When the Thompson Hotel opens at DC Partners' $500M mixed-use project The Allen next year, CEO Roberto Contreras hopes to see the coronavirus in the rearview mirror. Contreras admits Houston business travel hasn't yet recovered from devastating 2020 lows. But he points to DC Partners' strong success with weekend traffic at its Thompson hotel in San Antonio as evidence leisure travel has come roaring back. And by the time the first phase of its Houston hotel and condominium development opens in 2023, he is optimistic the same will be said of business travel at luxury hotels like The Thompson and The Laura, a downtown hotel under Marriott's Autograph Collection that just opened last week. He might not be wrong. 
Houston already leads the state in hotel recovery, according to Houston First, which markets Houston tourism. Vice President of Market Strategy Cindy Decker told Bisnow the city is nearly at pre-pandemic levels of hotel occupancy, coming in at about 55% for the year at the end of 2021,…  Read the full story here. | 
