Minneapolis (Sept. 18, 2024) – Minneapolis hotels set several new records during the summer of 2024, according to data released today by Meet Minneapolis. Between Memorial Day and Labor Day this year, hotels in Minneapolis recorded new post-pandemic highs for summer occupancy, room demand and room revenue.

Nearly 680,000 hotel rooms were sold during the summer, an increase of more than 8% from 2023. Guest room revenue this summer increased more than 18% to $131.8 million. In turn, Meet Minneapolis forecasts a large economic boost for our local community with a significant double-digit increase in lodging taxes collected this year.

The summer was capped by more than 223,500 hotel rooms sold in August – the most since August 2019. In addition, the occupancy rate this August was 70.2% – the highest since October 2019.

"This past summer was a standout season for Minneapolis,” said Meet Minneapolis President and CEO Melvin Tennant. “Our city’s unique blend of cultural and outdoor attractions, and major events and conventions drew visitors from all over, resulting in strong hotel demand and increased activity for our tourism and hospitality workers.”

* Date range: May 28-Sept. 1, 2024. All data according to hospitality industry data provider Smith Travel Research (STR)

*All-time record for Minneapolis hotels

In summer 2024, the Minneapolis Convention Center hosted nearly 50 meetings, events, conventions and trade shows, attracting more than 116,000 attendees to the downtown venue.

Minneapolis hotels typically experience their greatest success during dates with a confluence of key events that overlap at major venues in the city. This was the case for many of this past summer’s highest in-demand dates:

The good news is tempered by the continued shortfall in business travel – which has not returned to pre-pandemic levels – as well as a lag in large citywide convention bookings for the coming year. In 2025, Meet Minneapolis expects the city to host fewer citywide conventions than in typical years.

"While we have made significant strides in bringing visitors to Minneapolis, one key focus for our organization is to revive the meetings and events industry to levels that will support the hotel room growth we have seen over the last five years,” Tennant added. “We are actively working with our public and private sector partners to enhance our product marketability in order to remain competitive with destinations which are making significant investments into infrastructure and experiences to support their convention sales efforts.

“We must continue to be adaptable and innovative in how we showcase the city’s assets. It takes ongoing collaboration between Meet Minneapolis, the Minneapolis Convention Center and our partners throughout the city to attract large-scale conferences and events.”

For the latest from Meet Minneapolis, go here and here, or follow us on social media.

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ABOUT MEET MINNEAPOLIS
Meet Minneapolis is a private, not-for-profit, member-based association. It actively promotes and sells the Minneapolis area as a destination for conventions and meetings, works to maximize the visitor experience and markets the city as a desirable tourist destination to positively impact the economic and social prosperity of the Minneapolis community. Meet Minneapolis is accredited by the Destination Marketing Accreditation Program (DMAP) of Destinations International.

MEDIA CONTACT
Kevin Kurtt, PR Manager, o 612-767-8118, c 952-288-9319, KevinK@minneapolis.org
Kathy McCarthy, Senior PR Director, o 612-767-8048, c 612-508-9720, KathyM@minneapolis.org