AUSTIN -- It seems everyone wants a piece of Austin. On any given week, the city is host to a national conferences on top of the numerous events that put Austin on the map, including South by Southwest and Austin City Limits.
According to the Convention and Visitors Bureau, Austin welcomes about 20 million tourists each year. There's just one problem: Downtown only has 6,500 hotel rooms. You don't have to be a mathematician to figure out what that means.
"We need more hotel rooms," said Austin resident Jack Clement. "A lot more."
One solution opened Friday: The JW Marriott Hotel and Convention Center on the corner of Congress Avenue and Second Street. The 34-story architectural masterpiece has three restaurants and more than 1,000 rooms with exquisite views of downtown. The hotel also added 800 jobs to Austin's market.
"We want to represent Austin. We want to make the city proud of this new feature," said Scott Blalock, general manager of JW Marriott Austin.
But the hotel, and others opening around it, are not just making Austin proud. They're making the city accessible and wealthier.
When big events come to town, such as Formula 1, rooms book quickly, leaving some staying in surrounding cities or not coming at all. In fact, the University Interscholastic League announced it will no longer host its annual state high school basketball championship in the Capitol City because schools can't afford rooms for athletes. The games are the same weekend as SXSW.
"Our hotel now provides an opportunity for Austin to host conventions that we never have had before. Over half of the business that we book in this hotel is business that would not have been in Austin had the JW Marriott not presented a 1,000 room hotel," Blalock said.
The backbone of that business is conventions and meetings.
"When there aren't festivals and events happening every weekend, it's meetings and conventions that are really contributing to the economic impact of tourism in this city. So, a convention-style hotel like the JW Marriott really helps us attract not only larger groups but better quality groups," said Shilpa Bakre, senior communications manager at the Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau.
"I don't think people realize how much of an impact meetings and conventions really have when it comes to sort of the economic backbone of tourism. Meetings and conventions are huge," Baker said. "I mean if you think about all, when they're coming in for business they basically come in for one purpose and then become leisure travelers at night. So, they're not only pouring money into the hotels and all of our conferences, but then they're pouring that money into restaurants and entertainment going to see live music, all of those fun things that we have."
Rooms at the Marriott are filling fast. The very first guests to check in to the hotel were members of a deserving family headed up by Major Walter Engle. Engle is an 18-year Army veteran based at Fort Hood.
He has been deployed eight times so to express its appreciation, the hotel chain donated a weekend stay for him, his wife and their three children.
Several more hotels will open downtown within the next two years. This Summer, the Westin will open on 5th Street with 366 rooms. Also this year, Hotel Van Zandt near Rainey Street will open 326 rooms. Plus a dual property with Holiday Inn Express and Hotel Indigo on Red River Street adds 300 rooms.
Hotel Zaza plans to open 160 rooms next year across from Republic Square Park and The Fairmont will steal the Marriott's title of largest hotel in Austin when it opens 1,060 rooms on East Cesar Chavez in 2017.
According to the Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau, by 2017, visitors will have 10,000 hotel rooms to choose from.
