Month of June Shatters Event Booking Records in Boston
July 9, 2014
June was a very good month for the city of Boston, with the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority signing 38 contracts for events, breaking the previous best-month record of 30 events booked in December 2005.
The events signed in June are expected to generate 472,787 future hotel room nights in the city, which also tops the December 2007 previous high month of 435,484 room nights by 8.5 percent.
“As we celebrate the 10 year anniversary of the BCEC this summer, it’s nice to also celebrate yet another record-breaker,” said James E. Rooney, executive director of the MCCA.
He added, “We are booking business in a word-of-mouth industry, and our reputation for exceptional and knowledgeable customer service has put Boston in high demand among meeting planners. In addition, talk of a BCEC expansion and additional hotel rooms in the South Boston Waterfront have created a real Boston buzz in the industry. When you add the powerhouse sales team that is the Boston Convention Marketing Center to that mix, you get the kind of booking results we’ve seen this year.”
To be included as a “booked” piece of business, an event must have a signed contract and deposit with the MCCA, as well as at least one signed hotel contract.
Fiscal Year 2014 was a good one overall, with the city booking 98 future events at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center and the John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center.
Of the 98 events, 61 are city-wide conventions with more than 1,000 room nights. The events booked in FY14 will take place as soon as this year and as far out as 2032 and are expected to generate more than 798,000 hotel room nights for Boston, according to MCCA officials.
There also are 12 more significant events that have signed “contingency contracts” that require an expansion and/or an additional headquarters hotel in the South Boston Waterfront to be completed by a certain date in order for the event to happen in Boston.
To date, these contingency contracts would account for an additional 328,737 future hotel room nights and include a major global security conference called ASIS in 2024 and the American Heart Association in 2021.
The Massachusetts State House of Representatives and State Senate both approved a funding bill that authorizes the expansion of the BCEC, which will include a headquarter hotel, more than 300,000 square feet of exhibit space, a ballroom and 125,000 square feet of meeting space, without the need for new fees or taxes.
The bill is currently in conference committee and MCCA officials said they are hopeful that it will get to the Governor’s desk for approval by the end of this month.
Some of the events that were booked in June are international ones, including Society for Worldwide Interbank (SIBOS), an event that signed a contract for 2020 and the International Chiefs of Police will be heading to the city in 2024.
A few other large events that are booked in future years are the American Society for Radiation Oncology, with more than 38,000 room nights in 2026, and the International Foundation Employee Benefits, with more than 24,000 room nights in 2023.
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