Moncton adding 3 new hotels in coming years, group says

The greater Moncton area could see three new hotels built in the region in the next few years and that is spurring hope in the business community that the additional rooms will drawmore concerts and events to the city.

RayRoberge, the general manager of the DeltaBeausejour and the president of the GreaterMonctonHotel Association, said he believes the new hotels,combined with the city's new downtown centre will allow the region to attract world-classevents.

"It's exciting, it's economic development," said

"It shows that there's confidence in the city, moving forward."

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Robergesaid heexpects between 200 and 250 more rooms to be added to the city's inventory by the three projects. But he said more hotels could pop up in the future.

"We could be talking about an additional 300 to 400 rooms over the next year and a half to two years," he said.

Even though the hotel operator is hopeful the new rooms could attract more concerts or events to the city, Roberge saidthe 2,200 hotel rooms in theMoncton area now are oftenunderoccupied.

Information Morning - Moncton8:46Rooms to spare

The president of the Greater Moncton Hotel Association talks about the exploding number of hotel rooms in the city.

He said the average annual occupancy rate is about 62 per centand that doesn't take into account the 100 or so Airbnb's that have popped up recently.

"A really healthy marketplace would be in the high 60s to 70 per cent," said Roberge.

He said those numbers mean hotels often can't keep a full compliment of staff full-time.

But Roberge said the new downtown centre may change that.

Excited for the new downtown centre

He said events are what drives the hotel market in Moncton.

He pointed tothe FIFA Women's World Cup in 2015,regular season Canadian Football League games and megaconcerts as examples of events that have helped the hotel industry.

The addition of the new downtown centre could be an additional catalyst, he said.

"So the glimmer of hopeand what we're really excited on, is this downtown centre," he said.

For ever dollar spent at a hotel, threeare spent in the community.- Ray Roberge, president of the Greater Moncton Hotel Association

As example, Roberge said if Moncton were to host the World Junior hockey Championships, which happens for about twoweeks in late December and early January, that would be an off season boon to both the hotel industry and the region as a whole.

"For ever dollar spent at a hotel, threeare spent in the community," Roberge said.

This year's Labour Day weekend concert, featuring Selena Gomez at the Moncton Stadium on the University ofMoncton campus, is an example what big events already mean for hotel owners, he said.

"It's a weekend where we run at 90 per cent occupancy [anyway], so we are going to go from 90 per cent occupancy to 100 per cent occupancy," he said.

He said once the downtown centre is opened, it plans to host close to 300 events a yearand that willputthe city in different league when it comes to attracting marquee events.

"It will be everything from concerts to Disney on Ice to hopefully the Briar," Roberge said.

More hotels also means more choice for consumers, he said, and that mayeven mean lower prices with the greater competition.