Memphis Visitors Bureau to Take Over Convention Center

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The holiday season is almost upon us, a time when optimistic hopes and wishes for the present and future abound. For Board members of the Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau, the final meeting of the year at the Peabody Hotel brought a mixed bag of candy canes and lumps of coal. Let's go with the "sweet news" first, a change in management for downtown's foremost convention center.

MCVB President Kevin Kane announced, "The Cook Convention Center Board of Commissioners is awarding the management contract to the Convention and Visitors Bureau effective January 1st 2011."

In a deal that still must meet the perfunctory approvals of both city and county mayors, the MCVB will take over the Cook & Cannon center operations at a management fee of $125,000 a year that will go into effect on July 1st of next year. Nearly all of the current full-time employees will be retained under the new MCVB umbrella.

"Customers traditionally love this model because they're dealing with one person from beginning to end," said Kane. "There's not a handoff between the tourist bureau and convention center. It's kind of a seamless operation."

Alas, there are those lumps of coals, actually just the lumps in money and prestige the city suffered in losing the COGIC Convention to St. Louis this year.

"Just as we thought, rooms sold in Memphis were down 22,000 room nights this past week versus the same week a year ago… Which is about what we anticipated," said Kane. "Room revenues were down about $3.1 million last week versus the same time period."

But, let's get back to the good news. Well, kinda sorta good. Hotel room occupancies overall are up 8 percent. Word is the National Baptist Convention, which was a blockbuster in 2009, could return again in 2015, a lot of short-term convention business is up, Nashville is building a convention center and with a 1000 room hotel downtown... Hey, how'd that get in there?

"We've got a lot of deals out there on the table with many of these major groups and we're hoping we'll land them," said Kane.