Events list, calculations, room stays (Mass Convention Center Authority)
| Submitted | May 6, 2014 |
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Communications
From: Mary Connaughton
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Massachusetts Public Records Law, M.G.L. c.66, §10, I hereby request the following records:
1) A listing of all events held at the Hynes Convention Center and the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center in FY2013 and FY2014 to date, including number of attendees at each event and the date of each event held.
2) Calculations used to determine $620 million economic impact in FY2013 and projected $680 million economic impact in FY2014.
3) Detailed support of room stays amounting to 462,000 in FY2013 and the 629,000 projected room stays in FY2014, including hotel names and dates of stays.
I also request that, if appropriate, fees be waived as we believe this request is in the public interest, as suggested but not stipulated by the recommendations of the Massachusetts Supervisor of Public Records. The requested documents will be made available to the general public free of charge as part of the public information service at MuckRock.com, processed by a representative of the news media/press and is made in the process of news gathering and not for commercial usage.
I expect the request to be filled in an accessible format, including for screen readers, which provide text-to-speech for persons unable to read print. Files that are not accessible to screen readers include, for example, .pdf image files as well as physical documents.
In the event that fees cannot be waived, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 calendar days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Mary Connaughton
From: Hauser, Katie
Dear Ms. Connaughton,
Below is the MCCA's response to your Freedom of Information Request related to our event listings, economic impact calculations and hotel room night stays. The notes below correspond to attached documents. Please contact me with any additional questions.
1) A listing of all events held at the Hynes Convention Center and the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center in FY2013 and FY2014 to date, including number of attendees at each event and the date of each event held.
o Since we believe that the MuckRock request was linked to the recently released Economic Impact Report (economic impact results cited below) we have included a list of Calendar Year 2013 and 2014 events. Calendar Year data was used to develop the Economic Impact Report. Please note: the event data lists correspond to contracted events and 2014 events may change (increase) over the remainder of the year.
2) Calculations used to determine $620 million economic impact in FY2013 and projected $680 million economic impact in FY2014.
o Attached is a policy discussion of MCCA's economic impact methodology. The MCCA adopted this methodology after a lengthy process to develop and validate its application with a third-party expert. When compared to other convention centers in the US, the MCCA model is conservative in measuring economic activity (e.g., using lower economic multipliers).
3) Detailed support of room stays amounting to 462,000 in FY2013 and the 629,000 projected room stays in FY2014, including hotel names and dates of stays.
o Attached are schedules for hotel rooms for 2013 and 2014 that support the 462,000 and 629,000 projected room nights. Please note: the projections for 2014 assume an additional 15,000 in bookings to occur over the remainder of 2014, consistent with MCCA's historical pacing models.
o Regarding the hotel names and dates request, the following summary below[1] is provided:
Room nights that are associated with events at Massachusetts Convention Center Authority (MCCA) facilities come from the organization that owns the event that is taking place.
Room night forecasts are validated by:
· Reviewing room night consumption history from the organization owner for a given event for the prior three years
· Reviewing reports of room night consumption that are reported by convention and visitors bureaus from around the country, which indicates hotel consumption by city and year where the event has taken place
A conservative approach is taken to the reporting of hotel room nights based on the available information.
Hotel Inventory Associated with any Given Event
A potential room block is assembled for the organization to support their respective event. This is done by sourcing the hotel community regarding available dates with rooms that correspond with the dates for the organization's event.
The event organization then takes responsibility for negotiating with the hotels and securing the required rooms to support their event. Typically this is done with the assistance of a housing company that is retained by the event organization.
The MCCA has no knowledge of what hotels are subsequently placed into the inventory that is used by any given event, nor which days any given hotel has committed rooms to support that event.
[1] This explanation was provided to the MCCA to help provide a summary of existing practices in collecting and validating room night and related event information.
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