Hotels finalize preparations before visitors come for DNC

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Local hotels are making a final push to be ready in anticipation of thousands of visitors for the Democratic National Convention.

The Hilton Charlotte Center City took Eyewitness News inside the last-minute crunch of cleaning and ordering food.

The chef told Channel 9 he ordered "probably about a thousand pounds of chicken” ahead of the convention.

This week, employees will take classes in first aid, CPR and security. Hotel management wants to make sure all guests are safe.

"We want to make sure we and our team members keep an eye out for that," said Glenn Simon, general manager of the Hilton Charlotte Center City. The hotel has also just finished installing new cameras and security.

"We invested over $60,000 to upgrade our security system," Simon said.

The hotel also spent money on other upgrades, including a new sound system and its executive suite as well as improvements to the hotel's internal workings.

"We put in six brand new water tanks," said Kristofer Carlson, director of food and beverage for the Hilton Charlotte Center City.

"We spent a lot of money to make sure there were no operating issues," Simon said.

The Renaissance Charlotte Suites Hotel brought in more staff to help for the DNC.
"We're bringing people in from Greenville, Greensboro, Raleigh," said William McBroom, director of sales for the Renaissance.

"We've had weekly meetings with updates, last month we stepped that up," he added.

Everyone will be assigned a task.

"We sat down and put an hour by hour schedule together starting the Saturday before and going through the following Friday," McBroom said.

The preparations are to ensure the event goes flawlessly.

"We'll be hosting breakfast for 500 people of the convention," McBroom said.

WSOC