Vicksburg Convention Center officials have been able to retain most of the conventions and conferences affected by the closing of the Portofino Hotel, VCC executive director Annette Kirklin said.

Kirklin told the Board of Mayor and Aldermen Monday the convention center staff has resolved issues involving about 80 percent of the 14 events scheduled to stay at Portofino. She said the events had been planned into 2016.

“We’re still working out the kinks,” she said after the meeting. “We’re getting there. Nothing is looking extremely negative right now, so I think we’re OK.”

She said planners working with the organizations scheduled to meet in Vicksburg have either gone to another hotel as their host hotel “or they’ve spread it out.”

Portofino owner Greg Stewart said July 20 the hotel was closing immediately for seven months for renovations in connection with the construction of a land-based casino adjacent to the hotel.

Kirklin said neither the convention center staff nor planners for the events that were to use Portofino as the host hotel were notified of the closing. She said the convention center staff had to deal with some angry convention planners once word got out the hotel was closing for renovations.

“They (the planners) weren’t necessarily mad at us,” she said. “They were mad at the situation; being promised something and then us having to tell them. They weren’t notified. We were the ones notifying them, so it was a major negative thing.”

She said the initial reaction of the planners was “We are not coming because we can’t walk to your facility. A lot of guests like to walk when they are on break to their rooms.”

She said convention center sales and marketing manager Julie Ford has been working with the planners to get them to continue their commitment to come to Vicksburg, adding the convention center’s bus has played a major part in keeping the conferences.

“It actually has worked well because of the bus,” Kirklin said. “They (planners) weren’t expecting to travel back and forth, and many people like to go on breaks back to their hotel. It’s easier for everybody to be together and go back and forth. We are trying to work out the logistics.

“We have not lost a convention yet.”