Bernardo Winery Hotels|"Grand Prix Provides Sell-Out Weekend For Many Downtown Hotels On The Track"

Source         :     bizjournals.com
Category     :    Bernardo Winery Hotels
By               :    Sarah Meehan
Posted By   :    Hotels in Virginia Beach North Courtyard

Bernardo Winery Hotels

Downtown hotels are cashing in on the Grand Prix of Baltimore as overnight guests stay for Labor Day weekend. The Baltimore Marriott Inner Harbor at Camden Yards is one of the hotels booked solid through the weekend. Tim Mayer, the general manager, said both the Hilton and Hyatt are more than 90 percent full.

Skip Cerf, operations director for the Marriott, said the hotel filled at the last minute, during the week leading up to the race. It helped that the 524-room Marriott is the headquarters hotel for Andretti Sport Marketing.

Sell-out nights are not limited to hotels directly adjacent to the track, although many hotels further from the action are not booked the entire weekend. The Four Seasons is oversold for the weekend with both Grand Prix guests and other large groups, according to Audrey Slade, a spokeswoman for the hotel.

James LoBosco, managing director of the Embassy Suites & Grand Historic Venue, said he expects his hotel to sell out Saturday night. Not bad for a Labor Day weekend,” LoBosco said. Occupancy rates for Friday and Sunday will not be as high around 75 percent to 80 percent for the 300-room hotel, he said  the same story at the Fairfield Inn and Suites, where the hotel will be full Saturday night, but only at around 80 percent occupancy the rest of the weekend, Assistant General Manager Alicia Beads said. She was hoping for the entire weekend to be sold out  like a typical Saturday. We do have a lot of guests that are checking in specifically for the Grand Prix  she said.  softer than we would like it to be, but it is what it is Beads said   not as busy as a weekend when the Orioles are playing the New York Yankees or Boston Red Sox, room nights that sell out far in advance.

Source : bizjournals.com/baltimore/news/2013/08/31/grand-prix-provides-sell-out-weekend.html