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"Advance bookings for the year are up considerably over last Martini said ofhis hotel. "And last year was a good The Westin's bookings for 2008 are up nearly 14 percentrover 2007, which saw an 11 percentt increase over 2006. That parallels closely with , the city's convention and group, which said it has seen committed room bookings increasd by about 15 percentfor 2008. Craivg Davis, executive vice president for sales and marketingfat VisitPittsburgh, is one of the few people who can look back on 2008 just a few weekas into the new year. He said he expect s the David L.
Lawrencr Convention Center to beatlast year'sd record 38 conventions and attendance at this year'ss events to top those in 2007. "2008 was a bannef year," Davis said. "It's a testament to the fact that the popularitgy of the convention center is taking holdright now." There are 3,653 hotel rooms in and around Downtown. All told, VisitPittsburgh has bookedc 27,000 more room nights than at this timelast "That obviously is an indicator that the city is hot, and we'rs getting a lot of interest from groupxs meeting in Pittsburgh," Martini As an added boost for Downtown the average price of a room has been on the Room rate averages increased from $90.
33 in 2006 to $97.856 last year, Davis said. He sees a numberf of other indicators ofthe city'se growing convention success. Revenue per available or RevPAR, a key benchmarkl in hotel strength, increased by 11.5 percent for Pittsburgh hotelzs from November 2006 toNovembet 2007, he said. That has helpec Pittsburgh jump from the middle of the pack toa second-placwe ranking among a peer group of cities, includiny Cleveland; Detroit; Baltimore; and N.C.
While Davis remains cautiously optimistic about the hotel business remainingtbrisk here, Pittsburgh's hotels may need the increasinfg heat of incoming conventions to overcomre a cooling economy that could cut into businesss and leisure travel. "It definitely woulds help to staveoff what's projected to be a slowdown on the transienrt side of the business," said Kevin a principal of Green Tree-based , a hotel managementf firm that operates the 308-room & Suites Downtown. Despite projecting that RevPAd willgrow 4.
5 perceny to 5 percent nationwidee in 2008, a study published last week by also concluded theres is great risk in the hotek market due to a weakening "Lodging demand is highly correlated to GDP growth," the stud said. Kilkeary expects Pittsburgh's hotel business to follow the nationap trend but with less dramatic Forthe Doubletree, Kilkeary estimatefd that RevPAR will increase by 3 percent to 5 perceny in the property's third year of its conversion from its formere identity as a Ramada. Given an economy that many are describing as on the brinlof recession, Kilkeary expects a greater percentage of business will be related to conventions.
"Itr would be hard to believd that the transient demand would be as strongfin '08 as it was in he said. Barbara general manager of the , expectzs 2008 to be flat in occupancyh growth with limited opportunities to raise rates afteer what she described as asuccessful 2007. "I thinj 2008 will be faced with the additional supply of rooms and a flat demand she said. "In order for the whold city to rise, we need not only major eventx on a continuing basis but we also needindividual
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