Staff writer Christopher Seward contributed to this story.
Atlanta’s convention pitchmen had expected to spend this winter talking up a new civil rights museum and college football hall of fame, both opening later this year.
Instead, they’ll have to deflect criticism that a couple inches of snow can bring the region to its knees.
Hospitality leaders and industry experts say last week’s epic gridlock could cause convention planners to reconsider Atlanta as a short-list candidate for winter events, or even keep the city from landing a Super Bowl in the next few years.
A spokesman for the NFL said the storm is unlikely to derail the city’s chances of snagging a 2019 or 2020 Super Bowl — two years for which Atlanta is vying — but experts say images of an immobilized city will be hard to forget.
“The tough part is people make decisions on perception,” said Tim Calkins, a branding expert at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management in Chicago. “Even if the city goes out today and buys 100 snow plows, the problems were so spectacular and received so much attention that it wouldn’t make a difference.”
The convention business is cutthroat, with competitors looking for any edge. The national supply of convention centers outpaces demand. And seeing commuters stuck in the cold for as long as a full day could convince planners to bypass Atlanta in January.
A strong convention showing is critical now because Atlanta’s convention challengers have grown. Old rivals Chicago, Orlando, New Orleans and Las Vegas are being joined by up-and-coming competition in Nashville and Charlotte. At the same time, the number of meetings nationwide has fallen as businesses hold down travel budgets.
William Pate, president of the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau, is traveling to New York this week to pitch the openings of the National Center for Civil and Human Rights and the College Football Hall of Fame to travel writers, but he expects to be questioned about last Tuesday’s storm.
Pate acknowledged a PR hit but said his organization booked a large convention for 2021 and conducted a site visit just a day after the storm.
“I would characterize this as a body blow, but not a knockout punch,” he said.
Conventions often plan so far in advance that any blowback from the weather might not be seen for several years, said Elizabeth Ergle, marketing manager for the Omni Hotel at CNN Center. Other conventions that come here in January are loyal to the city and return year after year, she said.
Case in point: The U.S. Poultry & Egg Show, one of three groups represented at the International Production & Process Expo last week, has met in Atlanta for 66 years.
Although about 300 people destined for the 24,000-person show — one of Atlanta’s largest conventions — never made it downtown to the Georgia World Congress Center, spokeswoman Gwen Venable said the group is signed through 2020 and will be back next year.
Several speakers had to be videoconferenced in and buses shuttling attendees were rerouted. But Venable was far more forgiving than many news commentators and comedians.
“As with anything, you make the best of what is available,” she said.
Tom Champoux, spokesman for the American Meteorological Society — whose annual meeting in Atlanta began Sunday and ends Thursday — said the weather and the region’s response to it will not affect the group’s decision to return. The meeting rotates between cities, and was last in Atlanta in 2010.
Some say the snow debacle will be quickly forgotten because of Atlanta’s convenience. Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport is a big lure, as are the size of its facilities and MARTA, which makes downtown access easy regardless of traffic.
“There’s not anything the size of the Georgia World Congress Center in Miami,” said Brenda Dempsey, president of the Atlanta-based southeast chapter of the Professional Conference Management Association.
Michael Fletcher, director of sales and marketing for the Westin Peachtree Plaza, said weather events like last week’s are rare, and Atlanta has learned plenty of lessons from prior events including bad weather in 2000, the last time the Super Bowl was in town.
Still, he worries that planners could shy away from Atlanta in winter the way they avoid south Florida during hurricane season.
Calling the response to the snowy weather “an epic fail,” Charlie Hayslett, CEO of Atlanta public relations firm Hayslett group, said there is “almost certainly a price the city and state are going to pay.”
“This is the kind of hit that does lasting damage to a reputation,” he said. “Frankly, holding press conferences and saying you’re responsible and accountable only goes so far, and … I doubt that will cut the mustard with convention planners who are trying to decide whether to spend millions of dollars here in January and February.”
Ann Godi, president of Atlanta-based meeting and event planning firm Benchmarc360, agreed.
“There is a lot of investment involved in meetings, so what we’re looking for is how you manage problems,” she said.
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