Tourism honchos outline aggressive goals for 2011, including increasing hotel room nights for conventions from 650,000 to 725,000, and targeting leisure travelers from Chicago and the United Kingdom.
Large conventions typically get the most attention, but it’s the smaller meetings that will be critical to ensuring the expanded Indiana Convention Center is adequately occupied.
Three hospitality industry executives are holding down the fort as the ICVA board searches for a new leader to replace outgoing CEO Don Welsh. Directors are on no timetable to name a replacement.
Don Welsh was seen as a revolutionary force as CEO of the Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Association. Now he may be one of its biggest competitors as he takes the top job in Chicago.
Weak economy blamed for 5-percent decline. With Indiana Convention Center expansion set to be complete this month, booking should be on the rise.
As of mid-December, the Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Association had hit about 93 percent of its 2010 goal of booking 650,000 room nights for future conventions. The group is stepping up its efforts to meet the demands of the new JW Marriott hotel and convention center expansion.
Construction on the walkway that will connect the downtown PNC Center with the Indianapolis Artsgarden should begin in March. Plans to pave the gravel parking lots on the former site of Market Square also received approval.
Colfin NW Funding LLC claims in a court filing that it is owed $6.4 million by the borrower that operates the Courtyard By Marriott Hotel Northwest under Indianapolis-based Schahet Hotels Inc.
Developer Debra Stolen Hasbrook found the site at 6520 Westfield Boulevard while running on the Monon Trail.
Unite Here has high hopes, but the industry fears its cost advantage would erode.
The city put up $25 million for the hotel, restaurant and condo development at the corner of Washington and Illinois streets, including $3.75 million in exchange for the economic equivalent of an 8-percent stake.
Six months into a $750,000 plan to increase Hendricks County’s profile as a tourist destination, officials say group travel has doubled and hotel occupancy is up almost 3 percentage points—before an end-of-the-year push to get travelers to “Spend the Holidays in Hendricks County.”
The organization’s annual convention, which runs Wednesday through Saturday, attracted 375 exhibitors, an impressive number considering the tepid economy.
Minneapolis-based hotel chain AmericInn has purchased a Holiday Inn along Interstate 69 in Fishers, giving the company its first Indiana location.
As revenue per room falls, some hotels outside the center city are going on the auction block.
Despite objections, the Metropolitan Development Commission agreed to provide $600,000 in city funds to help build an enclosed pedestrian walkway connecting the downtown PNC Center with the Indianapolis Artsgarden.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s lawsuit against the owners of a Hampton Inn on the east side charges that the hotel treated black housekeepers unfairly.
Officials for Crowne Plaza Hotel downtown said a $400,000 enclosed connector linking the hotel to the convention center will be done in February.
It doesn’t open until Feb. 4, but downtown’s JW Marriott hotel has already booked 100,000 room nights for 2011—more than any other local hotel—an achievement drawing both praise and concern from others in the hospitality industry.
A long-running legal battle among members of the Lee family of North Vernon over the valuation of their hotel chain has come to an end.
