21,000 hotel rooms committed for potential 2034 Olympics in SLC

SALT LAKE CITY — There is something about staying in a hotel with a brand you’ve stayed at before as you kind of know what you’re going to get.

That is a big reason why the group hoping to bring another Olympics to Utah is staying with John Sindelar — they know what they’re getting with him.

Sindelar helped get hotel rooms for the Salt Lake Olympic Organizing Committee for the 2002 Winter Olympics. Now, he is helping again for 2034.

The group hoping to bring the Olympics back to Utah in 2034 already has 21,000 hotel rooms committed for the Games. The goal is 24,000. We're doing a story on what it took to get hotel management companies on board for an event so far into the future. @KSL5TV at 6. #ksltv pic.twitter.com/OtLTajxYh8

— Alex Cabrero (@KSL_AlexCabrero) February 3, 2024

“It feels good to be kind of coming on back around here 20-something years later,” Sindelar said. “The Olympics have always excited me.” Even though the Games are still 10 years away, Sindelar and his team have already secured 21,000 hotel room commitments in 11 counties, including Wyoming.

The trick was working with hotel management companies for an event so far into the future.

“It takes explaining the program and the program, unfortunately, is not real simple,” Sindelar said. “We have kind of a complex process of basing the rates on future rates with an inflation factor and then another factor and so it takes a little bit of explaining.”

Western States Lodging and Management, which is based out of South Jordan, is one of the hotel management companies that signed on to the 2034 Olympics.

Western States has committed 1,900 hotel rooms in 20 hotels in Cache, Weber, Davis, Salt Lake and Utah counties.

“It took a little bit of education for our partners, but when they realized what they could do for our community, they were all about it. They were all on board,” said David Webster with Western States Lodging and Management.

That’s because an Olympics brings in a lot more jobs and business.

Webster said there is also a lot of pride in being involved in something as big as the Olympics.

“It is so exciting. It is such a neat opportunity to get exposure to Utah for the world,” Webster said. “The Olympic Committee put together a fairly competitive package so that it made it worth our time. It’s also just not about that, I think our corporate business partners get into this to see our communities grow.”

Utah has grown a lot since 2002 and Sindelar has seen it all.

Even though he has helped with hotel accommodations for major events around the world, he remembers how special the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics were.

He can’t wait to feel that magic again in 2034.

“It’s not just me, but our entire team has helped to put this together. I have got great companies with lots of hotels that signed up. There was a lot of help with this process, it wasn’t a solo effort,” Sindelar said.

The International Olympic Committee is expected to make a final decision on the 2034 Winter Olympics this coming summer.

Salt Lake City is the only city invited to the IOC’s “targeted dialog” phase for the 2034 Games.

The hotel management companies signed up for 2034 include:

• Five Rivers Hospitality, Taylorsville, is a lodging management company with 11 hotels in Salt Lake and Davis counties, including Fairfield Inn, Holiday Inn Express and La Quinta Inn properties.
• Grand America Hotels & Resorts, Salt Lake City, including both the Grand America and Little America in downtown Salt Lake City.
• The Point, a private project being developed under the authority of The Point of the Mountain State Land Authority, was created in 2018 by the Utah Legislature to guide future development at the 600 acres of state-owned land near the Point of the Mountain, strategically located between the major population centers of Salt Lake and Utah counties. It is anticipating over 1,000 rooms, with development now underway.
• Status Hospitality Management, Provo, with holdings across Utah and Southern California, has committed over 1,000 rooms in 17 hotels under Marriott, Hilton, and IHG brands in Salt Lake and Utah counties.
• Western States Lodging and Management, South Jordan, with extensive holdings across the western USA, including 20 hotels accounting for 1,900 rooms in Cache, Davis, Salt Lake, Utah, and Weber counties, mostly Hilton family-branded hotel properties.
• Woodbury Corporation, Salt Lake City, one of Utah’s most notable developers with over a century of experience in building communities, committing 12 hotels and over 1,300 rooms, mostly Hilton and Marriott family-branded hotel properties in Salt Lake and Utah counties.