How San Francisco Deals With Skyrocketing Events Demand
Photo Credit: A photo of a trade show at San Francisco's Moscone Center. Moscone Center
Skift Take
San Francisco remains a major draw for events despite high costs and other pervasive problems. Perhaps the Bay Area can turn to the creative thinking it's known for to solve some of these issues.
High costs, conspicuous homelessness, and limited hotel supply are a few of the issues San Francisco faces as a destination in the midst of a period of unprecedented economic growth.
For event professionals, it can be a challenge to find an affordable solution to holding an event in San Francisco. Room rates are consistently high, with hotel occupancy sitting north of 80 percent year-round. It's a good problem to have for a city, but not so much for groups looking to meet in San Francisco proper.
"What it's generating is a huge amount of business on the travel side, we've never had our demand be as high as it is right now," said Joe D'Alessandro, president and CEO of San Francisco Travel. "We're always full and commanding these incredibly high rates, which you know, for the hotel ownership groups is great, but it also creates pressure. Any sort of success like this [economically] can make it a
