Atlanta Gets More Hotels

<B> Atlanta Gets More Hotels</B>

By Rowland Stiteler

An increasing demand for room nights is driving another round of hotel construction, with some major new Atlanta properties set to open late this year and early in 1999.

A February 1999 opening is scheduled for a new 385-room Wyndham Hotel Downtown. The Wyndham will be located at International Boulevard and Spring Streets, and will join a new 118-suite Hampton Inn Suites, which is scheduled to open on downtown Spring Street in November of this year.

Another property, the 231-room DoubleTree Hotel, is scheduled to open adjacent to the World Congress Center in June 1999. The 222-room Club Hotel by Doubletree recently opened near Hartsfield International Airport.

Brandy O'Quinn, a spokesperson for the Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau, said that while the hotel occupancy rate was down last year versus 1996 because of all the new hotel space built for the Atlanta Olympics, the demand for room nights continues to rise, spurring the continuing construction.

"We are continuing to see a strong level of business, especially in the transient business travel and convention attendee markets," she said, "and that's resulting in still more new hotel rooms.