Mar. 31, 2003 - FORT WORTH, Texas -- It sounds like a bad joke, but the folks at City Hall aren't laughing. 

Plumbers attending a convention were staying in downtown Fort Worth in October when a hotel-room toilet exploded, contaminating the bathroom and the clothing of a convention-goer and his wife. 

"It was quite humorous because it happened to a consultant who was famous for conducting a study about exploding toilets," said Stanley Wolfson, the event planner for the American Society of Plumbing Engineers. 

"I mean, really, what are you going to do if you can't laugh about an exploding toilet?" he said. "Especially when it happens to a plumbing engineer." 

Fort Worth officials, however, say the incident underscores a growing need for new, first-class luxury hotel rooms to lure conventions to the new convention center. 

A plan to build a city-financed hotel was halted late last year after about 16,000 voters signed petitions forcing the issue to a referendum. City officials had planned to finance a 600-room hotel by issuing $160 million in debt. A committee is studying the issue and is expected to make a recommendation in June. 

Convention complaints including dirty linen, mysterious stains, bugs, broken air conditioners and surly service are outlined in letters released recently by the city to the Star-Telegram. Most of the complaints are about the Radisson, Ramada Plaza and Clarion hotels. 

The downtown hotels argue that the problems are not nearly as bad as the city is suggesting and that incidents, though unfortunate, are being used by Fort Worth as ammunition to build a case for a new convention hotel. 

"When I first saw those letters, for a moment, it hit me personally, especially knowing full well that it was one-sided," said Linda Sullivan, the Radisson's area director of sales and marketing. "We have a wonderful hotel, and the location cannot be beat." 

Because of its proximity to the new Fort Worth Convention Center, the Radisson is frequently used as a headquarters hotel, and officials there say they believe that they do a great job. 

To illustrate their claims, Radisson officials produced a 2-inch-thick stack of letters, all complimenting the hotel, its operations and its staff. 

"I am not going to dispute the comments, but those situations would be very unusual for this hotel," Sullivan said. "About 95 percent of the guests who stay here said they would return, according to the comment cards we receive. 

"That would not be the case if those incidents were routine." 

Management at the Clarion Hotel did not return two telephone calls seeking comment. 

Paul Barham, whose Addison-based Harrell Hospitality Group recently took over management of the Ramada Plaza and is planning to buy it, said he is aware that there have been complaints about the condition of the property. 

"We are absolutely attacking that issue," said Barham, whose management group worked out a deal with the city to help finance an overhaul of the facility. 

The city's public health records show that five key downtown hotels passed their latest inspections, including examinations of the kitchens, rooms and laundry areas. 

Only Clarion's restaurant came close to failing, with 29 demerits, said Tom Caylor, supervisor of consumer services for the health department. 

Still, some of the letters from meeting planners throughout Texas and the nation are scathing, city officials said. 

"It's pretty infuriating," Mayor Kenneth Barr said. "The hotel experience is one of the key memories people take home from them when they visit our city." 

The letters released by the city include comments about hygienic issues -- dirty linen and bedspreads, bugs in hotel rooms, discolored water -- and other nuisances, such as broken amenities, no hot water and inadequate service. 

Some of the letters were written directly to city officials, and others were sent to the Fort Worth Convention and Visitors Bureau. 

In a letter to Barr, Frank Sturzl, executive director of the Texas Municipal League, wrote that he received "dozens of negative comments" about the condition of the city's hotels. 

The league, which represents more than 1,000 cities throughout Texas, held its annual conference in Fort Worth in October. 

"The comments ranged from doors that wouldn't shut, HVAC units not working, peeling wallpaper, poor responses to delegates' requests, elevator problems, lack of parking, to poor administrative/customer service at the registration desks," Sturzl wrote. 

"Collectively, we consider these experiences sufficient cause to question the future use of certain properties and whether there is ample inventory of quality downtown hotel rooms in Fort Worth to accommodate our housing needs," the letter continued. 

In another letter, Rebecca Maddy, executive director of the National Association of Sporting Goods Wholesalers, wrote that she was "plagued with ants in the service bar and bathrooms" of her hotel room and that the "service level of the hotel was minimal, to say the least." 

And don't forget the exploding toilet. 

Wolfson said he and other members of the plumbers convention tried to take the unfortunate incident in stride but had enough problems during their October stay to write a letter to the city. 

"The hotels themselves are going to have to refurbish, or we will likely not be able to stay there again," he said. "Plus, we are growing, and we are going to outgrow the city; we need more rooms." 

That's a refrain echoed by Bill Harris, executive director of the Army Aviation Association of America. 

"It's a nightmare -- I have CEOs that I want to put in suites, and I have people staying in 11 or 12 hotels, and there just aren't enough of the kind of rooms I need," Harris said. 

"I want to bring our business back," he said. "I am trying to bring my business back. Either through active or passive decisions, it's like the people there are saying, 'We just don't want your business back.' " City officials are waging a public relations campaign to try to persuade voters of the need for a new hotel. 

The plan by Barham's group to renovate the Ramada Plaza into a three-star hotel with a new name would not meet the demand for top-flight rooms, officials said. 

"It doesn't matter how good a job the restaurants do or the convention center staff does, or how much fun people have, they still remember the bad experiences they have at the hotels when they leave," Barr said. 

"We actually have some hotels that are doing a very good job -- most notably the Renaissance Worthington, the Marriott Courtyard and the Ashton," Barr said. "But it is an undisputable fact that we lose business until we get a new property downtown that improves the overall room stock in the city." 

-----To see more of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.dfw.com 

(c) 2003, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. CD,