Tallahassee Steps Up Its Conference Space Capacity

With new meeting space, a new conference hotel and the same strategic location that caused it to be chosen as Florida's capital more than a century ago, Tallahassee's group travel industry is on the rise.

As a destination that offers more than 5,000 hotel rooms in 56 properties with an average rate of about $45, the panhandle city offers a viable alternative to some of the more popular locations in the Sunshine State.

"There's always going to be a lot of meeting activity because this is the capital of one of the most populous states in the nation," said Tracy Louthain, a spokeswoman for the Tallahassee Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, "but it's becoming increasingly popular with non-governmental groups as well."

The latest improvement is the opening of the Doubletree Tallahassee, which took over an existing 244-room hotel and is conducting a complete renovation, set for completion this summer. The hotel offers 5,000 square feet of meeting space and targets conferences of up to 400 attendees. The hotel is also close to the site of the new Capital Cultural Center, which will offer about 40,000 square feet of exhibit space when it opens in 1998.

Also nearby in downtown Tallahassee is the Tallahassee-Leon County Civic Center, with 70,000 square feet of convention space and a 40,000-square-foot exhibit hall. A second facility, the August B. Turnbull III Florida State Conference Center, has 24,200 square feet of meeting space in five rooms, a 400-seat auditorium and a 300-seat dining facility.

In addition to downtown venues, airport meetings have become popular with the recent completion of the Dale Mabry Conference Center at Tallahassee Regional Airport. The facility offers more than 10,000 square feet of meeting space in six meeting rooms.