{"id":28716,"date":"2023-09-23T13:32:16","date_gmt":"2023-09-23T20:32:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=28716"},"modified":"2023-09-23T14:26:01","modified_gmt":"2023-09-23T21:26:01","slug":"28716","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2023\/09\/23\/28716\/","title":{"rendered":"Dreamforce attendees defend San Francisco: \u2018Not like what they heard on the news\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Silas Valentino<\/a> Updated Sep 21, 2023 9:55 p.m. (SFGate.com)<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dreamforce conference attendees depart the Moscone Center at lunchtime in downtown San Francisco on Tuesday Sept. 12, 2023. Charles Russo\/SFGATE<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The annual tech conference Dreamforce roused an otherwise sleepy downtown San Francisco, packing city blocks with lanyard-necked attendees<\/a>. Even Bono from U2 was spotted strutting along Market Street in downtown San Francisco \u2014 or at least a convincing doppelganger<\/a>.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The three-day conference pulled 40,000 out-of-city visitors to the Moscone Center between September 12\u201314, recalling recent memories of a vigorous downtown. A hotel manager told SFGATE that certain guests even defended San Francisco from its skewered reputation seen in national coverage<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New data viewed by SFGATE indicates just how prosperous the event was for the San Francisco tourism industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The real estate analytics provider CoStar Group prepared hotel occupancy rates for the area around the conference including 106 hotels and 19,776 rooms. The report revealed a 93.6% average hotel occupancy rate during the conference’s peak evenings from Sept. 11 through Sept. 13. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was nice to see the olden days,\u201d Jon Handlery of Handlery Hotel in Union Square told SFGATE. \u201cThe city was alive. The restaurants were jammed. I could see people waiting to get into Macy\u2019s. This is who San Francisco is.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The final day for Dreamforce, Sept. 14, showed a 74.7% hotel occupancy rate, which is still higher than the city\u2019s average 66.1% occupancy rate<\/a> for July 2023. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Dreamforce conference attendees occupy Yerba Buena Gardens at lunch time in downtown San Francisco on Tuesday Sept. 12, 2023. Charles Russo\/SFGATE<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The healthy hotel occupancy data continues the upward trajectory that started with last year\u2019s Dreamforce<\/a>, which showed an average occupancy rate of 91.2%. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Across the San Francisco and San Mateo markets, CoStar saw the largest year-over-year increases in average daily rates and revenue generated per available room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dreamforce helped San Francisco hotels jump to a $345.78 average rate while revenues were up nearly 34%<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BEST OF SFGATE<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Local <\/strong>| When a visit to SF\u2019s Union Square \u2018was a special treat\u2019<\/a>
<\/strong>History <\/strong>| The forgotten zoo in the middle of San Francisco<\/a>
Food<\/strong> | The 30-year feud between two San Francisco clown restaurants<\/a>
<\/strong>Obscure <\/strong>| There\u2019s an abandoned octagon house hidden in the SF woods<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nearly every room at the Marriott Hotels near the Moscone Center was booked out, said its general manager Clifton Clark. “We ran similar occupancy at this hotel last year but there was more demand on the market and the rates were better,\u201d Clark said. \u201cI talked to guests from Miami and Chicago, they were all positive about the show and were looking forward to coming back next year. I didn\u2019t hear any negativity \u2014 they said it’s not like what they heard on the news.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Dreamforce conference attendees cross the interesction at the intersection 4th and Mission in downtown San Francisco on Tuesday Sept. 12, 2023. Charles Russo\/SFGATE<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

San Francisco\u2019s national image was a prevailing topic heading into Dreamforce after Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff made public threats to pull future Dreamforces from San Francisco if the conference was \u201cimpacted by the current situation with homelessness and drug use<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The public pressure prompted the city to actively clear the streets surrounding the conference<\/a>, which Benioff assumed credit for, remarking that, \u201cEvery day should be Dreamforce<\/a>.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following this year\u2019s event, Handlery said he\u2019d be surprised if the CEO couldn\u2019t see the city\u2019s performance as anything but a success. \u201cWe pulled it off,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen you do it right, the people who attend will communicate that. I think that\u2019s what [Benioff\u2019s] looking for so he can be supportive of the city, but also show that he\u2019s listening.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As city tourism officials prepare for the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference in November, in which world leaders from 21 countries are bound for downtown, the positive outcome from Dreamforce is a source of reassurance that San Francisco remains competitive for citywide conventions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur city built upon the success of last year\u2019s [Dreamforce] to make this year\u2019s event even better,\u201d Alex Bastian, president and CEO of the Hotel Council, wrote to SFGATE in a statement. \u201cAnd if given the opportunity, we are ready to follow the trend to make next year\u2019s Dreamforce even better than this year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More Dreamforce<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014Marc Benioff credits Salesforce for downtown SF being cleaner: \u2018Every day should be Dreamforce\u2019<\/a>
\u2014Matthew McConaughey gives talk at San Francisco’s Dreamforce<\/a>
\u2014Dreamforce 2023 has been taken over by a giant cartoon head of Albert Einstein<\/a>
\u2014Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff threatens to pull future Dreamforces from San Francisco<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sep 21, 2023<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Silas Valentino<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Silas Valentino is SFGATE’s Travel Editor. He was born in Bakersfield and raised in Marin County. He covered the New York City music scene for The Village Voice before returning west to report for the Point Reyes Light. Recently, he contributed to the launch of a monthly lifestyle magazine called PUNCH that focuses on the Peninsula. Outside of reading, writing and storytelling, Silas values his family (including eight nieces and nephews) and exploring the state. He lives with his girlfriend above a wine shop in Cole Valley. Email: silas.valentino@sfgate.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Silas Valentino Updated Sep 21, 2023 9:55 p.m. (SFGate.com) Dreamforce conference attendees depart the Moscone Center at lunchtime in downtown San Francisco on Tuesday Sept. 12, 2023. Charles Russo\/SFGATE The annual tech conference Dreamforce roused an otherwise sleepy downtown San Francisco, packing city blocks with lanyard-necked attendees. Even Bono from U2 was spotted strutting along… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1059],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28716"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28716"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28716\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28728,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28716\/revisions\/28728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}