Conventions working on plan B after Wyndham closure

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) - It's been almost two weeks since the Wyndham closed its doors following an act of vandalism which caused the hotel to be deemed unsafe for occupancy.

Each year, thousands of people travel to Springfield for tourism and conventions. Because of it's centralized downtown locations, and 50,000 square feet of meeting space, many groups choose to stay at the Wyndham. After it's sudden closure, conventions are scrambling to find a back up plan.

"When everything came out [about the closure] we were immediately concerned," said Mike Walton, the American Legion State Convention Director. "The Wyndham was going to have some banquets in it. We were going to use 200 and some rooms there, and we were going to have a few displays in there."

Walton's convention will bring over 600 people to Springfield in July. While he was initially told the hotel would reopen by then, he received an email from a staff member at the Wyndham saying:

"We were informed as of yesterday that all groups due to arrive in the next six months will need to be cancelled and relocated. We are still working with investigators and insurance companies to assess all damages, and try to get a time frame as to when everything that was destroyed, will be repaired/fixed so that we are able to reopen."

The American Legion has worked closely with the Springfield Convention and Visitors Bureau to find alternative locations for their events. Scott Dahl, the Director of the Springfield Conventions and Visitors' Bureau, has helped multiple groups relocate.

"Visit Springfield has been working with our tourism partners, like the Springfield Hotel Lodging Association, to relocate groups that were booked at the Wyndham and we've been very successful, relocating over a dozen groups so far," said Dahl. "The good news is that Springfield has almost 4000 rooms and almost 4000 400,000ft² of meeting space, so there's plenty of options."

WAND News has reached out to the team at the Wyndham several times, but has not gotten a response.