With 10,700 rooms to fill and little large-convention activity, Center City hoteliers are slashing rates and praying to get through a tough first quarter, which many say could be the worst in years.
“There are not enough guests to go around for all of us,” said Julie Coker, general manager of the 350-room Hyatt Regency Philadelphia at Penn’s Landing. “In this age, you are competing against everybody from the Holiday Inn to the Ritz-Carlton.”
To fill rooms, the scissors have come out everywhere, upscale hotels and economy inns alike. The result: a bargain-hunter’s dream.
For $39 to $89 weeknights, $109 to $189 weekends, if you book through Priceline.com, you can get a room at the Philadelphia Marriott on Market Street.
A room at the Best Western Center City Hotel, in the heart of the museum district, was $99 midweek and $109 for this weekend – about $10 less for each than a year ago.
At the Hyatt Regency, rooms are $190 midweek, down from $200-plus last January. On weekends, the rate is $119, down from $159.
Competition among hotels has intensified because there are fewer major conventions – those requiring at least 2,000 rooms and using at least two hotels – in the first three months of 2010 than in previous years, a result of the delayed opening of the expanded Convention Center, from late 2009 to March 2011.
“We’re going into all our distribution lists and trying very aggressive marketing efforts,” said Bill Walsh, general manager of the Philadelphia Marriott, which is connected to the Convention Center and relies heavily on large conventions to fill its 1,408 rooms.
http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20100117_Phila__hotels_cutting_rates.html
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