South by Southwest just brought tens of thousands of visitors to Austin and more than a million dollars to the local economy.
City leaders are concerned downtown does not have enough hotel space to host major conventions.
About 550 groups wanted to hold their conventions in downtown Austin in recent years but didn't because the city didn't have enough hotel rooms for them. That amounts to more than $160 million in visitor spending the city did not receive. Now city leaders want to do something about it.
A block south of the Convention Center in downtown Austin, Iron Works is conveniently located for attendees to grab a bite to eat. Manager Roland Cantu says he relies on the big crowds and would like to see another convention center hotel built nearby.
“I think it’s something Austin needs to get updated on and get going and get some of the large conventions we’ve lost over the years,” said Cantu.
There are 30,000 hotel rooms citywide and 5,500 around downtown. With about 2,000 hotel rooms within walking distance of the Austin Convention Center, the city is unable to compete for some large events losing business and revenue.
“Since the Hilton opened, the city has turned away over a million in a half dollars of room nights,” said Bob Lander, President and CEO of the Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau. “Groups interested in having their conventions here did not pursue Austin because of the lack of hotel rooms close to the Convention Center.”
In 2009, Dell chose to move its convention from Austin to Las Vegas because all the rooms couldn’t be booked at the same hotel.
“Were losing business all the time because we don’t have enough hotel rooms,” said Lee Leffingwell Austin’s Mayor.
Thursday the Austin City Council took action directing the city manager to study the benefits of another convention-sized hotel downtown.
“We do want to have staff on alert looking for ways to help us make this happen,” said Leffingwell.
KVUE has learned two possible sites for a new hotel could be at Red River and Cesar Chavez, where there is a parking lot, and on Congress in between 2nd and 3rd Street. A 1000-room Marriott Hotel was planned to be build on the site, but when the economy took a hit, it was shelved. A company spokesperson says the project remains on hold.
The city council hopes to see a full report from staff in 60 days.
