Photo by Mickey Shuey
Downtown Indianapolis hoteliers and restaurants are ramping up on one of the busiest weekends in town since the College Football Playoff National Championship game began on Monday night.
Most of the more than 7,400 hotel rooms in the city center are expected to be occupied on Sunday and Monday evening, while only a few free spaces will remain on Friday and Saturday evenings – and prices will rise. This includes the double-branded Hampton Inn-Homewood Suites, which opened on December 30th near the IUPUI.
Chris Gahl, vice president of Visit Indy, said the championship game at Lucas Oil Stadium between the universities of Alabama and Georgia and related events is expected to draw 100,000 people to Indianapolis over the four days, including about 70,000 who will attend the Game yourself.
He said the game will likely make for one of the best downtown hotel nights ever, and even beat the 2012 Super Bowl – in large part because the city has significantly more hotel rooms than it did 10 years ago.
“For practical reasons, downtown has been sold out for months,” he said, noting that most hotels have a three-night minimum stay. Minimum stays are a standard practice for major events, including the Indianapolis 500 and the NCAA Men’s Basketball Final Four.
Phil Ray, general manager of the JW Marriott Indianapolis, the city’s largest hotel with 1,013 rooms, said some rooms are still available on the hotel campus (which includes the SpringHill Suites and the Fairfield Inn & Suites) for Friday and Saturday. Nightly rates start at around $ 339. The hotel campus is fully booked for Sunday and Monday evenings.
The JW is the premier hotel for media, including ESPN, in Indianapolis for the game, along with members of the College Football National Playoff Team. Meanwhile, team members and officials from Alabama and Georgia are expected at the Westin and the Indianapolis Marriott Downtown.
Ray expects his hotel and all of downtown to be “extremely busy” for the next few days.
Some downtown rooms have become available since the finalists punched their ticket to the game, but industry experts said these rooms are few and far between and are offered at astronomical prices.
“I don’t think you’ll find a room downtown – it’s going to be a tough sell-off for everyone,” said Ray. “That will also prevail in the suburbs, where the prices were also quite aggressive. There is a chance that some of it will loosen up on the weekend, but at the moment, especially on Sunday and Monday, I would expect the entire inner city to be completely compressed. “
As of Thursday night, a three-day stay at the Indianapolis Marriott Downtown would cost a traveler more than $ 1,700, at $ 569 a night. The Crowne Plaza had rooms starting at $ 1,030 a night for a three night trip. The downtown Embassy Suites is the most expensive hotel in town for the weekend. Some rooms are still available on Thursday for $ 1,575 or $ 4,725 for a three night booking.
Gahl said that while hotel rates are expensive, he expects average rates to be well below the Super Bowl, where even economy and mid-range hotels have raised single-night rates to thousands of dollars.
Hotels in the Interstate 465 belt are also seeing price increases, although thousands of rooms are still available in many locations such as Fishers, Carmel, Greenwood, and other suburbs.
“It’s probably pretty much the same in all aspects, except for the average daily rate,” said Gahl. “The X-factor, like the Super Bowl, will be how many people come to the side events. The game is sold out, so how many people are going to come to the fan experiences, the 5K, the free concerts? How many people just want to be part of the action? “
Like hotels, restaurants have been ramping up ahead of what is likely the busiest weekend since at least the first weekend of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament in March.
Patrick Tamm said that although staff numbers are not back to pre-pandemic levels, he expects restaurants to be prepared for the huge onslaught of visitors – something he attributes to the steadily increasing attendance at congresses over the past year, most recently with the performance Racing industrial fair that brought around 65,000 people to the city.
Tamm said that although some restaurants have closed because of the pandemic, he believes there are plenty of places for visitors to dine.
“We manage our work affairs,” he said. “This is not a pop-up event so we had some time to prepare for it. Many restaurants, which are traditionally only open in the evening, offer lunch on weekends and Mondays. There are also some creative uses of these spaces and restaurants for this influx of people.
