Just a little under a week remains before NFL Commissioner Roger Goddell is expected to introduce Fernando Mendoza as the first player selected in the NFL Draft, and hotels in the greater Pittsburgh area have yet to be overrun with out-of-town visitors looking for a room.
At least that was the case as of earlier this week – and the same was true for hotel operators in the West Hills.
Rob Dacey, general manager of the Hilton Garden Inn Pittsburgh Airport, said he thinks that, collectively speaking, lodging establishments in the West Hills are seeing the same thing that he’s seen at his own hotel.
“And it’s really not a whole lot,” he said.
Kristin Gilkey, assistant general manager at Sleep Inn & Suites Pittsburgh Airport, concurred.
“Typically the week of (the draft) will generally get busy, but currently we have wide open availability,” she said.
Chris Heck, president and CEO of the Pittsburgh Airport Area Chamber of Commerce, acknowledged that “the entire process has been slower than most people were anticipating.”
Dacey said that when the idea of the NFL Draft coming to Pittsburgh first surfaced a couple of years ago, Airport area hotels and eating establishments were hearing a different story.
“It was made out to be a bigger event and a bigger draw than we’ve seen thus far,” he said. “I don’t think we’re going to see huge (economic) impacts for the western suburbs.”
Dacey said his hotel is actually going to see some regular business customers pass on their usual stays next week because it doesn’t make sense for them to pay the higher-than-usual rates.
“Those companies simply are not traveling,” Dacey said. “The cost to come in with flights and the hotel rooms are significantly more expensive. Companies realize they can come in this week or the week after (the draft).
“Whatever they had planned on the week of the draft can be postponed. They don’t have an urgent need to bring people in.”
Dacey said he has one particular business group that books 15 to 25 room nights almost every Monday through Thursday. “But they told us from the beginning, ‘We’re not traveling,’” Dacey said.
“For my property, with groups not traveling, we’re going to be sitting Monday and Tuesday with a bunch of rooms we know are not going to sell because of the stay pattern.”
Dacey said it’s not completely bleak, though. He said his hotel has booked some rooms for draft visitors, although that hasn’t made up for the loss of business travelers or what Dacey referred to as “typical transient guests.”
Dacey said it’s likely to end up “a wash” because the rooms that are being rented during draft week sell at a significantly higher rate than those during a regular week. He said that on a typical week, rooms might go from $220 to $299 on the busiest days, which are Tuesday through Thursday. But next week those rooms will be going for $450-$460 a night.
While that might sound steep, it’s considerably less expensive than what most hotel room shoppers will find downtown. Heck said those rates could go as $900 per night, and Dacey said he’s heard similar figures.
So why would someone pay twice as much to stay downtown when they could be sleeping in Robinson or Moon township?
“You’d think most people would want to stay near the airport if they’re flying in,” Gilkey said. “But they don’t want to pay that Uber surge.”
According to Uber, a surge is a “automatic, temporary price increase for rides that occurs when demand for vehicles exceeds the number of available drivers in a specific area.”
“From the airport to downtown it might be $30,” Gilkey said of an Uber tab. “But with the surge it could be double or triple that, and people have no choice but to pay $90.”
Also, while West Hills sports bars and other establishments might have specials in recognition of the NFL Draft, it won’t come close to what will be going on downtown and on the North Shore.
“There’s so much going on there,” Darcy said. “There’s a million and one restaurants and bars. If you’re looking for action, you’re not going to be eating or drinking in Moon Township.”
Still, Heck said savvy entrepreneurs in the West Hills can put together their own draft celebrations or parties to attract local residents who are interested in the event but don’t want to brave the throngs that are predicted to invade downtown and the North Shore.
“If you were the manager at any big sports bar, you would probably have some kind of specials to get people to come in and watch the draft at their place,” Heck said.
To that end, Troy Kasper, general manager at Twin Peaks in Robinson is “absolutely” expecting a healthy turnout, particularly for Thursday’s prime-time event.
“The draft is a big thing,” said Kasper, whose establishment boasts 80 TVs. “This is the place to come and watch.”
Heck said he expects other sports bars in the West Hills and surrounding suburbs will be packed, at least for Thursday and Friday nights.
“Not too many people know what Saturday’s going to bring,” said Heck, who mentioned that he spent this past Saturday watching the Masters golf tournament in an area sports bar “and you couldn’t move.”
Both Heck and Dacey said that while availability is not an issue at the moment, things could change next week as the draft creeps closer. That’s when compression might take hold downtown – rooms become ultra scarce and that could prompt late-arriving or last-minute draft visitors to seek shelter in the West Hills.
“When there is compression, the Airport corridor is always the first market to see it,” said Dacey, who estimated the Airport corridor has close to 2,000 rooms. “It always comes out here first.”
Heck agreed that the West Hills might see some benefit in the end.
“We’re waiting for the overflow (from downtown),” he said. “Others have said that the cost-conscious traveler knows what’s happening and at this point, those small groups would be looking at the airport corridor because of their rates.”
Dacey remains hopeful a week before Mendoza hears his name called.
“We might see some push next week,” he said. “But overall, I don’t think it turned out to be the huge economic impact we thought it would be.”
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