May 7--Seven months and $2 million later, the Fort Worth Convention & Visitors Bureau is turning the city into convention heaven.

More than 162,000 room nights have been booked for meetings in anticipation of three new or renovated hotels surrounding the downtown convention center being completed in the next year, bureau President David DuBois said Tuesday.

The hotels, including the Omni Fort Worth, which is expected to open in January, are adding more than 1,000 rooms to the downtown area. And although that means there are more rooms to fill with visitors, DuBois said the bureau has attracted large state and national conventions that had not been able to come to Fort Worth before.

"Sixty percent of our year is done, and we've already exceeded in bookings what we did in our best year ever, in a 12-month period," said DuBois, who briefed the Fort Worth City Council on the bookings Tuesday.

Getting ready

Last year, the bureau got the city to invest an additional $2 million into its annual budget so it could hire five convention salespeople, an assistant for them and an Internet marketing manager.

Their goal was to book 250,000 definite room nights, which is 100,000 more than the city has ever booked.

DuBois said he has set a high goal because, with new and renovated properties opening this year and next, his staff had more hotel rooms to fill.

This year, the Hilton Fort Worth will complete its $14 million in renovations, and the Sheraton Fort Worth, with 430 rooms, will reopen. In January, the Omni Fort Worth across the street from the convention center will open to host its first convention.

'A lot more attractive'

With hotels, restaurants and shopping all within walking distance of the convention center, Fort Worth is becoming more attractive to meetings that need 1,000 to 2,000 hotel rooms for participants.

"All six downtown hotels are either freshly renovated or brand-new construction," said Larry Auth, director of sales and marketing for Omni Fort Worth. "Fort Worth has a clean, crisp new look, and meeting planners are taking hold of that."

When it opens in 2009, the Omni will have seven restaurants ranging from a Starbucks to a Bob's Steak and Chop House. It will also assume the catering functions for the convention center, giving meeting planners a one-stop shopping experience, Auth said.

While the Omni and the Sheraton provide new competition to older hotels in the market, including the Hilton Fort Worth, formerly the Radisson, the other downtown hotels can provide rooms for large conventions that won't fit under one roof.

"We've become a lot more attractive to a lot of other conventions that we weren't able to get prior to these conversions," said Stan Kennedy, general manager of the Hilton Fort Worth.

Looking ahead

Some of the new convention business includes the Texas Medical Association in 2010 and the Texas Apartment Association in 2011.

The bureau also booked for 2010 the convention of the Army Aviation Association, which came to Fort Worth until it outgrew the city. That meeting uses 2,500 rooms a night, and the group wants to return to the city every four years, DuBois said.

A third of conventions the bureau sends formal proposals choose Fort Worth, he said.

Other positive signs:

The city's room tax is up 13 percent to about $8,000 in the first seven months of fiscal 2008 compared with the same period in fiscal 2007.

The bureau's marketing team has achieved 89 percent of its media value goal of $1.6 million -- the value of mentions of the city in the news media. This was bolstered by coverage of Fort Worth on the Today Show.

The tourism sales staff has developed new golf, shopping and festival packages and are halfway to their goal of booking 2,500 room nights for tourist groups.

Now that his convention sales staff has surpassed the most room nights ever booked for the city, DuBois is putting the pressure on for the second half of the year.

"We're shooting to double," said DuBois, which would add up to 300,000 room nights booked in one year. "But I'm also realistic that as a sales and marketing guy, you're only as good as your last month. The heat is on."

BY THE NUMBERS

Fort Worth CVB

$6.9 million budgeted for fiscal 2008

162,000 room nights booked in the first seven months of the fiscal year

33%of conventions wooed by the bureau choose Fort Worth

13% more room tax has been collected in fiscal 2008 compared with fiscal 2007

NEW HOTEL ROOMS ON THE HORIZON

Three new or renovated hotels will be completed in the next year near the Fort Worth Convention Center downtown.

Omni Fort Worth

Address: 1300 Houston St.Rooms: 607

Meeting space: 68,000 square feet

Amenities: Seven restaurants, a day spa, caterer for the Fort Worth convention center

Status: Scheduled to open in January

Sheraton Fort Worth

Address: 1701 Commerce St.Rooms: 430

Meeting space: 22,000 square feet

Amenities: 8,000-square-foot luxury fitness center and spa, indoor pool and restaurant

Status: Scheduled to reopen in August

Hilton Fort Worth

Address: 815 Main St.Rooms: 294

Meeting space: 24,000 square feet

Amenities: Restaurant, 42-inch plasma TVs in every room, a Hilton Ideation high-tech conference room

Status: Now open; a Starbucks will open in the hotel in August, with room and meeting space renovations completed by then

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