Chicago's hotel occupancy rates continue to grow along with the city's meetings and convention business at McCormick Place.
Fortunately, Chicago's current downtown hotel inventory of more than 30,000 rooms is poised for an aggressive growth spurt over
the next three years. An estimated 3,000 new and varied hotel rooms are scheduled for completion by 2009. By comparison,
Chicago's hotel inventory grew by approximately 5,000 rooms over the last ten years.
Hotel projects currently under construction include the 183-room Elysian Hotel & Private Residences; the 140-room Hampton Inn;
the 286-room Trump Tower Chicago Hotel; the 253-room Springhill Suites, and the 200-room Staybridge Suites.
Projects scheduled to begin construction within the next year include the 327-room Blackstone Hotel;
250-room Mandarin Oriental, and the first U.S.-based, 200-room Shangri-la Hotel. A handful of other projects
are in the early planning phase.
The Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority (MPEA) recently announced it is exploring the possibility of adding
as many as 600 rooms to the existing 800-room Hyatt Regency McCormick Place adjacent to the convention center.
Industry experts contend the growth is timely based on the health of the city's meetings industry, steadily increasing hotel
occupancy, and growing visitor volumes.
"New construction of upscale and luxury hotel units are part of an overall rapidly growing trend in major convention cities," says Ted Mandigo,
a Chicago-based hospitality consultant.
Another growing trend is condo conversion, which is essentially the sale of individual hotel rooms to independent owners.
As of press time, this recent trend is happening at two properties in downtown Chicago, including the Amalfi Hotel and Hotel 71.
According to Mandigo, these conversions are not expected to significantly impact downtown Chicago's hotel inventory based on
the thousands of new hotel rooms coming online over the next three years.
Chicago is a leading convention city with the majority of its hotel inventory located in downtown Chicago and only minutes from McCormick Place
and Navy Pier.
The city offers 800 rooms within one mile of McCormick Place, more than 3,500 rooms within two miles, and more than 20,000 rooms within three miles. Navy Pier has even more hotel rooms in close proximity, with 17,000 rooms within one mile, and 26,000 rooms within two miles.