That will be a turnaround for the area which claims to offer thehighest number of economically-priced rooms in the nation,according to the Orlando-Orange County Convention and VisitorsBureau. The turnaround is happening as the four million-sf OrangeCounty Convention Center draws more business travelers looking fornewer hotels with five star-like appeal.

Orlando doesn't have a five-star hotel yet, but analysts say itcould happen next year or in 2002 when a half dozen top drawer innsare scheduled to open their doors. Among them is developer RichardKessler's $37 million, 250 room Westin Grand Bohemian across fromDowntown's City Hall. Scheduled to open in March, the GrandBohemian will charge an average $200 a night. But that may not beenough to break even unless the hotel is full every night, cautionsome hotel consultants.

Another top-of-the-line inn venture hotel mavens are watching isMarriott International's two-hotel, 1,584-room complex planned forthe currently remote intersection of John Young Parkway and CentralFlorida Parkway in south Orange County. Analysts are monitoringthis particular project because Atlanta-based Ritz-Carlton HotelCo. will be operating but not owning one of the hotels comprising584 rooms at estimated average nightly rates of $350. Marriott willoperate its own 1,000-room hotel next door which will offer 100,000sf of meeting space, the largest product of its kind within anOrlando hotel.