LANSING, Mich. – The Greater Lansing Convention and Visitors Bureau (GLCVB) held its annual meeting on March 2 and shared the state of the hospitality industry and the 2022 local visitor economic impact. It also celebrated the CTA Star of the Year and recognized six area tourism-related businesses as Hospitality Heroes for their contributions to the region.

Julie Pingston, GLCVB President and CEO reflects, “the industry started out in recovery mode in early 2022 but then gained positive momentum to end the year by consuming over one million room nights, an accomplishment the region has not seen since 2019. A primary indicator of the vibrancy of the industry is hotel occupancy and ADR and we were pleased to see steady growth in both.” 

The year ended with a hotel occupancy rate of 53.7%, better than the 2020 rate of 40%, but still far off pace from the region’s occupancy of 61.6% recorded in 2019. The region’s hotel average daily rate also continued to rebound ending 2022 at $110.29 compared to $92.59 in 2021. 

During the annual meeting, the GLCVB recognized many of the region’s 400 Certified Tourism Ambassadors that are dedicated to making every visitor experience a positive one. Those acknowledged included 18 CTAs that have served the community for five years and 13 CTAs that have served for 10 years. Heather Cooper Kim, CTA was celebrated as the CTA Star of the Year.  

The GLCVB acknowledged the following local businesses as Hospitality Heroes:

• Lansing Center, Morton’s Fine Catering, Marriott East Lansing at University Place and Lansing Brewing Co. - The hospitality community came together to share staff to help the Lansing Center serve 1,000+ guests at the 2023 MLK Day of Celebration.
• Holiday Inn Express – Okemos – The hotel gathered supplies and housed people affected by the Knob Hill Apartments fire at the end of December 2022.
• Saddleback BBQ – Owners gave back by paying off school lunch debts, helping fellow restaurants in need and donating to those impacted by the Knob Hill Apartments fire. 

“As the industry continues to make strides toward recovery, I remain hopeful and believe in the resiliency of this community. The six businesses we celebrated today are living proof of that,” said Pingston. “As we look forward to 2023 our focus will be to serve as a resource to event planning clients, while continuing to help our local hospitality partners thrive. We are also excited about the rebrand of the organization and anticipate launching our new name and refreshed look later in the year. As always, we remain optimistic that we are well prepared to meet any new challenges we might encounter as the industry moves forward.” 

Find the full 2022 GLCVB annual report and additional details at https://www.lansing.org/about-us/annual-report-and-meeting/ 

Photos attached – pictured left to right:  Matt Gillett, Saddleback BBQ; Bethany Morton, Morton’s Fine Catering; Pat Gillespie, Lansing Brewing Company; Tristan Wright, Lansing Center/LEPFA; Amanda Allen, Marriott East Lansing; and Veronica Estrella, Holiday Inn Express-Okemos. 

Heather Cooper Kim named CTA Star of the Year

The vision of the GLCVB is to inspire everyone to celebrate and love Greater Lansing as much as we do! Which goes hand in hand with our mission, to positively impact our community’s quality of life by developing the region as a visitor destination. Need visitor information? Request a copy of our new Visitor Inspiration Guide on our newly refreshed website www.lansing.org.

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