A group of hoteliers and real estate executives raised nearly $1 million last year to block construction of a Dallas-owned hotel next to the downtown convention center. Harlan Crow, whose family owns the Hilton Anatole, donated more than $936,000 to Citizens Against the Taxpayer-Owned Hotel. 

The group is expected to place a referendum on the May ballot asking Dallas voters to amend the city charter to prohibit public ownership of convention center hotels.

So far the pro-convention hotel organization Build the Hotel has raised only about $75,000. "We will spend," said, Anne Raymond of Citizens Against the Taxpayer-Owned Hotel said the organization will spend "what we think it takes to win," according to the Dallas Morning News.

The Dallas City Council plans to begin construction prior to Election Day on May 9, possibly rendering the vote irrelevant as it concerns the development. Under the proposed agreement, the city's cost for construction will be capped at $356 million. Dallas is not alone in its battle for a convention center hotel.

In Florida, plans to build a 1,000-room luxury hotel next to the Fort Lauderdale Convention Center are a year behind schedule. The developer, FauknerUSA, could be removed from the $400-million project because of speculation about its financial health, according to a recent story in the Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel. County officials are concerned about a lawsuit by a Texas bank to collect $6.1 million in loans, by a $6.6 million court judgment and millions more in claims by subcontractors. Faulkner's partner, Hilton Hotels, is considering replacing the firm if necessary.

County commissioners chose FaulknerUSA and Hilton Hotels over Marriott and Hensel Phelps Construction in November 2007. In a controversial move, Hilton and Marriott's development partner have met with county officials to discuss what could happen if Faulkner is dropped from the project, according to the Sun Sentinel story.