Tom Stieghorst
Update: On July 24, the day after this Insight was published, President Trump canceled the Florida portion of the Republican National Convention because of rising Covid-19 cases in Florida.
When the Republican Party announced on July 16 it was downsizing its national convention, it appeared at first glance that Jacksonville and its mayor, Lenny Curry, were the big losers.
Curry wooed the convention from Charlotte in June with hopes of filling Jacksonville's 18,000 hotel rooms in a slow week.
The big events at the nominating convention will still take place in Jacksonville Aug. 24 to 27, but with attendance limited to delegates -- plus one guest each -- and alternates. Estimates put that number at about 7,500 people, far fewer than originally thought.
The VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville is the scheduled venue for President Trump's acceptance speech and other high profile events at the Aug. 24-27 Republican National Convention. Party leaders are also said to be considering whether to hold the event outdoors at an amphitheater. Photo Credit: VyStar
When President Trump announced his decision to move the big speeches from Charlotte, Curry referred to it in a tweet as a $100 million event for Jacksonville.
Ironically, the rah-rah part of the event was moved because North Carolina's Democratic governor wanted to shrink the size of the crowd at the speeches for health reasons.
That was before the coronavirus surged in Florida, with new cases regularly topping 10,000 a day. Now, the same thing will happen in Jacksonville.
But at least one hotel operator says he thinks Jacksonville will still benefit from some much-needed publicity, even if the economic windfall doesn't materialize.
"I think this is very positive," said David Falor, manager of the 135-room Ocean Coast Hotel on Fernandina Beach, which is about an hour's drive from where the convention is taking place. Falor said that for many visitors Jacksonville is a place to drive through on their way to somewhere else in Florida.
"A lot of people don't even know where Jacksonville is in the United States, much less what it's about," Falor said. He thinks the exposure will help both with leisure business and in drawing future conventions.
Falor said Jacksonville has been doing well with Floridians and Georgians since Florida beaches reopened in early June because it is a drive market at a time when driving is in vogue. But due to uncertainties about the weather and especially equivocation about coronavirus, many of the bookings are breathtakingly last minute.
Speaking at noon on a Thursday, Falor said he had 40 rooms available for Friday and Saturday for the upcoming weekend. "I will sell all those rooms. But can you imagine?" he said.
Falor said he's been booking groups for the convention on a guarantee basis because of his property's distance from downtown. "There's no point in taking a block without a guarantee," he said. "Say there's a 20% shrinkage in needed rooms; we'll be part of that shrinkage because of the distance."
The two big luxury resorts on Amelia Island, where the Ocean Coast Hotel is located, are the Ritz-Carlton and the Omni Amelia Island Resort. They have filled for the convention with high-money donors and should do fine, Falor said. Less certain is the outlook for the downtown business hotels that were holding big blocks for the convention that now may not be fully used.
Florida political conventions haven't always produced positive publicity. The 1972 Republican convention in Miami Beach was greeted by widespread protests. But Falor said he isn't expecting that in Jacksonville.
"I think it's going to be great for the city. Even if there's demonstrations, they'll handle it," Falor said.