Hotel occupancy numbers are approaching pre-recession levels in New England’s unofficial capital, and the Greater Boston area is responding to the demand with a spate of new hotel projects. Other infrastructure is also coming on-line to serve meetings, conventions and trade show clients who compete for space with Boston’s many leisure and business travelers.
“What’s interesting about the demand side for Boston and Cambridge is that since 2000, when occupancy numbers were about 79 percent, we have added 5,400 hotel rooms,” says Patrick Moscaritolo, president and CEO of the Greater Boston CVB. “Yet demand is back to the same level it was before we added that inventory.”
Boston’s hotel room night demand is evenly distributed among three groups, according to Moscaritolo: domestic leisure travelers, corporate and business travelers, and meetings. Room revenue for the Boston-Cambridge region is expected to reach an all-time high of over $1.2 billion for 2012.
Boston
There are nearly two dozen new hotel projects in motion around Greater Boston to keep pace with the demand. Some are under construction, some will soon break ground, others are in the planning stages.
Projects under way include a mix of chain hotels, boutique properties and extended-stay facilities, and they have the potential for adding as many as 2,700 hotel rooms in the next three to four years. More than half of the new rooms are planned for the South Boston Waterfront District near the Boston Convention & Exposition Center (BCEC).
The Massachusetts Convention Center Authority (MCCA), the BCEC’s owner and operator, recently acquired 5.6 acres of land near the convention center for two hotels of 400 to 500 rooms each. These hotels will open in 2015 and boost the existing inventory of 1,700 guest rooms within walking distance of the BCEC. In all, the MCCA has authorized construction of up to seven hotels near the convention center. Also planned is a 320-room expansion of the Westin Boston Waterfront, the convention center’s headquarters hotel.
Opening next spring on the waterfront is the new 120-room Marriott Residence Inn Seaport as that district’s first boutique hotel. A $509 million, 135-room luxury Autograph Collection by Marriott hotel is also slated for the waterfront district. It will include a rooftop terrace overlooking Boston Harbor and the downtown skyline.
A casino resort for East Boston is also coming, Moscaritolo says.
“The state legislature authorized three casino licenses for the state, and Boston has one of those,” he says. “So far, Caesars Entertainment is the only one bidding for the city, and they have teamed up with Suffolk Downs owners to build a resort complex only 12 minutes from the BCEC parking lot. PageBreak
“The racetrack has operated since the 1930s, and they have great transit access, parking and other infrastructure that’s needed for the racetrack,” he adds. “So to provide a 350-room hotel with the potential for another tower is a good addition close to the convention center.”
Moscaritolo says the new complex will likely open in 2016.
With all the demand for Boston spaces, there’s the inevitable question of facility tax and room rate increases. Moscaritolo says there is discussion about expanding the BCEC and how to pay for it.
“If this goes forward, legislators will be looking for ways to raise the revenue, and the city’s visitors are often the target,” he says. “Our bed tax hasn’t risen since the BCEC opened in 2004, but what has increased is our meal and restaurant tax— about 1 percent. Our total tax is 14.45 percent, which puts us somewhere in the top 20 cities, but if legislators decide to fund the center’s expansion with more tax, they might push us into the top 10.”
Room rates have about topped out, he adds, but industry forecasters say rates are likely to rise 4 to 5 percent in 2013.
Hotels aren’t the only waterfront district newcomers. The dining scene is ramping up too, with additions such as Legal Harborside, which is Legal Sea Foods’ flagship property on the Boston Waterfront with three different concepts under one roof. The first floor is a nod to heritage and casual fare, the second floor features contemporary fine dining, and the third floor promenade deck has a four-season rooftop lounge with a retractable glass room and walls.
Other dining establishments are also popping up, including 606 Congress, a Seaport food emporium dedicated to local and sustainable seafood. Meanwhile, Papagayo serves freshly prepared Mexican cuisine and more than 125 tequilas, and just steps from the BCEC, Empire is a boutique Asian restaurant and lounge that accommodates up to 650 guests for private events.
Elsewhere in the city, there are more flavorful lures as part of Boston’s food truck revolution. The gourmet food trucks are situated at popular places such as Copley Square, City Hall Plaza and the Sowa Open Market.
The city also continues to add various walking tours focusing on food, chocolate, wine and beer. Visitors may do the Boston Chowda & Seafood Tour on the waterfront, or discover the Foods of the Freedom Trail with Yummy Walks. Bites of Boston’s South End Food Tour combines historical, cultural, architectural and culinary attractions. The list goes on: Old Town Trolley Chocolate Tours, the North End Italian Markets, Chinatown’s Asian Markets, the Sam Adams Brewery Tour, Taza Chocolate Factory Tours and The Great Boston Cupcake Crawl.
Though the city is rolling forward with new-builds all over, it also has kept an eye on preserving its formidable heritage—a big visitor draw. PageBreak
Saunders Hotel Group, owner of The Lenox, with its leading environmentally sound yet historically authentic infrastructure, has a longstanding commitment to preservation and sustainable redevelopment of historic city buildings. The company owns and operates The Back Bay Hotel (formerly the historic Boston Police Headquarters) and is transforming the former John Hancock Hotel and Conference Center into the luxury Boston Common Hotel. The new property will feature 220 guest rooms.
Cambridge
Sometimes called Boston’s Left Bank, Cambridge is the location of Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and multiple high-tech and bio-tech companies. Cambridge’s five public squares—Central, Kendall, Harvard, Inman and Lechmere—all function as neighborhood centers, and their diversity is popular with visitors who enjoy the artful, bohemian side of the Charles River in restaurants, clubs, and shops.
Cambridge always leads when it comes to the cutting edge, and its energy inspires productive meetings. With sweeping views of the Boston skyline, this historic city has a contemporary vibe that injects a vibrancy into meeting programs.
The Cambridge Conference Collection provide a combined total of nearly 3,500 rooms and 102,000 square feet of meeting space in seven hotels within a two-mile radius of one another. The nearby Hynes Convention Center and the Museum of Science offer an additional 76,000 square feet of prime meeting and reception space within a short walk or five-minute drive.
Beyond Boston
North of Boston is a region brimming with maritime history in the streets, museums and neighborhoods of Salem, Marblehead, Gloucester and Rockport—all 18th century enclaves of Yankee coastal culture.
Locals say they have “a story in every mile,” and that includes many in the Salem Witch Museum. Saugus Iron Works, a National Park Service site, relates stories of ironworkers and Scottish prisoners of war who laid foundations for America’s iron and steel industries in the 17th century.
Groups that meet North of Boston have more than 3,500 guest rooms and meeting space for up to 1,200 people to consider, including The Boston Marriott Peabody, just 20 minutes north of downtown Boston and the airport.
A primary birthplace of American liberty was Lexington and Concord in the Greater Merrimack Valley. It was the “shot heard ’round the world” on April 19, 1775, that launched the revolution. Minute Man National Historical Park is a popular stop.
The city of Lowell was important in the American Industrial Revolution, which occurred inside its 19th century textile miles that operated along the banks of the Merrimack and Concord Rivers. Lowell National Historical Park tells that story in its canals, interpretive tours and an exhibit devoted to immigrants and others who performed factory labor.
The Greater Merrimack Valley CVB promotes 230,000 square feet of meeting space for groups of up to 8,000 attendees. In addition to hotel spaces and ballrooms, groups can meet at the Tsongas Center at UMass Lowell, the historic Lowell Memorial Auditorium and Durgin Hall at UMass Lowell.
Ruth A. Hill is a frequent contributor to Meetings Focus East.
