Comments on: Public subsidy for a convention hotel in S.L.? http://sutherlandinstitute.org/news/2012/04/03/public-subsidy-for-a-convention-hotel-in-s-l/ News and views on Utah public policy Thu, 20 Jun 2013 03:31:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: Matthew Piccolo http://sutherlandinstitute.org/news/2012/04/03/public-subsidy-for-a-convention-hotel-in-s-l/#comment-1612 Matthew Piccolo Tue, 03 Apr 2012 21:45:00 +0000 http://www.sutherlandinstitute.org/news_old/?p=2927#comment-1612 From what I know, the parking and meeting space won’t necessarily be public, they’ll be part of the hotel’s operations, at least that’s how the SLC Council has been talking about it.  Either way, this raises some questions: 1) Would the developers really build the hotel without the parking lot and meeting space? and 2) Even if the parking lot and meeting space are completely public and separate from the hotel, which I doubt, is it fair to give a government-subsidized advantage to this hotel over all the others?

]]> By: Matthew Piccolo http://sutherlandinstitute.org/news/2012/04/03/public-subsidy-for-a-convention-hotel-in-s-l/#comment-1770 Matthew Piccolo Tue, 03 Apr 2012 21:45:00 +0000 http://www.sutherlandinstitute.org/news_old/?p=2927#comment-1770 From what I know, the parking and meeting space won’t necessarily be public, they’ll be part of the hotel’s operations, at least that’s how the SLC Council has been talking about it.  Either way, this raises some questions: 1) Would the developers really build the hotel without the parking lot and meeting space? and 2) Even if the parking lot and meeting space are completely public and separate from the hotel, which I doubt, is it fair to give a government-subsidized advantage to this hotel over all the others?

]]> By: Darklord http://sutherlandinstitute.org/news/2012/04/03/public-subsidy-for-a-convention-hotel-in-s-l/#comment-1611 Darklord Tue, 03 Apr 2012 20:15:00 +0000 http://www.sutherlandinstitute.org/news_old/?p=2927#comment-1611  The private companies are asking only for a subsidy of public parking and meeting space.  If the County/City doesn’t want any public parking / extra meeting space they will build without it. 

Somethings that benefit the public should be paid for with public subsidies.  No one should require private companies to pay for public features.

]]> By: Darklord http://sutherlandinstitute.org/news/2012/04/03/public-subsidy-for-a-convention-hotel-in-s-l/#comment-1769 Darklord Tue, 03 Apr 2012 20:15:00 +0000 http://www.sutherlandinstitute.org/news_old/?p=2927#comment-1769  The private companies are asking only for a subsidy of public parking and meeting space.  If the County/City doesn’t want any public parking / extra meeting space they will build without it. 

Somethings that benefit the public should be paid for with public subsidies.  No one should require private companies to pay for public features.

]]> By: Matthew Piccolo http://sutherlandinstitute.org/news/2012/04/03/public-subsidy-for-a-convention-hotel-in-s-l/#comment-1609 Matthew Piccolo Tue, 03 Apr 2012 18:14:00 +0000 http://www.sutherlandinstitute.org/news_old/?p=2927#comment-1609 That may be true, that the increased supply in rooms will lead to a corresponding increase in demand for those rooms, but does that answer the question about whether government should subsidize the project? For example, if the demand for rooms would increase enough to make a new convention hotel profitable, then why hasn’t a private company already invested in one? Why does government need to get involved?

]]> By: Matthew Piccolo http://sutherlandinstitute.org/news/2012/04/03/public-subsidy-for-a-convention-hotel-in-s-l/#comment-1768 Matthew Piccolo Tue, 03 Apr 2012 18:14:00 +0000 http://www.sutherlandinstitute.org/news_old/?p=2927#comment-1768 That may be true, that the increased supply in rooms will lead to a corresponding increase in demand for those rooms, but does that answer the question about whether government should subsidize the project? For example, if the demand for rooms would increase enough to make a new convention hotel profitable, then why hasn’t a private company already invested in one? Why does government need to get involved?

]]> By: FM_SLC http://sutherlandinstitute.org/news/2012/04/03/public-subsidy-for-a-convention-hotel-in-s-l/#comment-1608 FM_SLC Tue, 03 Apr 2012 17:43:00 +0000 http://www.sutherlandinstitute.org/news_old/?p=2927#comment-1608 Yes the government needs to be involved in the hotel business in this situation.  SLC is missing out on several large conventions that require a convention hotel adjacent to the convention center.  Mr. Rosa makes some very good points, a 1,000 room hotel would canabalize the occupancy rate based on current business, what must be taken into account though is the large increase in total rooms due to the fact the SLC will be able to attract more and larger conventions, creating an substantial increase in total number of room nights for the entire city and region.

]]> By: FM_SLC http://sutherlandinstitute.org/news/2012/04/03/public-subsidy-for-a-convention-hotel-in-s-l/#comment-1767 FM_SLC Tue, 03 Apr 2012 17:43:00 +0000 http://www.sutherlandinstitute.org/news_old/?p=2927#comment-1767 Yes the government needs to be involved in the hotel business in this situation.  SLC is missing out on several large conventions that require a convention hotel adjacent to the convention center.  Mr. Rosa makes some very good points, a 1,000 room hotel would canabalize the occupancy rate based on current business, what must be taken into account though is the large increase in total rooms due to the fact the SLC will be able to attract more and larger conventions, creating an substantial increase in total number of room nights for the entire city and region.

]]>