According to WSCTC marketing information, the center held 39national conventions in 1998, with 200,644 delegates. Of thatnumber, 190,942 attendees were from out of state. Regional eventsbrought another 278,062 people to the facility. When its expansionis completed and operating in the summer of 2001, out-of-statedelegates are estimated to increase annually by 70,000, bringingvisitors requiring accommodations to 260,000. Once again, the WSCTCwill be among the top 50 convention centers in the US.

Andrew Olson, president of the Seattle-based Chambers Group,which is in the business of conducting feasibility studiesinvolving hotels, says convention planners often want thecapability of housing the majority of their attendees at one hotel.Christinson agrees, and he bemoans the fact that events now mayhave to use two, and sometimes up to four hotels, to accommodateall of their people. The convention president says construction ofthe new rooms at the Sheraton and Elliott will be a "real boon" forthe WSCTC as it will "make the marketing of the destination muchstronger."

Following several years of off-and-on-again plans to add to theexisting 840-rooms of the Seattle Sheraton Hotel and Towers, thehotel formally entered the design phase by applying with the City'sDepartment of Design, Construction and Land Use for an early designguidance meeting, set for early January. Sources say the Sheraton,recently renovated to the tune of $14 million, became more seriousabout adding the rooms after the WSCTC broke ground on itsexpansion in January 1999. No start date has been set for the new35-story tower.