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Hosting a citywide convention often requires five or more years of planning and coordinating with multiple hotels throughout the region. Thus, San Diego's hotel community is one of the Convention Center's closest partners and plays an important role in the overall well-being of San Diego's convention and meeting industry. More importantly, hotel room night bookings fuel important tax revenues to pay for city services and also keep San Diego's hotel occupancy levels up all year round, not just during peak travel seasons. This year approximately 735,097 contracted room nights were generated resulting in a welcome 3.6 percent uptick in room night usage over FY10 and an 8.6 percent rise above FY09.
Among the challenges facing our industry is tracking room nights that are booked outside of the room block pre-arranged by the convention organizer. Frequently attendees book through loyalty programs or use Internet-based travel reservation sites. Studies indicate 40 percent or more of rooms are booked by attendees on their own. When this undercounting is factored in, the total room nights booked is significantly higher.
