Business View Magazine - September 2016 95
lates that there were several hotels planned for con-
struction in order to accommodate the expected in-
crease in attendees at the larger meetings and events.
“Then in 2008 through 2010, with the downturn in the
economy, the funding fell through for many of these
projects,” he states. “We went through a period where
we had a nice, new, larger convention center, but
didn’t have large hotels surrounding it to handle the in-
crease in sleeping rooms that were required. Now that
the economy has turned around again, we’ve got three
hotels on the drawing board, two of which are prob-
ably about halfway done. One is a 150-room Kimpton
Hotel, located about 3 blocks away, that we anticipate
opening in the spring of 2017. We then have another
150-room Andaz by Hyatt product - also slated to open
in 2017. Virgin Airlines is also looking to open a third
hotel, right downtown, which will be about three blocks
away.”
In addition to the new hotels about to open, Leson touts
the Convention Center’s other advantages: “We’re one
of the few convention centers in the country that of-
fers a fully carpeted exhibit hall. That’s one of our big-
gest selling points. We also stress our location. We’re
about one and a half miles from the Palm Springs
International Airport; we’re three blocks away from a
downtown area that has restaurants, attractions, and
nightlife. We call ourselves ‘The Meeting Oasis.’ It’s a
great place to get some work done, but also to go out
and experience the natural beauty of the canyons and
the mountains.”
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