By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
Despite two new hotels coming to the north end of St. Joseph and the new downtown hotel under construction, there is still a need for more rooms in the city.
Executive Director of the Convention and Visitors Bureau Marci Bennett says there is not only a food desert in St. Joseph, there is also a hotel desert.
"In that, we do not have enough rooms to accommodate the people that are coming here," Bennett tells KFEQ Hotline host Barry Birr. "Our occupancies are so high you can't get a hotel room in St. Joseph right now for less than $200 a night, it's because we don't have supply."
Bennet also says along with a need for rooms, there is a big need for event spaces.
"Either up north or at the other group of hotels down on Fredrick Avenue area, and that's evidenced by we had our Sports Hall of Fame event last Sunday and we had over 400 people at Stoney Creek and there was standing room only and there was no parking," Bennett points out.
Bennett says if that event were to continue to grow, there is not enough event space in the city available for it.
Convention and Visitors Bureau spokesperson Christian Mengel says while some St. Joseph residents might be disappointed when they learn another hotel is being built, he suggests that should be viewed as economic growth. Mengel says hotel rooms are necessary when the city hosts events such as the Division Two Women's Elite Eight.
"That was such a great event, we were such great hosts, and they can't wait to come back here, but we almost couldn't have that if for example one hotel had to shut down because they had to redo a whole floor or something if that happened, we might have lost it," Mengel explains. "Because we're that close on the edge of not being able to host those events, and the more hotels we get, the more event space we get, the bigger, the more we can bring and that's just more dollars back into Buchanan County."
Two new hotels are under construction in the north end of St. Joseph at the North Village Shoppes, while work is progressing on the downtown hotel near the Civic Arena.