The Fort Worth Stock Show, whose three-week run next year overlaps with the run-up to the Super Bowl in Arlington, has made a bit of progress in pressing local hoteliers to set aside rooms at inexpensive rates for Stock Show exhibitors.
"We do have a few that have committed to us that they're going to maintain their standard rates, as they always have, through the Stock Show," said Brad Barnes, the Stock Show's president. Three or four hotels have ponied up so far, Barnes said.
In exchange, the Stock Show will promote them - and others that maintain their typical rates or offer a special Stock Show price - as "preferred partners" on its website and the Fort Worth Convention & Visitors Bureau's website, Barnes said. The Stock Show is referring its visitors to the hotel booking engine on the visitors bureau's site, www.fortworth.com.
In another balancing act, the Stock Show ends Feb. 5, a Saturday and the day before Super Bowl XLV at Cowboys Stadium. The Stock Show usually ends on Sunday.
The shift means that several events that are typically on the final Sunday, including the rodeo's last day, will be moved to Friday and Saturday, said Shanna Weaver, a Stock Show spokeswoman.
"We didn't want our patrons to have to make a choice" between the Stock Show and Super Bowl, Weaver said.
Hard choices might be the order of the day for Super Bowl hotel rooms, however, as local inns have already instituted terms such as four-day minimum stays with checkout on Feb. 7, advance purchase requirements and no refunds, as well as higher-than-usual rates.
Rates at the hotels that have struck commitments with the Stock Show average around $80 to $100, Barnes said.
Barnes is worried about youths and their families who come to Fort Worth during the last week of the Stock Show to exhibit their steers and pigs, leading into the show's big annual Sale of Champions finale.
Local convention and visitors bureaus have been leaning on hotels to be circumspect in pricing, pointing out that only half of Dallas-Fort Worth's potential room nights are expected to be booked for Super Bowl weekend. In Fort Worth, Mayor Mike Moncrief has admonished hoteliers to remember the Stock Show, citing its decades-long history. Neither the Fort Worth visitors bureau nor the Stock Show has figures for how many room nights the Stock Show takes up annually.
Al DeBerry, president of the Hotel Association of Tarrant County, said hoteliers should look for opportunities to match up the "puzzle pieces" during the Super Bowl run - groups that want to stay during the week, and others that want the weekend.
DeBerry, also area director for Tharaldson Hospitality, which includes the Fairfield Inn & Suites at Interstate 30 and University, and a Hampton Inn on Interstate 20, said his hotels have already put together similar packages with some groups for that stretch.
"It's very important for the hoteliers to understand that the Stock Show is looking for opportunities," he said.
Barnes thinks hoteliers that keep the Stock Show in mind can turn the situation into positive PR that Stock Show visitors will remember. "We support the youth of Texas," he said. "That's a pretty strong message."
And...speaking of the Stock Show: the show, which traditionally ends on a Sunday, will end next year's run a day before Super Bowl Sunday. That means several events that typically occur on the Stock Show's last Sunday - sheepdog trials, rabbit and quarterhorse exhibitions, the rodeo finale, a commercial heifer show - will instead be pushed into Friday and Saturday, said Shanna Weaver, a Stock Show spokeswoman.
"We didn't want our patrons to have to make a choice," she said.
- Scott Nishimura
