Why does Jefferson City need another hotel and conference center?
With our current facilities, Jefferson City can accommodate conference/convention groups of 350 people maximum comfortably. A new facility of 36,000-40,000 sq. ft. of meeting/exhibit space would allow the city to go to the next level of bringing in new conferences/conventions into our city and keep them as repeat customers. Building a larger facility will bring new business here, which means new dollars, translating into new tax revenues.
Jefferson City is home to more than 125 state associations and state government, all of which host conferences. Unfortunately, these conferences are being held outside of Jefferson City due to lack of enough space under one roof to accommodate their meeting/exhibit space requirements. We're losing this business to Columbia, Lake of the Ozarks, Springfield, St. Charles, and Branson. The proposed conference center is centrally and conveniently located a short distance from the Missouri State Capitol, accessible by Highway 54 and Highway 50 for all in-state travelers. The Columbia Regional Airport also provides direct flights to Chicago and Dallas. The conference center's location makes it easily accessible for an organization's event attendees.
Will the development of this hotel and conference center increase my taxes?
No. A 7% lodging tax has existed since 2011, which is transferred to visitors staying in our local hotels (not city residents). Four percent of this tax is earmarked for the conference center fund. On average, this conference center fund collects $81K per month.
How many hotel rooms do we have in Jefferson City? How much meeting space?
Jefferson City currently has 14 hotels with 1,382 rooms. In the past 10 years, Jefferson City has only net gained 20 new rooms to the city's hotel inventory.
As of November 2015, Jefferson City lost 22,000 sq. ft. of meeting space when the Truman Hotel closed, which is when we started losing in the conference/convention market. With the development of Holiday Inn & Suites (2019) and Courtyard by Marriott (2020), we gained 5,178 sq. ft. between the two new properties, bringing our net loss to 16,822 sq. ft.
Do people still travel for conferences since Covid?
Absolutely. Despite ending 2022 still 29% below 2019 levels, transient and group business travel made considerable progress in 2023. An observed trend is business travel is slowly, but steadily, recovering from the global pandemic (U.S. Travel Association). Jefferson City has experienced this lodging trend from 2022-2023 with increases in occupancy (+2.2%), average daily rate (+4.9%) and revenue per available room (+7.2%).
Occupancy - calculated by Rooms Sold/Rooms Available = Occupancy
Average Daily Rate (ADR) - calculated by Rooms Revenue/Rooms Sold = Avg. Daily Rate
Revenue Per Available Room (RevPar)* - calculated by Total Room Revenue/Total Number of Available Rooms
*The gold standard metric around the industry
Outside of conferences/conventions, what other business will this hotel and conference center draw?
The proposed conference space of 36,000-40,000 sq. ft. will be flexible to accommodate meetings/meals, tradeshows, and live entertainment. During low-demand periods, the facility could be used for local events. The second largest potential clientele are sporting events!
In 2023, sports tourism in our city generated more than $9M. These events take place all over town at different facilities like ones owned by JC Parks, Lincoln University, Jefferson City School District, Helias Catholic High School, and Special Olympics. With a new sports complex and pickle ball courts expected to be added to our facility inventory in 2024-2025, an increase in visitors and spending is expected.
The sports complex already has 35 events scheduled for 2024. Four of the events will bring in 130 teams with 80 of those teams requiring overnight accommodations. It is estimated that a 1-day tournament can generate revenue of up to $100K for our local economy. A 2-3 day tournament can gross up to an estimated $750K-$1M.*
*Source: Destinations International Event Impact Calculator
