Conference Call

Experts Say D.C. Needs More Than a New Hotel to Lure Big Meetings

They came early with their brisk walks and open collars. Their BlackBerrys were buzzing and many carried newspapers under their arms. They were members of the American Academy of Otolaryngology -- Head and Neck Surgery. Doctors.

Ten thousand ear, nose and throat specialists and product exhibitors from around the globe were in town last week for the District's first big convention of the fall. They filled an estimated 27,000 hotel room-nights and spent an estimated $11.4 million on lodging, taxis and dining. It was exactly the kind of high-spending event the city intended to attract when it built the Washington Convention Center.

The problem is, the city said, it isn't hosting enough of these big groups. And the chief obstacle, the city has argued, is the lack of a headquarters hotel. The mayor is scheduled today to outline an agreement to get the project back on track after many years of delay.

Yet convention-goers, urban planners and developers say a headquarters hotel is only part of the equation in turning the District into a destination for large conventions.

Karen Zur, 35, a pediatric otolaryngologist at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, is a convention aficionado. She has attended professional gatherings in her home town of Philadelphia as well as in San Diego, Miami Beach, Toronto and Orlando, among other cities. In Washington, she said, the conference facilities were fine. But she had trouble finding a pharmacy, spent more money than she would have liked on taxis to and from her hotel and could not find a cafe for a midday break.

She wants all those amenities just outside the convention center's front door.

"I love the city, I think it is awesome," Zur said during an interview. "But of course, if you spend all your time at the meetings and don't have a lot of time, it's nice to have everything at your fingertips."

What it takes to draw big conventions is a question driving debate over future development around the center. A convention is a chance to showcase the city to visiting professionals with disposable income. In their free time, delegates can dine in the city's upscale restaurants, take in its cultural and historical attractions and shop in some of its best stores. A convention seems to say something about the best a city has to offer.

"If you go and see a beautiful city with a lot of cool things to do, a lot of times you will want to come back during a more leisurely visit when you don't have a lot of work," David White, 35, a delegate from Charleston, S.C., said last week. "D.C., it's a great town with a lot to offer, but I don't know if the convention center promotes that as well as it could."

Developer Douglas Jemal has drawn up designs to create office space, retail shops and a boutique hotel on two city blocks just east and southeast of the center, on Seventh Street. A series of small hotels within walking distance of the convention center would serve it well, Jemal said.

Standing on the corner of Mount Vernon Place and Seventh Street, Jemal pointed toward the delegates streaming down the front steps of the convention center.

"You see people walking in and out of the convention center, just like a mall, walking in and out, and no one interacting with each other," Jemal said. "Walk two blocks south [towards Chinatown and the Verizon Center] and you have life. What we want to do is give people the urban experience, give them a reason for wanting to come to the convention center because they know they can go out and enjoy themselves."