Tacoma Room Nights

Dan Voelpel's Sunday story about the lack of hotel room within walking distance of the Convention Center is right on the money. But I think it's important to revisit briefly.

First off, the number of rooms has not changed since the Center was built. Working at the Convention & Visitor Bureau during its construction, I remember many people in the tourism industry saying the same thing: the center is too big for the number of hotel rooms nearby. 4 years later, nothing's changed.

And it's not going to get any easier. First, Dan's article contains this line:

Then the City Council will decide whether to dangle as bait the land it owns next to the convention center to attract a four-star hotel developer willing to build the city’s largest hotel – at least 400 rooms.

This is bad. We don't want another 4 star hotel; conferences and conventions need a Holiday Inn or a Best Western sometimes. Murano is an incredible hotel, but it's features are going to price some conventions out of the market. Having a lower-cost alternative to it and the Courtyard by Marriot (itself not a cheap hotel) would be better for attracting conventions. And, yes, I know I wrote a sonnet decrying the lost of the Heidelberg Brewery to a Holiday Inn. But a huge parcel attached to the Convention Center seems like a much better place for the hotel.

Adding insult to injury, though, is this part of Dan's article:

... Spokane has roughly 4,000 hotel rooms downtown. Tacoma? Some 470 between the Marriott and the Murano.

We are the same size as Spokane and they have more than 8 times as many hotel rooms in their downtown? In a city just a few thousand people smaller (depending on who's count)? Ouch.

In other tourism news, you can read a skeptical take on local tourism promotion over at 5Views, plus my response in the comments.