Why Convention Hotels Are Rising Rapidly

ATLANTA—There are several cities across the country that are developing convention hotels to foster urban renewal and stay competitive with other markets. How much of this is trickling down to Atlanta and the greater Southeast?

GlobeSt.com caught up with Manny Dominguez, principal of Cooper Carry's Hospitality Specialty Practice Group, to get his thoughts on the topic. You can also read the first two parts of this interview: Can Atlanta Hotels Meet the Demand? and How Millennials Are Impacting Hotel Design.

GlobeSt.com: Often times, public money is flowing into hotels with convention space. Are you seeing this happen in metro Atlanta? 

Dominguez: Atlanta is definitely expanding its convention hotel capacity. Currently there are several convention-conference centers and hotel efforts in the metro area.

For example, Cooper Carry is currently designing The Hotel at Avalon and conference center in Alpharetta, which is funded through a public private partnership with the City. We have also seen efforts in Cobb and Gwinnett counties for convention hotels.

The latest is the proposed 800-room World Congress Convention hotel near the new Falcons Stadium. And Cobb County will have a new Omni hotel because of the new Braves Stadium. Cooper Carry has been involved in 14 convention hotel projects around the US and most all of them have been funded through a public private partnership because these projects create local economic opportunity. 

GlobeSt.com: Is this trend happening in any other major markets in the Southeast? 

Dominguez: Almost every regional market is taking steps to strengthen their convention and conference facilities. New and renovated hotels play a big part in attracting new business for cities.

For example, in Charleston, South Carolina, we recently completed the dual-branded Hyatt House Hyatt Place hotel on Upper King Street. The new hotel comes as part of an overall effort to grow Charleston and offer a diversity of hotel products and facilities that will attract tourism and economic growth to the area.