Visit Indy and more than 10 downtown convention hotel partners are helping to ease event planners’ uncertainty of booking large face-to-face events with a new offer. New groups that book events in Indianapolis for any 2020 dates will automatically receive zero attrition for room blocks at all of the city’s major downtown convention hotels.

“There is obviously great uncertainty about how to conduct events this year and our city, convention center and hotel partners want to help mitigate financial risks for our customers,” said Leonard Hoops, president and CEO of Visit Indy.

Participating downtown Indy hotels include:

• The Alexander
• Conrad Indianapolis
• Crowne Plaza at Historic Union Station
• Embassy Suites Indianapolis Downtown
• Hilton Indianapolis Hotel & Suites
• Hyatt Regency Indianapolis
• Indianapolis Marriott Downtown
• JW Marriott Indianapolis
• Le Meridien Indianapolis
• Omni Severin Hotel
• The Westin Indianapolis

One major concern for planners has been finding meeting and event space for potential fall meetings due to previously booked events. But Indianapolis still has slots open for new meetings, according to Chris Gahl, Visit Indy’s senior vice president, marketing communications — and the city is eager to partner with planners.

Gahl says that the Visit Indy team is also working with every convention already on the books for this year to make it a seamless transition to a postponed date, if that is what is best for their attendees.

“If we can provide a convention group with peace of mind in booking during these uncertain times and help fill in the remaining gaps on our calendars, it’s a win-win,” Gahl says.

He adds, “Key tourism entities in Indy, including hotels and our meeting facilities, remain incredibly flexible, understanding event professionals are under an incredible amount of stress and uncertainty.” 

Don Welsh, president and CEO of Destinations International, says DI has not seen any other city or CVB put a similar initiative in place to date. 

“This is one of the most innovative and responsive campaigns to a major issue that has been identified by the meeting planner community during these challenging times,” Welsh says. 

He adds, “With the uncertainty of the number of people who will actually travel to a meeting, this provides guaranteed financial relief to the meeting organization in the event that the anticipated room demand does not match the actual attendance. This is a true win-win and reflects the community spirit of Indianapolis.”

To learn more about Visit Indy’s 2020 Zero Attrition offer, go here.

Photo credit: Visit Indy

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