The Spokane Regional Convention and Visitors Bureau has committed an embarrassing gaffe.

For reasons that have been attributed to deadline pressure, creators of a promotional brochure for the expanded Spokane Convention Center failed to recognize – until it was too late – that in mentioning only two Spokane hotels by name it snubs the rest.

The $25,000 cost of the material is paid for from room fees assessed on rooms at hotels throughout the Spokane County Tourism Promotion Area, yet only the DoubleTree and Red Lion Hotel at the Park are identified in the new literature.

“Everybody should be there or nobody should be there,” said Walt Worthy, the developer whose rescue and restoration of the neglected Davenport Hotel is probably the most cherished act of historic preservation Spokane has witnessed.

Indeed, if there is justification for singling out any Spokane hotel in a brochure designed to attract tourist business, it would be the Davenport, with its rich past, world-class stature and distinguished list of past guests – all part of the Davenport’s singular role in Spokane’s history

But Worthy didn’t ask that. He merely protested that all the hospitality establishments should have been treated equally in the 3,000 brochures that will be distributed to convention and meeting planners. He’s right, and it’s hard to comprehend how such a blatant oversight could have happened, let alone gone unnoticed.

The focal point of the brochure, of course, is the Convention Center expansion now rising at Division and Spokane Falls Boulevard. Eventually it will alter the cityscape and, everyone hopes, the economic profile of the community.

If the new facility fulfills expectations, it will bolster tourism and convention activity here. If so, all the hotels will benefit. The 3,000 brochures will last only so long, and future printings can and should be revised.

To put the issue in perspective, however, it’s worth recalling the siting decision that prompted an earlier criticism by Worthy and others who were hoping the new facility would be laid out differently. Instead of designing the expansion to extend south across Spokane Falls Boulevard in a way that would invite interactivity between convention goers and the city’s core, the Public Facilities District chose to push the expansion east, toward Division and away from downtown.

That decision having been made, however, the city still has plenty to be excited about as the Convention Center extension takes shape. Even those who favored a downtown orientation should be able to foresee the positive impacts this development will have for the city.

But the unifying qualities that the project offers will be squandered if those in charge don’t take pains to assure that their promotional energy and budget will be invested fairly and impartially.