DETROIT -- The former Hotel Pontchartrain reopened its doors Monday as the Sheraton Detroit Riverside Hotel.

Site managers at the Washington Street landmark, located near Cobo Hall, said they are confident they will be able to compete with recent debuts of other hotels in downtown Detroit.

They are already sold out for the 2008 North American International Auto Show in January.

The number of big multihotel conventions in Detroit is set to increase next year from four to 10, attracting between 10,000 and 15,000 people each, according to city officials.

That would boost hotel occupancy rates for the region to levels not seen since before the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.