Meeting & Events Hotels In Virginia Beach|"Hotels Have Vacancies This Weekend"

Source              :    centredaily.com
Category         :    Meeting & Events Hotels In Virginia Beach
By                   :    Mike Dawson
Posted By      :    Hotels in Virginia Beach North Courtyard

Meeting & Events Hotels In Virginia Beach

Penn State football fans will start pouring into town Friday for Saturday’s home opener against Eastern Michigan, and if any haven’t booked a hotel room, it’s likely there could plenty of options for these last-minute customers. Local hoteliers said, and online travel websites provide some confirmation of it, that they have vacancies this weekend, as the business of providing lodging to out-of-town guests isn’t as robust for the start of this year compared with last year. And some have dropped, albeit temporarily or on a case-by-case basis, the well-known two-night stay requirement. Hoteliers attribute the drop-off in business to multiple reasons, and they were quick to rule out that fans were being driven away by the off-field matter that have cast a pall over the football team, such as the way revered coach Joe Paterno was fired and the NCAA sanctions. Instead, the businessmen and woman said factors such as a less-than-stellar opponent or the new mystique having worn off second-year coach Bill O’Brien were at play.

The hoteliers were optimistic that their business would improve if Penn State is successful on the field and the weather doesn’t turn foul. Websites such as Expedia and Travelocity show many hotels in the State College have rooms available for both nights. Rates, checked Thursday, cost upward of $170 per night to as much as $305 at the Days Inn on South Pugh Street, State College. At the Best Western, off Shiloh Road in College Township, last year’s business for opening weekend was better, said front desk manager Melissa Benner. The hotel sold out last year, and she was optimistic that last-minute customers could grab a room that starts at $199 a night. As of Wednesday, Benner had 27 vacancies for Friday and 15 for Saturday. “It could be better, but we’re more than half-way booked,” she said. The two-night minimum stay was eliminated for this weekend’s game and the games later this month. The game circled on every fan’s calendar, against Michigan on Oct. 12, sold out long ago and had a hefty $459 a night cost, with the required two nights’ stay and payment in advance.

HFL Hotels, which runs the Country Inn and Suites, Comfort Inn and Sleep Inn in State College, had a similar report. “We aren’t as busy as the first game last year, but we are picking up,” said Mike Szczesny, the company’s director of hotel operations. Among the three hotels, there were about 70 rooms available as of Wednesday, he said. The next games, against Central Florida and Kent State, appear popular with out-of-towners that the three hotels won’t have any rooms left. The two-night minimum stay has been nixed for the Eastern Michigan game, but HFL Hotels offered guests who paid for Friday and Saturday nights a free room on Sunday, he said. The minimum stay will kick in for the rest of weekends that have home games, as well as the away-game weekend of Oct. 4-5, which is Penn State’s parents and families open house. Szczesny said his company offers the two-night minimum stay because consumer demand for it exists.

“At the end of the day when you look at last year, we only had one night that sold out both nights,” said Szczesny, adding that business is on track to be better than last year. At the Autoport on South Atherton Street, co-owner Kathy Punt said last year was busier, too. But she’s attributing the difference in business fans already having a year of knowing O’Brien, compared with last year, which was the coach’s first year at the helm. “Last year, we had the curiosity factor that we don’t have this year,” she said. The Autoport does not have a two-night minimum stay requirement, Punt said, but there’s a difference in rates between one night and two nights. Rates here are not different from last year, too, Punt said, but they are lower than the 2011 season, which was the first year that a ticket pricing policy took effect that was not popular with fans.

Source : centredaily.com/2013/09/05/3772673/hotels-have-vacancies-this-weekend.html