Firms spar over reports on impact of Gaylord hotel project on downtown Denver
Denver Post
The debate over whether the 1,500-room Gaylord hotel proposed for Aurora would draw business away from downtown Denver has sparked dueling reports, and now the companies behind them are questioning each other's methods.
Chicago-based convention center consultant HVS fired the latest salvo, claiming that Greenwood Village-based Hospitality Real Estate Consultants used data from a report HVS produced but reached incorrect conclusions with the information.
HVS produced reports for Gaylord, and some of that data was cited in Aurora's application for state subsidies for the Gaylord project. The report examined Denver's existing hotel market and concluded Gaylord would draw new business to the region.
The HREC report found that the Gaylord project's impact would result in up to 425,000 lost room nights for Denver metro hotels over four years and up to $125 million in lost room revenue.
But HREC underestimated the demand for metro-area hotel rooms by nearly 250,000 room nights and overlooks $60 million in annual spending, according to the HVS review of the HREC study.
It's not unusual for studies of the same subject to come to different conclusions, one expert said.
"It's really different assumptions," said Mac Clouse, finance professor at the Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver. "That's the thing with economic studies. I can make any assumptions I want. The credibility of the conclusions of the study are based on the credibility of the assumptions you've made. If you believe the assumptions, you'll believe the conclusions." more>
