The record-breaking Democratic primary turnout and the continuing possibility of a brokered national convention have sparked so much interest that the committee staging the event is trying to lock up more hotel rooms during convention week, officials have confirmed.
So many reporters and their support crews and so many Democratic VIPs and their guests are signing up that the Democratic National Convention Committee worries the 17,000 rooms it controls aren’t enough.
Though it’s not unusual for the convention committee to look for extra rooms as the event draws near, “this time around it’s a little different because of the unprecedented level of interest,” said DNCC spokeswoman Natalie Wyeth.
The news was greeted with guarded relief from members of national media organizations who grew concerned last month that their initial room allotments were far below what they had requested.
“It sounds like good news that they’re trying to resolve it,” said Carl Hulse, the chief congressional correspondent for The New York Times. “I’ve been to a lot of (conventions), and these problems tend to work themselves out. But this was way more than a few short.”
The Times received fewer than half of the rooms requested, he said, and DNCC logistics officials “intimated” that there would be no more coming. As a result, the paper is looking for rooms outside the block of 17,000.
USA Today, which also received fewer rooms than it requested, ended up leaving the DNCC system to find rooms on its own.
The DNCC’s allotment process is not complete.
Though the metro area has more than twice as many rooms as the block of 17,000, the rooms not reserved by the DNCC are going for market rates, which will peak during the convention week, consultants say.
Listings for hotels far from downtown are much higher that week, Aug. 25-28. Rooms at a Marriott Residence Inn in Loveland, almost 50 miles from downtown, are currently listed at $309 a night for convention week, compared with $149 for a comparable week in July.
At the extended-stay Candlewood Suites in Lakewood, guests must commit to a seven- night stay, and a one-bedroom suite normally going for $149 a night is listed for $299.
Meanwhile, the 17,000 rooms that the DNCC has reserved for more than 6,000 delegates and alternates, VIPs and media members come at locked-in rates. Thrifty organizations can request rooms at rates of less than $250 a night.
Denver’s visitors and convention bureau worked with member hotels to create the block of 17,000 as part of the city’s bid to host the convention.
Now DNCC officials are asking the nearly 100 hotels that offered the rooms in that block for even more rooms. Also, they are looking for rooms beyond the original hotels. They secured 105 rooms at a Marriott property in Golden on Friday, a general manager said.
Wyeth wouldn’t say whether the new rooms are costing more, nor would she say how many the DNCC is seeking.
In Boston, which hosted the Democrats in 2004, hotel rates swelled an average of almost 30 percent.
Chuck Plunkett: 303-954-1333 or cplunkett@denverpost.com
