attendees, prefer to keep their relationship with the hotels intact by not taking advantage of them now,” McClain said. “They don’t want to turn into monsters by gouging during these leaner times. Yes, we want to see a good rate, but don’t want to see the continued on page 28 July 27, 2009 MeetingNews 19 KANSAS CITY CONVENTION & VISITORS ASSOCIATION http://www.meetingnews.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Meeting News - July 27, 2009

Meeting News - July 27, 2009
Contents
Newsmaker
Meetings Spotlight
Meeting Post
Viewpoint
Association Watch
Event Profile
Meeting People
MeetingNews Research
Travel Dashboard
Mid-America Regional
Golf Meetings
Hawaii

Meeting News - July 27, 2009