Impact of Hotels in Downtown West Chester

The West Chester BID supports full-service, high-quality hotels in the downtown. Downtown has a number of attractions that can maintain visitor interest including restaurants, galleries, shops, a museum, railroad excursions, and entertainment. The bottom line is that hotel development in downtown West Chester will strengthen and diversify the local economy and support the family owned businesses that have become the hallmark of downtown.

Currently, there are two hotel projects slated for downtown that will bring a total of 200 rooms: the now approved Warner Hotel at 120 North High Street by the McFadden Group and a proposed hotel at the corner of Gay & Walnut by Zukin Realty Hotel Development.

Impact
The anticipated economic impact can be projected using data from a research provided by the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Commission (GPTMC) and economic profiling from Penn State. In 2005, the average spending for tourist packages in the five county region was $750, a 15 percent increase over 2004. This includes $168 for shopping and $217 for dining per tourist package sold. The top four activities of leisure travelers is shopping (86 percent); visiting regional attractions (72 percent); sight-seeing (58 percent); and fine dining (47 percent).

According to the Chester County Conference & Visitors Bureau (CVB), the average occupancy for hotel rooms in Chester County for 2006/2007 was 72.3 percent compared to a national average of 63.3 percent in 2007 forecast by PricewaterhouseCoopers, based on national aggregate for the domestic occupancy rate. This is due to the large amount of business travel in Chester County. There are currently no urban hotels in the county. Surveys have indicated that there would be a strong preference for business persons to stay in such a hotel. Hotels located in downtown West Chester will fill this particular demand segment.

BID Support
To support hotel usage, the BID is launching a program called the Heritage & Cultural Marketing Program that promotes the historic and architectural features West Chester has to offer. Specifically, this program will attract visitors to West Chester with ads placed in regional and national magazines and provide valuable guides that will assist in developing visitor travel itineraries.

By the Numbers
200 hotel rooms downtown with 1.3 persons staying per room would bring an additional 61,685 day/night visits to the downtown (200 rooms x .723 occupancy x 1.3 users x 365 days per year = 68,600 day/night visits). With spending anticipated at a conservative $200 per day/per person, $12 million in outside funds would be spent. Utilizing the multiplier effect of 2.5 (as indicated by Penn State), the economic impact of 200 rooms would be up to $30 million per year for the local economy.

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See also:
Doing It Right