Hotel Stays Up in Maple Grove, Flat in Brooklyn Park and Brooklyn Center
A new report released this week suggests that Minnesota hotels are bracing for a tough year. But that’s not entirely the case in the northwest metro.
In Maple Grove, the city has 10 hotels that attract people for a variety of different reasons.
“They’re easy to access, they’re comfortable, they’re convenient,” said Greg Anzelc, the executive director of Experience Maple Grove, the city’s marketing organization.
Anzelc says those 10 hotels are doing well when it comes to occupancy.
“Year over year, we saw an increase of nine percent, so some of those statewide trends that you’re seeing, we didn’t feel that impact directly here in Maple Grove,” he said.
The ‘statewide trends’ he’s referring to come from a report released by Hospitality Minnesota. The trade group predicts the industry will face declining revenue and fewer customers this year as travel becomes less of a priority, suggesting that recovery from the pandemic is incomplete.
“I think some of the trends you see statewide, and the recovery efforts post-COVID, we’re not seeing that because we’re not necessarily a destination like you might see in out-state Minnesota where, during COVID, resorts shut down,” said Anzelc.
In other words, travel behaviors to places like resorts on the North Shore of Lake Superior have changed, but Maple Grove attracts visitors through youth sports and amenities, such as the city’s 150 restaurants.
“That’s a significant impact for our local tourism and hotels, so we continue to work with our hotel partners to bring those groups to Maple Grove,” Anzelc said.
Occupancy in hotels located in Brooklyn Park and Brooklyn Center has been flat, according to officials from Minneapolis Northwest.
Meanwhile, in neighboring Brooklyn Park and Brooklyn Center, there’s a level of uncertainty.
Leslie Wright, the president and CEO of Minneapolis Northwest, says the occupancy levels of the 12 hotels in Brooklyn Park and Brooklyn Center tell a different story.
“A lot of what it shows is that occupancy is flattening,” said Wright. “When we looked at 2020 and 2021 when it took a severe decline, it has gone back up, but it’s not increasing at the levels of the last two years, so it’s pretty stagnant.”
Rising food prices and staffing concerns add to the uncertainty, but to reverse that trend, Wright says they’re working on initiatives to attract more business travelers and youth sports to the area.
“We have the facilities, we have the commitment of our hotels and community to do those things that are coming back into the city,” she said.
