Interesting, and good to know.

Have you seen the books, or is this just what has been said by management or colleagues? I'd also be interested to see if there was any change in occupancy after the subsidized John Q. Hammons hotel was built.

Also what is the NCED, is that subsidized? Obviously the Postal Service is a unique arrangement. For other events, is the Marriott able to offer discounts and incentives, and how are those funded? I suspect that is the case since you mentioned the good sales team, which is going to need some resources to work with.

That's the issue with these CC hotels. It's rare for them to actually have consistently bad occupancy bc cities often use the CVB or a public authority (often named "Industrial and Convention Development Authority" or something like that) to actually pay for deep discounts and huge incentives to lure these conferences.

Then out the other side of the mouth they trumpet the economic development spin-off of conventions, ignoring the surprisingly significant grand total for the continuous pay to play. I'm not at all against the CC, CC hotel, and OKC should pay to play, but it is what it is. We should be smart about it, and that's why hotels are often not over 800 rooms max, which is even pushing it.