Hotel assignments for 2020 DNC convention in Milwaukee could stretch to O'Hare

Bill Glauber
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Hilton Milwaukee City Center will serve as the headquarters hotel for the 2020 Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee.

This week, state delegations will learn where they'll be housed for the 2020 Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee.

And while two-thirds of the delegates will be staying within a 45-minute drive of Fiserv Forum, others could be housed as far away as Rosemont, Ill., near O'Hare International Airport.

Housing arrangements for delegates mark the first big test for organizers of the event.

And make no mistake: Hotels are a big deal for the thousands of delegates and alternates who will converge on the city July 13-16 as Democrats pick their presidential nominee.

Many of the delegates will be housed in hotel clusters in downtown Milwaukee, near Mitchell International Airport and in Brookfield, convention organizers have said.

The hotels around O'Hare come into play because of their size and ability to handle large group bookings.

Organizers have noted that drive times to Milwaukee are expected to be shorter in duration than trips to conventions in Philadelphia in 2016 and Charlotte, N.C., in 2012.  

Convention organizers are responsible for setting up a shuttle bus system to get delegates to and from Fiserv Forum.

Hilton Milwaukee City Center will serve as the headquarters hotel for the convention.

In addition, tens of thousands more people — including media, activists and donors — are expected to be in Milwaukee and the wider region for the event.

In an email Sunday to Democratic National Committee members, the party chair, Tom Perez, lauded the work of local organizers to secure 17,000 rooms.

Perez said the early hotel assignments will "allow delegations to plan travel six months early," helping to reduce costs and ease logistical planning.

"In previous conventions, too few hotel rooms were secured and contracted too late, so the average room prices skyrocketed," Perez said. "One very large delegation ended up having an average room price of nearly $700 in Philadelphia."

Perez also emphasized that state delegations won't be split among several hotels.

"In previous conventions, too many large and medium-sized delegations had to be split apart across multiple hotels — this made making logistics and planning more difficult and ultimately raised the cost for state parties," Perez said.

"This year all delegations will be in one hotel, which makes it easier to hold their daily delegate breakfast, hold working meetings and strategy sessions for the fall and facilitate their convention logistics."

Every delegation will also be placed in a full-service hotel, Perez said, an important consideration for meals, including late-night food service.

"Moving this timeline up six months saves the DNC, our state parties, and our future delegations valuable time and resources, without changing any of the final outcomes," Perez said.

Joe Solmonese, the Democratic National Convention Committee chief executive officer, said in a statement that organizers "listened to state parties, DNC members and convention experts to develop a hotel assignment process that reduces costs, eases logistical planning and ensures our delegates will have a terrific convention experience."

"Compared to past conventions, delegates will have more affordable accommodations and more time to plan their trips," he said. "These reforms ensure delegates can focus on enjoying their experience, fulfilling their responsibility to select our nominee and laying the groundwork to win the presidential campaign.”