The Hilton Garden Inn located in downtown Mobile is pictured. A hotel builder and a tourism executive disagree on the state of tourism in the city and the effectiveness of an occupancy fee. (Arthur Mack/Call News)
By ARTHUR L. MACK
MOBILE — The builder of three hotels in downtown Mobile said tourism here isn’t doing well and questioned the need for a $1 occupancy fee.
Mike Cowart of Birmingham, who has been in the hotel business for 45 years, the last 20 as a market consultant, said the leisure and convention demand in Mobile has never been tapped to its fullest potential.
“I built those three hotels when other people weren’t taking chances in downtown Mobile,” he said at Tuesday’s Mobile City council meeting. “My message here is that the tourism industry here is not doing well and it can do better.”
Cowart said travel exploded after people got stimulus money because of the COVID-19 pandemic but noted Mobile flatlined while other cities, such as Birmingham and Huntsville, showed continued increases in hotel stays.
Cowart said the Tourism Improvement District, a $1 nightly assessment for hotel rooms designed to provide a massive boost in sales and marketing efforts, should be revisited or eliminated. It was spearheaded by Visit Mobile and is operated by the Mobile Area Lodging Association.
“Money is not going to solve this problem,” Cowart said. “We started the TID, which was not popular with hotel owners then, and it’s less popular now. It’s a failed idea and we need to re-examine the way we do tourism. We need to examine while every other major city (in Alabama) is increasing and we’re flatlining.”
Councilmembers Ben Reynolds and William Carroll questioned why Cowart proposed getting rid of the TID.
“It’s a wasted idea,” Cowart said. “You should talk to some of our desk clerks and see what some of our customers are saying about it. We need to look at the way we approach tourism. Do we need to spend this money when we’re not getting results?”
Carroll countered by saying: “I’m blown away by the position you’ve taken today based on everything you’ve done with your businesses. You say that it’s broken here but you have three businesses here that are doing well.”
Carroll said the TID should be continued because it provides additional revenue. Cowart, however, said it should not continue since Mobile’s occupancy growth percentage is behind the state’s other major cities.
Visit Mobile CEO David Clark said the TID is an innovative idea, that lodging revenue is growing and disagreed with Cowart’s assessment that the TID should be abolished.
“We’re seeing a 6½ percent growth in lodging revenue,” he said. “That’s better than any major city in the state of Alabama. That’s better than Savannah, Georgia, New Orleans or Charleston, South Carolina.”
Clark said the occupancy in hotels in downtown Mobile is about 60% and the TID program has been adopted in other Alabama cities.
“I can assure you that things would be a lot worse without the program,” he said. “Mobile is bouncing back and has a really bright future. I’m proud of our hoteliers because Montgomery just passed one and Florence just passed one.”
