Gabe Sayre, on loan from Chicago’s River North hotel, works at the check-in desk at the downtown Hyatt Place in Bloomington shortly after its opening in August 2014. Staff photo by Bill Strother
As Bloomington’s downtown housing market spent the past decade growing taller and more fashionable, its hotel industry has done the same.
Three hotel projects finished last year — Hyatt Place, Spring-Hill Suites and Candlewood Suites — have added about 420 rooms to the city’s tourism industry, according to Mike McAfee, executive director of Visit Bloomington.
As of today, the city has 2,306 rooms. Almost 750 of them are in downtown proper. And at least 260 more are on the way by 2017’s end.
The new digs are increasingly adopting an urban style, throwing public art installations and new-age building materials into the mix. Their placement in the midst of iconic local staples such as the B-Line Trail and the courthouse square, paired with the district’s restaurants, clubs and entertainment venues, shows how the city’s hotel market has enjoyed a new partnership of location and upscale accommodation.
“You’ve got very smart, large tourism development companies coming in here, investing in this market and wanting to compete, because they know (Bloomington) is a growing, lucrative market,” McAfee said. “The interstate is growing; the university continues to expand. Then, you’ve got the hospital (relocation) news and the tech park, creating growth, growth, growth.”
McAfee cautions that people shouldn’t be fooled by the city’s hotel occupancy rates, which have consistently hovered around 49 to 51 percent in the past few years, not robust numbers when occupancy nationally has hovered in the 60 percent to 65 percent rate.
But maintaining those rates as more rooms are added to the market demonstrate a powerful, increasing guest demand.
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