Boston Room Bookings Exceed 1 Million

Last year, the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority booked future tradeshows and meetings that they estimate will generate more than a million room nights.

MCCA Executive Director James Rooney called the million room nights a "major milestone" for the city. He added, "Our housing team has built extensive relationships with Boston area hoteliers, and works full-time to assist planners by developing individualized room blocks that suit the needs of their particular event."

The bookings at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center and the John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center, both owned by the MCCA, are partly due to a medical marketing initiative program the authority launched in May. Aimed at bringing more medical and biotech professionals to the city, the campaign grew out of independent research indicating that 52 percent of U.S. medical professionals and more than one-third of U.S. teaching physicians, and biotech and pharmaceutical companies are within a two-hour plane trip of Boston.

In order to help meet show and meeting producers' housing needs, the Boston Convention Marketing Center, a joint effort of the MCCA and the Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau, in August hired Judy Sheng for the newly created position of director of citywide room blocks and hotel relations.

The BCEC, opened in 2004, features 516,000 square feet of exhibit space. The Hynes offers 193,000 sq. ft. of exhibit space. More than 35,000 hotel rooms are located in proximity to both facilities.

This year, a few new hotels will open near the BCEC, including the 790-room Westin Boston Waterfront Hotel, which will be directly connected to the center.