From historic preservationists to county commissioners to multi-colored sneaker-wearing marathon runners, the halls and conference rooms of the Savannah International Trade and Convention Center overflowed with activity last year.
That trend will likely continue, according to a new report.
Destination marketing organization Visit Savannah released its year-end report Friday confirming 2014 as its strongest future convention bookings year on record. Total hotel room bookings in 2014 amounted to 202,780, an increase of nearly 20 percent from the previous year, which had 169,383 room nights.
Visit Savannah President Joseph Marinelli attributed the growth to a number of factors, including an improving economy,
increased marketing and, in particular, Savannah’s rising reputation.
“Savannah’s growing popularity as a visitor destination helps us,” he said. “We like to trumpet all these accolades … imagine if you are a convention planner and you’re sitting on an airplane and open up a magazine and see Savannah listed as a top destination. I think that growing awareness helps the decision makers.”
Another boost has been the availability of hotel rooms. Of the approximately 5,000 hotel rooms within the Historic District, the big four hotel chains — The Westin, Hyatt Regency, Marriott and Hilton Desoto — can usually commit about 1,000-1,500 to a convention.
Marinelli said he and his team meet every fall with the leadership of these hotels and the convention center to get on the same page about what times of year are slower, and then they orchestrate efforts to lure more conventions year-round.
“When a convention planner makes the final decision for where they’re going to go, they’re looking at it from a couple of perspectives — do they have the hotels rooms, do they have the facilities to meet our requirements and is it an affordable for us to go to?” he said.
He said the addition of new retail on Broughton Street and new restaurants adds to the sell. Convention planners try to pick desirable destinations because these gatherings are typically their biggest revenue source of the year. The bigger the attendance, the better their revenue stream. The National Trust for Historic Preservation had its annual conference in November in Savannah, its first time back since 1998, attracting more than 2,000 attendees.
Looking to the future, top bookings include the 2015 edition of the Rock ‘n Roll Marathon and the June 2018 annual meeting of the National Beta Club. Meanwhile, the American College of Nurse Midwives is having its convention for the first time in Savannah in May 2018.
Compared to when he started eight years ago, Marinelli said, Savannah is booking far more national associations than it used to.
“It used to be all Georgia associations, and today, you see five of the 10 bookings are national groups,” he said. “We still have all of that business, but our sales effort is much more diversified today.”
Together, the top 10 future bookings of 2014 are projected to generate $19.5 million in visitor spending over the next few years, according to Visit Savannah.
In addition to a staff of seven dedicated to convention and sports bookings, Marinelli’s budget for this area has increased 8-10 percent over each of the last two years. He said this helps them spread the word about Savannah even farther.
“We’re doing more social media in the meetings and convention space, more electronic marketing to meeting and convention planners and because our budget has grown, we’re able to go to more industry trade shows,” he said.
Top 10 Visit Savannah Convention Bookings this year
1. Competitor Group International (Rock ‘n Roll Marathon) … Nov. 2015 … 25,948 rooms
2. National Beta Club … June 2018 … 8,122 rooms
3. Georgia Municipal Association … June 2018 … 5,654 rooms
4. Georgia Municipal Association … June 2019 … 5,654 rooms
5. American College of Nurse Midwives … May 2018 … 3,910
6. International Association of Emergency Managers … Oct. 2016 … 3,832 rooms
7. International Association of Emergency Managers … Nov. 2019 … 3,907 rooms
8. Association of County Commissioners of GA … May 2016 … 3,780 rooms
9. National Agricultural Aviation Association … Dec. 2017 … 3,464 rooms
10. Rockdale Gymnastics … March 2015 … 3,116 rooms
Source: Visit Savannah