Bad news for the Convention Center Project

PKF Hospitality Research is forecasting a 7.8% drop in hotel revenue per room night sold (hence overall room revenue) in 2009 without recovery starting to take place until the second quarter of 2010. They described the current situation as "the fifth largest annual decline in this important measure since 1930."

Since the Convention Center will rely on the countywide hotel room sales tax to subsidize operations, this is a further blow to the financial feasibility of the project, assuming hotels in Lancaster are impacted per the national average.

PKF Hospitality Research is associated with PKF Consultants which, at the request of then county commissioners, in 2006 generated a feasibility study projecting that the proposed convention center and hotel would generate very large losses.