TERRE HAUTE —
Terre Haute hotels are seeing economic spillover from the Super Bowl, although not nearly what the community had hoped for.
As of Friday, the Holiday Inn and SpringHill Suites had 14 rooms booked for pilots who would be flying their passengers to Indianapolis, said Bill Burdine, area manager for the Holiday Inn-Terre Haute and the
SpringHill Suites. The demand was largely unchanged on Saturday.
Terre Haute hotels had guaranteed 1,000 rooms to the National Football League for their “NFL Experience” package for the Super Bowl weekend.
The Holiday Inn and Springhill Suites had 264 rooms reserved for the NFL, but “they released the rooms on Monday” because of lack of demand, Burdine said. “If they had kept them, they would have paid for them whether or not they were used.”
Burdine believes part of the problem is that both teams are from the East Coast, “and no one is coming this way.” Terre Haute hotels might have done better if the teams came from the west or south, he said.
The Holiday Inn and SpringhillSuites are part of General Hotels Corp., which has several other hotels in Indianapolis, Lafayette and Kokomo that are full, he said.
The Holiday Inn hoped to get some business from people who plan to travel to Indianapolis for Super Bowl activities but who may not be attending Sunday’s game.
Early Friday evening, though, business was slow. The hotel had even less business than usual, and Burdine believes people may have feared Terre Haute hotels would be booked or overpriced because of the Super Bowl.
If a large number of rooms had been taken, the Holiday Inn was planning a celebration in its atrium, with a live band and free food.
While he was disappointed at the lack of business, he believes the community did the right thing by preparing the way it did.
“The state is going to benefit from this immensely and that must be our goal. … the Super Bowl will add a lot of income to a lot of people,” he said.
He also believes “it is much better to err on the right side than the wrong side.” If the community had not prepared, and the large numbers had arrived, those visitors would have left disappointed.
He praised the local Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Terre Haute International Airport for their efforts. “If we don’t get the business, it isn’t because we didn’t put our best foot forward,” Burdine said.
An effort to place volunteers at several hotels was scaled back Friday to the Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express and Terre Haute International Airport, said Ashley Delaunois, marketing coordinator with the Terre Haute Chamber of Commerce.
Late Friday afternoon, volunteer Becky Scholz sat at a table stocked with free cookies, drinks, hospitality bags and information about Terre Haute. She was at the Holiday Inn lobby hoping for some Super Bowl guests.
The lobby was decorated with a football theme that included balloons, football helmets and other items.
Meanwhile, at the Holiday Inn Express located on Indiana 46 near I-70, Mia Summers, director of sales, reported, “We are getting some overflow from Indianapolis. We don’t know if it’s people who are going to the Super Bowl or if it’s because Indianapolis is full.”
She did anticipate some added business Saturday from pilots who would be using the airport.
Late Friday afternoon, volunteers Pat and Don Boatman were ready to greet any guests who planned to spend the night, whether or not they planned to attend Super Bowl festivities. “It sounded like it would be fun,” Don Boatman said. He was optimistic that business would pick up through the weekend.
Local & Bistate
Related Photos
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Fans crowd the Indiana Convention Center on Jan. 29 in Indianapolis for the NFL Experience presented by GMC.
Discussion
Hotel demand in Terre Haute less than foreseen
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Inspiration for the class of 2012
