Something to Write Home About

If you’re planning a huge party with lots of out-of-town guests in need of lodging, make sure you don’t schedule it for May 16-19. During that stretch, almost every hotel room in town will be housing a clinical oncologist.

The American Society of Clinical Oncology is staging its annual convention in Los Angeles in May, and an estimated 8,800 conventioneers are expected. That is more visitors than downtown hotels can handle, so hotels in other parts of the city are taking the overflow.

A few years ago, Los Angeles wasn’t getting conventions of this size. In fact, the city wasn’t getting many major conventions at all because of its small and outmoded Convention Center and a series of blows to its image involving disasters both natural and man-made.

But time and a $500-million expansion of the Los Angeles Convention Center seem to have cured the ills.

This year will be a “terrific� one for conventions in Los Angeles, with 30 gatherings booked for the center, said Dan Herbers, a vice president of the Los Angeles Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Nine of them are so big they’ve claimed most of the hotel rooms in the city. Compare that to 1993, the year the Convention Center expansion began, when only 11 conventions found their way to Los Angeles and brought a mere 172,094 delegates.

Conventions are prized for the fresh money they inject into a city and its businesses. This year, a record 369,550 convention delegates are forecast to hit L.A.--and presumably spend their cash.

“This is a good year. We’ve been waiting for this for a long time, and working hard,� said Herbers, who runs the L.A. convention bureau’s five-person sales office in Washington. “People are starting to give Los Angeles another chance.�

The county’s biggest hotel, the 1,360-room Westin Bonaventure Hotel & Suites, is having “a banner year,� said Managing Director Bob Graney, who noted that the ’98 conventions represent commitments made as long as five years ago.

“We’ve really hit some home runs. We’re hoping that every year from here on out is as good,� he said.

Randy Villareal, general manager of the Regal Biltmore hotel, said the convention boom is “just a reaffirmation that this city has taken its rightful place in the convention market.�

“Every convention that comes here sets an attendance record,� said Villareal, who is also chairman of the Los Angeles Convention & Visitors Bureau. “Los Angeles is a great destination city.�

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Nancy Rivera Brooks can be reached via e-mail at [email protected] or by fax at (213) 237-7837.

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Conventional Los Angeles

Conventions are lucrative business for a city’s tourism industry, and Los Angeles has struggled to improve its share of the convention market. This year is expected to be the best yet for conventions and their money-slinging delegates.

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Year Number of conventions Total attendance 1992 5 18,278 1993 11 172,094 1994 17 164,376 1995 16 197,831 1996 16 210,296 1997 23 319,700 1998* 30 369,550

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* Estimated

Source: Los Angeles Convention & Visitors Bureau