Baltimore Meeting Demand For Rooms, Group Space
<B>Baltimore Meeting Demand For Rooms, Group Space</B>
By Barbara Cook
The Baltimore lodging market should continue its robust performance this year due to the strong local economy, according to the Ernst & Young 2001 National Lodging Forecast.
Lodging demand in Baltimore has increased steadily during the past few years, the forecast reported, due to the ongoing development of the popular Inner Harbor, the completion of Disney's Discovery Children's Museum, the expansion of the African Art Museum and the completion of the PSINet Stadium for the Baltimore Ravens National Football League team.
Randy Smith, of Smith Travel Research, said Baltimore's 2000 occupancy rate was 71.1 percent, compared with 70.0 percent in 1999. "It's not as high as Washington and not increasing quite as fast, but that's still a good occupancy rate," he said. Average room rates are a little cheaper than Washington's, $96.24 for 2000, compared with $89.67 for 1999.
The city has initiated several programs to transform Baltimore into a "24-hour city," the forecast stated. Among these programs are the development of a parking authority that will improve coordination and implementation of parking programs, and an initiative to enhance lighting of storefronts, sidewalks, plazas and alleyways.
A key part of the city's promotional effort, though, is the recent $150 million expansion of the convention center that brings the total size of the facility to 1.25 million square feet. This includes more than 300,000 square feet of contiguous exhibit space. The center has a 36,672-sq.-ft. multi-function ballroom and 54 carpeted meeting rooms that will accommodate up to 1,600 attendees.
Yet, the ability to attract large conventions has been somewhat limited by the city's inability to reserve large blocks of hotel rooms, as well as the lack of a headquarters convention hotel, Ernst & Young said. A number of projects have been announced that could alleviate this situation, however. Among these are a 208-room Marriott Courtyard that opened at the Inner Harbor East in November 2000, and the 750-room Marriott Waterfront Hotel, located across the harbor from the convention center, that opened this month.
The Marriott Waterfront is a 32-story property, offering more than 77,000 square feet of function space on two levels that can be divided into 37 breakout rooms. The ballroom, with 19,360 square feet, is the largest in the city. There is a fully staffed business center located near the meeting facilities.
All guest rooms have dataports and voicemail. Concierge levels and lounges are located on the top three floors with keypad elevator access only. The hotel's 22 suites include a presidential suite located on the top floor with panoramic views of the harbor. The $130 million hotel offers a 230-seat casual restaurant, a lounge and bar and a specialty restaurant. There is an onsite parking garage for more than 600 cars, connected to the hotel by an enclosed, air-conditioned overhead walkway.
The Marriott Waterfront, as of year- end 2000, already had more than 600,000 room nights pre-booked through 2007 at a value of $188 million, according to Mike Waterman, the hotel's director of marketing. "We knew that there was a high demand for hotel and meeting space in Baltimore, but the response from meeting planners has exceeded our expectations," he said. "A large number of these bookings are from organizations that previously wanted to meet in Baltimore but weren't able to because of space limitations."
Among the corporations and associations booked at the hotel so far are Glaxo Wellcome Inc., Deutsch Banc Alex Brown, Smith, Bucklin & Associates and the American Society of Pediatric Hematology & Oncology.
A spokesperson for the Baltimore Area Convention & Visitors Association noted that fundamental to the city's growing appeal is its accessibility. Baltimore-Washington International Airport is upgrading its facilities with a $1.3 billion expansion, and the airport is ranked among the fastest growing in the nation.
The expansion calls for new parking facilities, more gates, larger concourses, moving sidewalks and rail improvements. Baltimore also will receive service from Amtrak's new high-speed Acela Express Service.