Thousands of Hotel Rooms in Philly Booked for NFL Draft
Do you remember when the Pope was coming to town and everyone predicted that there’d be so many people in town that there wouldn’t be enough places to stay? Remember when people were renting out their apartments for thousands of dollar on AirBnB and there was general lodging hysteria throughout the land? Well, rest assured that that’s not the case for the NFL Draft. Hotel rooms are moving briskly, say the pros, but it looks like there will be enough room for everyone.
Hotel rooms are still available for visitors coming into town for the NFL Draft, say experts.
Officials say that some 39,000 hotel rooms both inside of and within the vicinity of the City of Brotherly Love will be jammed full by revelers coming to attend the draft – to say nothing of coaches, prospective players and their families, and NFL luminaries. That prediction is based on how much traffic the draft brought to Chicago, the last city to host it, says Julie Coker Graham, president and CEO of the Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau.
What does that mean if you have been undecided about visiting town for the draft and haven’t yet booked a hotel? It means you should make up your mind now and take advantage of the limited availability that still exists, says Ed Grose, executive director of the Greater Philadelphia Hotel Association. He told the local CBS affiliate that hotel rooms are still available, but they are filling fast. He says that, for those willing to pay premium prices, there are even rooms available within walking distance of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, where the draft festivities will be taking place. For more budget options, guests should look a little further away, he advises.
“There are rooms available in the airport area, in the Valley Forge area and even as far as Exton, which is a 43-minute Amtrak ride into Center City,” he told CBS.
In short, Philadelphia is showing that it is competent at handling big events, like the Papal visit, the DNC, and now the draft.
