The 800-room convention hotel is scheduled to open in January 2004, next to the Austin Convention Center, which has doubled in size. The hotel also has 60,000 sf of meeting space, including two ballrooms.
McDonald says the Hilton has been working closely with the convention center to book groups which would take advantage of the combination of the expanded convention center and hotel.
"The bureau has been setting the foundation for quite some time that this hotel is coming, so we've been able to follow through in tandem with them on conventions that have been in the works for some time," he says.
The hotel also has mined Hilton's database of groups that have met at other Hilton convention hotels for leads.
McDonald says Hilton has found that many groups are interested in meeting in Austin for the first time.
"Out of the approximate 400,000 guest rooms we are working on, nearly 80% are first-time to Austin," he says. "That implies there was most likely some pentup demand for Austin as a destination that we have been able to tap into."
This week the hotel announced the first wave of its sales team. They are Rick Nelson, Polly Scull, Kevin Palermo, Rosie Muguerza and Greg Schneider. All have experience is selling the Austin market for other hotels in the city.
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