photo by: contributed photo

Kendra Schultz is the new director of sales for the city’s convention and visitors bureau, Explore Lawrence. She thinks Lawrence can be a “top destination” for conventions and meetings.

As more hotels go up in Lawrence, local tourism leaders think the city has the potential to attract more conventions and other meetings.

The city’s convention and visitors bureau, Explore Lawrence, recently hired a new director of sales, Kendra Schultz, to promote the city as a premier destination for meetings, conventions and leisure travel. Schultz said she thinks Lawrence can be a “top destination” for conventions and meetings, and she plans to let convention organizers know.

“Lawrence is a great city, and I think there are a lot of things that we just need to highlight and let them know that we can really do this,” Schultz said.

To begin with, Schultz said Lawrence has been adding hotels and meeting venues, creating a variety of options that cater to the needs of meeting organizers. In addition, she said, she plans to showcase what Lawrence has to offer convention attendees outside of meeting venues, including the city’s restaurants, live music and other cultural events.

Schultz grew up in Branson, Mo., and received her bachelor’s degree in hospitality management from Missouri State University. Schultz was formerly sales manager at the Great Wolf Lodge in Kansas City, Kan., where she was named sales manager of the year for 2017.

Earlier this year, the Journal-World reported that three of the top 10 largest building projects in the city last year were hotels. Between the Best Western Plus hotel near Rock Chalk Park, the Country Inn & Suites on East 23rd Street and the Tru by Hilton near West Sixth Street and Wakarusa Drive, the city is adding about 280 hotel rooms, an approximately 20 percent increase.

Explore Lawrence Executive Director Michael Davidson said that limited meeting space had been a key challenge in Lawrence, but that has been improving. In addition to new hotels, Davidson said, several renovations have occurred. He highlighted the major renovation of the DoubleTree hotel, and said that in total 50,000 room nights were offline because of renovations last year.

Schultz, who began her position earlier this month, said her focus would be bringing conventions and other events to Lawrence during the week, when business is typically slower. She said she would also be looking at feedback from organizations who choose not to bring their convention or event to Lawrence, to see where the city can improve.

In 2017, Explore Lawrence had 51 leads for conventions and meetings and booked 29 of them, according to information that Explore Lawrence provided to the Journal-World. Explore Lawrence estimates those meetings will bring about 30,000 attendees, 63,000 hotel stays and about $10 million of economic impact to Lawrence. Because conferences are often booked a couple of years in advance, Davidson said, Explore Lawrence tracks conferences based on the year they are booked rather than when they occur.

Davidson said that Explore Lawrence is also discussing other ways to increase the number of conventions and other midweek business in town. He said Explore Lawrence has budgeted an additional $60,000 for marketing next year and that it is discussing creating incentives for organizations that choose Lawrence to host conventions or other large events Sunday through Thursday.

Schultz replaces former Explore Lawrence director of sales Judy Riling. Riling, whom Explore Lawrence hired in 2016, recently became the general manager and director of sales for Lawrence’s new Best Western Plus, according to Davidson.