With the sale and redevelopment of the Hynes Convention Center on the table once state legislators finish up the state’s next budget, the sad state of the local hotel industry ought to give everyone food for thought. 

In part because we were one of the hardest-hit areas in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic and continued to prioritize lives over profits as infection waves washed over the country, hotel occupancy plunged two years ago and still hasn’t recovered.  

Revenues were down 44 percent from pre-pandemic levels last year, according to Pinnacle Advisory Group. The consultancy predicts occupancy will end 2022 at 68 percent, compared to 80 percent in 2019.  

The one bright spot: Room rates have fully recovered, with the average daily rate sitting at $192 per room in contrast with other past industry downturns.  

Taken together, these figures suggest is that demand to travel to Boston remains suppressed even as the entire nation – Massachusetts included – emerges from the worst of the pandemic.  

Some of that will undoubtedly change as efforts intensify to market Boston to convention-goers. Right now, however, it’s clearly an open question whether some kind of smaller convention-hosting capability retained at a redeveloped Hynes site will be the visitor-generator Back Bay businesses think it will be. 

It’s also clear to anyone who steps into the Hynes that its salad days are long gone, and it is clearly outclassed by newer and less bunker-like facilities. Even if it’s to be replaced with a similar space, a replacement is needed. 

Adding to that, Gov. Charlie Baker has signaled that, unlike other recent dispositions of state property, he would like the Hynes site to help generate money specifically for affordable housing development. With such a huge deficit in housing production to overcome, and a dire need for new homes accessible to people at a range of lower incomes, we applaud Baker’s intention to generate significant funds for housing development with this project.  

As Massachusetts Convention Center Authority Executive Director David Gibbons told state lawmakers in April, a meeting space requirement is under consideration for inclusion in the Hynes replacement RFP – along with recreation or performance space.  

If Back Bay businesses believe replacing meeting space like-for-like is the best route forward, rigorous evidence showing why new meeting space would still be successful despite current trends should be foregrounded in their campaign.  

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