PITTSBURGH
VisitPittsburgh, the Pittsburgh CVB, is reviving a campaign to attach
a mega-hotel to the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, according to
The
Pittsburgh Tribune. Such a move is the only way the city can level the playing
field against other cities fighting for conventions, said the bureau's CEO.
"People will say to us, 'You have 4,000 rooms downtown, isn't that good
enough?' The answer is, yes but we're competing against other cities and we
rank amongst the bottom in terms of concentrations of hotel rooms right around
the convention center," said Craig Davis, who took over as
VisitPittsburgh's president and CEO in March.
The 616-room Westin Convention Center Hotel, which is connected via elevated
walkway to the convention center, is the closest option downtown.
Another hotel of 700 rooms at the foot of the convention center would offer
a complex of more than 1,300 rooms, enough to make a substantial room block
available to groups, VisitPittsburgh contended.