WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — The 2022 Women’s NCAA Tournament will be here soon, and it’s not just a big deal for the teams on the court. Many area hotels are sold out ahead of next week’s Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight at Intrust Bank Arena.

Hutchinson is already seeing a big bump in business with the 75th National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Basketball Tournament being in town. Hotels tell KSN they are answering more than 20 calls a day asking for a room, but they’re already sold out.

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“It’s a huge impact on the city,” said Holiday Inn Express Hutchinson Manager Ryan Hockenberry. “Not only just for the hotels, but you know restaurants and everybody else just to enjoy all of these people coming in from out of state and out of town.”

For the Holiday Inn Express in Hutchinson, an empty room is a rare sight during the month of March.

“Just a crazy month,” Hockenberry explained. “We have the home-school basketball championship the first week, the second week is state basketball, and then we have NJCAA. We plan for this ahead of time, but it’s just the entire month of March.”

In Wichita, the Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott Wichita Downtown is just a ten-minute walk from Intrust Bank Arena, the site of next week’s Women’s NCAA Tournament Regional Finals.

Nic Yoxall, the Fairfield Inn & Suites Downtown Wichita general manager, said, “It’s exciting just to see the teams and their fan bases. Seeing the draw last night, a lot of big names. I read an article that said a couple of WNBA top picks could be here, depending on how things play out. So it’s a good thing for us team-wise in Wichita.”

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Nic Yoxall says this tournament is coming at the perfect time for an industry that was devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic. His hotel is already sold out next week.

“To see that in the streets here in Wichita,” Yoxall added. “To see all of the restaurants. We’re just getting back to our pre COVID numbers, which is exciting. Now, you put this as a little bit of icing on the cake having the NCAA here.”