A new County Hotel is being looked at even though it could cause the
Grand America and others to go under. I have read the past reports sent to
the Convention Center about the proposed County Hotel. It was pretty
obvious that this connection doesn't work and that the hotels as a whole
think the County is competing with them instead of working with them.
I
would like to see the Salt Lake Convention and Visitors Bureau work
with the existing hotel owners instead of trying to compete with them.
They almost ignore both the Little America and Grand America Hotel and
that you can ride TRAX free from the north convention center exit to
those hotels.
The hotels near the Salt Palace Convention Center
should be able to market their individual hotels and the fact that they
have all the convention and meeting room space that someone could want
with the convention center. The convention center should be able to
market with the surrounding hotels to utilize their meeting rooms and
convention space if more space is needed.
There are at least 2 adjacent Hotels to the Salt Palace. The 381 room Radisson Hotel Salt Lake City Downtown recently spent about $7 Million upgrading their hotel.
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/money/54557826-79/salt-lake-radisson-hotel.html.csp
There is also the Salt Lake Marriott Downtown at City Creek across the street. I believe it has at least 510 rooms with a complete renovation in the last 5 years.
One could easily be the "Convention Hotel", and create the ability for someone to check off that box on their decision sheet on where to have their next event.
For the few days a couple of times a year where the hotels are too full, why don't we do what we did for the Olympics? We have brand new condos right next door. How many would rent them out for a few days twice a year? That would have to be coordinated, but could help.
For those that really want the 5 Star Hotel, we already have one of the best, The Grand America, within a free TRAX ride, or coordinated private transport from the Convention Center.
We don't need to pump $100 Million (or even $33 M) of tax payer money into a new Hotel to compete with the private sector, or provide that kind of funding for a private hotel competing unfairly.
