The threat of even higher gasoline prices isn’t slowing the occupancy rates at suburban hotel facilities, which are also forecasting solid summer bookings by business and leisure travelers.

Calls to several properties in the western and northwestern suburbs revealed a positive outlook for the warm months ahead, coupled with few concerns about the impact rising fuel prices are having on the guest books. However, hotel spokespersons did say that business could tail off if pump prices hit $4.00 a gallon and keep inching upward as the heavy summer travel season continues.

The Chicago area remains an attractive destination for travelers and it is now augmented in the suburbs by the spread of baseball and soccer tournaments, track and field events and other activities that draw athletes, coaches, parents and fans.

These only add to the usual summer fare of business seminars, association conventions, weddings, reunions and religious and community gatherings that keep demand high for sleeping rooms, meeting facilities and hotel banquet service.

“The market is extremely strong and I think we are seeing a huge improvement over 2006,” says Diane Rosenthal, general manager at the Wyndham Lisle-Chicago Hotel and Executive Meeting Center in Lisle.

She said business travel is up as the result of the area’s growing reputation as a strong setting for business meetings by local, regional and national organizations. Both mid-week and weekend business is up, thanks in part to the new sports center at Benedictine University and its draw for baseball, softball, lacrosse and soccer tournaments, as well as track and field events for athletes of all ages.

Rosenthal said the construction work on Naperville Road has been a bigger problem than the rising gas prices, but even that hasn’t stopped heavier business activity.

She estimated that hotel occupancy rates for the whole Lisle-Naperville area are up about 70 percent over 2006 and as much as 10 percent higher than through the Memorial Day period last year. A $14 million renovation at the Wyndham in Lisle, aimed at boosting the meeting business, has also contributed to the increase.

Up to the north a few miles, Lori McElwee, general manager of the Hampton Inn-Carol Stream/Wheaton says her property, with 116 sleeping rooms, was selected by an out-of-state housing group as a preferred site for a soccer tournament played over the Memorial Day weekend.

That only added to an increase in occupancy rates by both leisure and business travelers and she sees no let-up in traffic as the summer progresses.

“I come to work and find that we always have a high number of last-minute bookings at this facility,” she says, adding that Hampton, which is operated by Hilton Corporation, benefits from the strong marketing reach for hotel services from Hilton’s corporate level.

Reliance on local marketing

While record high gasoline prices are not a big concern yet among local hoteliers, several pointed out that marketing and promotions this year have focused heavily on the Midwest and nearby states in anticipation of leisure travelers making shorter trips to limit fuel expenses as much as possible.

It has been reported by various news sources that remote camp sites and summer cabin renters are seeing a slowdown as families are less willing to drive hundreds of miles to spend a week at a lake or in the woods, opting instead for recreational or tourist sites within easier reach.

“We hear that leisure travelers will be making shorter trips this year,” notes Kristin Duncan, Marriott’s area director of the sales and marketing functions for Marriott properties in Oak Brook, Lisle, Lombard, Downers Grove and Naperville.

“But the summer months are a strong demand time and this year is no exception,” Duncan says, adding that business meetings at Marriott properties are in strong demand.

She observes that summer sports events, including youth tournaments, NASCAR races in nearby Joliet and the Western Open golf tournament help fill guest rooms in the summer. Like other properties in the area, renovations help to spur new business, as Marriott has invested over $26 more than million for improvements at its Oak Brook hotel, the Oak Brook Hills resort site and the other Marriott buildings in the western suburbs.

Although the summer wedding business is a strong contributor, hotel managers say that there are fewer calls for the traditional dates packed into June. Couples now are more likely to schedule hotel receptions after tying the knot in June, July or August, or over the three-day Memorial and Labor Day weekends to make travel more convenient for out-of-town family and friends.

Airport area comeback?

Some hotels in the O’Hare area experienced a slowdown in the late winter and early spring as several organizations took their annual conventions elsewhere in 2007, heading to warmer venues and to Chicago’s major convention competitor, Las Vegas.

“But business is picking up, particularly corporate events of all kinds,” notes Violet Banach, marketing and sales director at the Wyndham Hotel O’Hare on Mannheim Road in Rosemont.

As with other O’Hare area properties, it’s mostly the business travelers who fill the rooms and meeting halls and that market segment shows no signs of slowing despite widely fluctuating air travel costs.

“August bookings are phenomenal,” Banach said, noting that recent investments in high-tech Internet connections for guests attract both individual business travelers and organizations to the property’s 467 sleeping rooms and over 24 rooms for seminars and breakout sessions.

The Wyndham and other O’Hare hotels are also somewhat immune from high gas prices because most of their guests take shuttle buses to and from the airport and more are using the nearby CTA Blue Line to attend meetings or to visit the attractions in Chicago instead of renting automobiles.

Moving northwest of the airport, a “very good summer” is expected at the Hotel Indigo Chicago-Schaumburg North in Palatine, according to sales representative John Berg.

One of the boutique hotels in the Intercontinental Hotel chain, Indigo relies heavily on what he called “our backyard business” of community organizations and travelers who find Palatine convenient to the Six Flags Great America theme park, local fairs and as a stopping off point for tourism in Chicago.

Added creature comforts like high-tech electronics, comfortable pillows and beds, and filtered air are some of the changes that hotels are making to attract business and leisure travelers.

Representatives also say that the addition of healthier food selections has become a virtual requirement. More guests are avoiding the roast beef and mashed potato lunches and dinners for turkey roll-ups, trans fat-free selections, vegetarian dishes, soups and salads.