Conventional wisdom...headquarters Hilton opens August 1
By John Temple Ligon
Temple@TheColumbiaStar.com

Hilton Hotel tops out at eight floors.

Bill Dukes, chairman of the Midlands Authority for Conventions, Sports and Tourism, presented to Columbia City Council earlier this month some telling numbers on the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center. The first number in his presentation was also the last number in construction, the final cost figure.

The convention center was completed for $36,987,962.21, and the budgeted (3/19/03) cost was $37,750,000.00, actually leaving money on the table: $762,037.79 in funds remaining after four years.

The Columbia CVB (the convention and visitors bureau) sales department from July '05 to January '06 generated $2,753,363 in economic impact. For the same time frame a year later, from July '06 to January '07, the sales people pushed $7,527,450 onto the local economy, two- to- three times the previous year's performance.

For the fiscal year ending in June '07, the CVB's goal of 45,000 room nights (hotel occupancies) appears achievable. That many room nights, 45,000, translate into an economic impact of $13,500,000, almost doubling again the previous year's performance.

Metropolitan Convention Center is ready for business.

In bookings for the future, for when the convention center headquarters Hilton opens for business with its 222 rooms, the standout so far is the National Hydrogen Association in 2009. The availability of the Hilton is important but not necessarily crucial in that the Gervais Street Hampton Inn holds tight proximity with the convention center. And as the convention center has recently completed its shakedown cruise, its early post- occupancy trials, the facility will be tried and truly marketable about the time the Hilton is open.

As of the first of March, the CVB had sent 108 groups to the new Hilton in the form of qualified sales leads. If the leads turn into bookings, the 108 groups translate into 74,054 room nights of potential business.

Even before the completion of the Hilton, though, the CVB has already scored bookings with the North American Benthological Society (June '07) and the Promise Keepers Men of Integrity (5,000 room nights, August '07). The Governor's Conference on Tourism, the event held last month in Arthur Franklin Cleveland's Marriott in Spartanburg, will come to Columbia, February '08. All told, the CVB has booked 71 meetings so far this year.

The big event, of course, is the opening of the Hilton, and that is expected in the first week of August '07, one week after the opening of the hotel's restaurant, Ruth's Chris Steak House. Ruth's Chris will serve its famous fare of aged beef, but it will also serve the requisite stuff of any first- rate hotel restaurant, to include room service. In other words, one of the best steak houses around here will also be the hotel food vendor at the Hilton.

The Hilton will also serve as a meeting venue, complementing the nearby convention center. The Hilton's main ballroom will seat 300 for banquets, and its Ruth's Chris Steak House will seat a separate 250, part of which is in four private dining rooms.

The Hilton's developer and owner, Windsor/Aughtry of Greenville, owns and operates the Gervais Street Hampton Inn and its 122 rooms, too, for a total offering of 344 hotel rooms equidistant from the convention center, all under the same ownership and management.

Bookings should pick up.