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Home | Politically Connected | National Politics | Political Conventions
Still some room at the inns, but GOP has many booked
About 16,000 rooms are blocked out for September's Republican convention.
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Planners of next year's Republican National Convention said Thursday they have completed booking rooms for convention use, with about 16,000 rooms reserved in more than 100 Twin Cities-area hotels.
About 45,000 delegates, alternates, media representatives and guests are expected to attend the convention Sept. 1-4 at St. Paul's Xcel Energy Center.
As part of its bid to host the event, the Twin Cities guaranteed 30,000 of the area's total 35,000 area hotel rooms for the convention, according to Laura McCarthy, a spokeswoman for Meet Minneapolis, the city's convention and visitors bureau. As planning proceeded, the number was scaled back, she said.
According to Meet Minneapolis, as of last week, the convention had booked about 6,100 rooms in Minneapolis, 2,100 in St. Paul, 5,750 in Bloomington, 700 in Eagan, 500 in Roseville and 1,400 in northern suburbs. Matt Burns, a spokesman for the convention's arrangements committee, declined to identify the hotels, but said the goal is to have rooms within a 30-minute drive of the Xcel Center.
Burns said the convention has booked as much as 90 percent of rooms in some hotels.
"Non-official visitors also will be booking rooms outside of our block," he said. "That will drive occupancy in some even higher."
Joan Cronson, a spokeswoman for Carlson Hotels Worldwide, said that the Radisson Park Plaza Minneapolis, Radissons in Roseville and Plymouth, the Park Plaza Bloomington and the Country Inns & Suites at the Mall of America have been sold out.
Susan Feyder • 612-673-1723
Susan Feyder • sfeyder@startribune.com
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