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Another dire DNC prediction didn’t come true

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* Background is here if you need it. August 13th…

The DNC was supposed to fill hotels — one week out, that hasn’t happened

Downtown hotels enjoyed a lucrative week during the Democratic National Convention, with occupancy levels as much as 20% higher than the same period last year and rooms rented at much higher rates to the tens of thousands of visiting delegates, lobbyists and other convention attendees, according to data from CoStar, a real estate analytics firm.

“It’s economics 101. If demand goes up, prices go up,” said Jan Freitag, national director of hospitality analytics at CoStar. “These are very healthy numbers, so I think it was a very successful week, at least from a hotel perspective.” […]

Hotel room occupancy in Chicago’s central business district increased between 9% and 20% on the days of the convention when compared with the same time last year, according to CoStar data, with the largest boost happening on Aug. 18, the night before the DNC began.

The true windfall was the amounts per night that hotels were able to charge thousands of eager convention goers. The average daily rate at the same time last year hovered at $200, but last week hit a high of almost $375 on Aug. 20, the second night of the convention, a hike of more than 76% over the same day in 2023, CoStar found.

posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Aug 29, 24 @ 12:29 pm

Comments

I wonder if any of the delegates were surpised at how our local media was obsessed with rooting for a disastrous convention.

Comment by NIU Grad Thursday, Aug 29, 24 @ 12:54 pm
Just imagine what the occupancy rate would have been if Greg Abbott had bussed all those illegals to the city during the convention. /s

Comment by We’ll See Thursday, Aug 29, 24 @ 1:00 pm
NIU Grad - Thursday, Aug 29, 24 @ 12:54 pm:

I wonder if any of the delegates were surpised at how our local media was obsessed with rooting for a disastrous convention

Left leaning local media on top of it!

Comment by Jilted Thursday, Aug 29, 24 @ 1:25 pm
– I wonder if any of the delegates were surpised at how our local media was obsessed with rooting for a disastrous convention. –

The infamous Chicago brand of journalism.

Comment by What's my lede? Thursday, Aug 29, 24 @ 1:38 pm
Everyone loves predicting bad news because scary things get clicks. And if you’re wrong, everyone is happy regardless, and people forget how wrong you were, over and over and over again.

But if you predict good news and you’re wrong, people will never let you forget.

Comment by Homebody Thursday, Aug 29, 24 @ 1:40 pm
Where exactly did they think people were going to stay?

Comment by Excitable Boy Thursday, Aug 29, 24 @ 2:03 pm
Any word from the Illinois Restaurant Association or @ChicagoBars on how local food & beverage establishments performed that week?

Comment by DuPage Dad Thursday, Aug 29, 24 @ 2:06 pm
Wow. Delegates got bargain. Philly delegate for $600 a nite in ‘16

Comment by Annonin' Thursday, Aug 29, 24 @ 2:09 pm
That’s some good surge pricing there for the hotel industry. Did the bars do the same? Could’ve cleaned up.
The bars around Wrigley Field have regular prices then Cub’s game and concert pricing.

Comment by Frida's boss Thursday, Aug 29, 24 @ 2:18 pm
I watched the local news, which was often breathlessly reporting on the prospect of large and possibly violent protests and other potential mayhem surrounding the DNC. This was in contrast to the many, many visitors praising our beautiful city widely on social media. THe weather sure helped, but the Chicago DNC was a smash hit no matter what the naysayers and doomsayers predicted.

Comment by Terry Salad Thursday, Aug 29, 24 @ 2:24 pm
No doubt, the hotels did well, but what about the retailers who lost business due to employees staying home or working remotely during the DNC?

Most of the news coverage focused on Union Park and the United Center. There were some protests in River North as well (targeting delegates staying at hotels), but there seemed to be no news coverage of these protests.

Pritzker and other organizers are patting themselves on the back in the Sun-Times today.

Comment by Gravitas Thursday, Aug 29, 24 @ 2:53 pm
=but what about the retailers who lost business due to employees staying home or working remotely during the DNC?=

Good question for the fear mongers whose predictions of 1968 revisited were woefully incorrect.

And why wouldn’t Pritzker and others pat themselves on the back? By all objective measures it was a very good convention.

Comment by Pundent Thursday, Aug 29, 24 @ 4:05 pm
There are other options such as VRBO.and Airbnb.
I rented a VRBO for the week away from the Loop in relatively sane Roscoe Village for under $200/night.

I don’t do hotels ever since COVID.

Comment by Loop Lady Thursday, Aug 29, 24 @ 7:11 pm

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