Because, Look, North Texas Ain't Got Time to Wait for a Convention Center Hotel

How anxious are Dallas, Fort Worth, Irving and Arlington about attracting conventions this year? Anxious enough to band together to create a coalition, in conjunction with the Hotel Association of North Texas and American Airlines, to offer deep hotel and transportation discounts to groups willing to travel and meet here...

By Robert Wilonsky

July 9, 2009

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How anxious are Dallas, Fort Worth, Irving and Arlington about attracting conventions this year? Anxious enough to band together to create a coalition, in conjunction with the Hotel Association of North Texas and American Airlines, to offer deep hotel and transportation discounts to groups willing to travel and meet here before December 31. The Dallas Convention & Visitors Bureau just sent word of the launch of DFWPromise.com, where, among other things, out-of-towners are being told that even if they don't fill up all the rooms they've booked for a particular confab, well, they won't be charged the so-called "attrition rate." There are other discounts being offered as well, including one for groups flying American.

"Our cities were not going to wait for the economy to improve," says HANT chairman Tim Sullivan in the press release. "The North Texas regional hospitality community has combined our time, energy, cooperative funding and ideas to help meeting planners nationwide bring their meetings to Dallas in 2009. What's more, every major hotel brand in the four participating cities have signed up representing every tier of services -- luxury, economy, full-service and extended stay."

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