Many of you out there may not know this, but a struggle has existed for nearly 30 years now in the city of Dallas. For 30 years people have battled to get an anchor hotel set up in Dallas next to the Dallas Convention Center. An anchor hotel is a hotel built close to a popular convention center with the goal of offering rooms for attendees, planners and exhibitors to the nearby convention center. Due to the size and popularity of the Dallas Convention Center, it is surprising that there is no anchor hotel next to it already. However, all that changes in 2012 when the Omni Dallas Hotel officially opens its doors.
The hotel is said to have a total of 1,001 rooms as well as 110,000 square feet of meeting space that will include two ballrooms and multiple meeting rooms. The new hotel isn’t the only new addition to the Dallas Convention Center area. The center itself is going through a renovation as well. The renovations to the Dallas Convention Center will add on a total of 20,000 extra square feet of exhibit space and will also include improvements to all the existing meeting rooms according to President and CEO of the Dallas Convention & Visitors Bureau Phillip Jones.
The anchor hotel is going to mean big things for the Dallas Convention Center. According to Jones, more than 80 large conventions made it clear that they would be unable to bring their events to the Dallas Convention Center without an anchor hotel. Now that the hotel is a reality, some pretty exciting things have already started to occur. The hotel already has an estimated economic impact of $1.3 billion in new business as well as $1.7 billion in the pipeline. “There are a number of groups we have booked in the last year that are because of the new hotel,” Jones said.
One of the very first groups that will be able to access the hotel in January 2012 is the American Library Association Annual Conference & Exhibition, which attracts more than 10,000 visitors and 17,500 room nights which are worth an estimated $25 million. According to Jones, “ALA booked before the hotel was in place, but certainly they are very keen on using the space. In the coming year”, Jones added, “there are several groups booked, many of them medical, ranging in size from 10,000 to 40,000 attendees.”
“The hotel is absolutely meeting and exceeding our expectations,” Jones said. “It’s not only the hotel; it’s also $12 billion in improvements to the city itself.” According to Jones, the fight to get the hotel up wasn’t easy. There were some pretty staggering obstacles in the way, including a $10 million “negative” ad campaign. “Fortunately, the public now sees the benefits. The community is being very positive, they are seeing the building take shape and impact our skyline.”
The hotel contains 5 restaurants and sports bars that are open to the public and discussions to add even more restaurants, bars, shopping and entertainment to the surrounding area could turn the Omni Dallas Hotel into the hotspot of Dallas.
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