For the past 8 years, I have been attending various sci-fi/fantasy/fan run conventions, many times when they are large enough they are held in convention centers. In fact, one I attended in Columbus was one such convention. One of the big draws for less expensive hotels near those connected to convention centers is to allow for a) overflow attendance within reasonable distance of the venue and b) a location that allows for those on a tighter budget to have a place to stay within a reasonable distance of the venue.
There is a convention in Lansing, MI I have attended for many years that has such a draw that the “host” hotel is always sold out and the surrounding hotels get a big boom of overflow business. One that I am attending this weekend in Hunt Valley has the same thing. The host hotel for this convention has at least two hotels directly across the street and they are almost always sold out…
Depending on what sort of draw they are wanting to bring into the CC (ie business-only or anything that is willing to rent the space), if they can get it up and running as they want to, the potential business is high. So it would make no sense on Marriott’s part to want Brunswick shut down. And I know that as of this time last year, the general manager of Brunswick at the time was highly interested in promoting the convention center as a business draw for them.
