Ready to roll out the red carpet

Region's hotels booked solid for inauguration

Friday, Nov. 21, 2008

Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photo by DARWIN WEIGEL Marriott Spring Hill Suites sales representative Mildred Magruder, left, and general manager Chrissy Cockrell said the Prince Frederick hotel was booked solid three months ago in anticipation of President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration Jan. 20. E-Mail This Article | Print This Story

Jennifer Malon hasn't seen anything like it.

The assistant general manager's 100-room Hampton Inn on U.S. 301 in Waldorf is booked solid for the night before and the night of the presidential inauguration Jan. 20.

Hundreds of rooms in hotels from Waldorf to Lexington Park to Solomons Island are also taken for those nights and others that week for the historic swearing-in of the nation's first black president, Barack Obama, and have been for some time, despite being 25 to 65 miles from the center of the action in Washington, D.C.

The visitors will give the area a much-needed boost in tough economic times and in what is usually a dreadfully slow month for business, and many hospitality professionals and business leaders say they're pulling out all the stops to make sure thousands of visitors might return to the region again.

"We booked a good half of the hotel back in July. By the time we even got anywhere close to the election, we were already sold out," Malon said. "But of course, the next Wednesday [after the election], on Nov. 5 at 6 a.m. the phones starting ringing and haven't stopped since."

At that time, the hotel was receiving about 100 calls a day and as time passes, it's trickled down to 20 or 30 a day.

"They're calling [Washington,] D.C., first, and D.C. is definitely booked up or really expensive. It's travel agents and individuals, mainly locals who have family coming in, or from Delaware, Pennsylvania, all over the country," Malon said, including some school and choral groups performing in inaugural events. "This is the first time we've ever had something of this magnitude."

Malon said the hotel began sitting down with its corporate office a year ago to plan for the occasion so that it could also finish a renovation before then.

"This is phenomenal. This is a huge boost to the Waldorf area at a time when we really need it," Malon said.

"We're turning away people every minute. We've even got our sister companies in Lexington Park booked, I'm pretty sure all the way down to Fredericksburg [Va.]," said Diane Dye, group sales banquet manager for the Sleep Inn and Suites in La Plata. "I think this is going to be amazing and something no one has ever seen in the area. As part of Charles County, we want to make sure everyone enjoys their stay. We're hoping to order some flags and go above and beyond with a welcome reception."

"It definitely will be a boost," a manager at the Springhill Suites by Marriott in Prince Frederick, who wouldn't give her name because she's not authorized to speak to the press, said of the high bookings for the inaugural. "We've been booked for a while for those two dates. We had had a lot of requests saying that if Obama won president they would love to bring their schools up from the south. We're discussing some options to do something special. It will be a good week for business."

The hotel has just a few rooms left for Jan. 18 and Jan. 21 but is confident they'll book up as well.

The staff will double for the busy days.

The shortage of hotel rooms has created opportunity for locals to rent out their homes or second properties for the week. Lisa Gilbert posted her four-bedroom, three-bath Berry Hill Manor home in Waldorf for rent between Jan. 15 and Jan. 21.

For $12,500, clients get airport transfers and pool and foosball tables.

So far, Gilbert's had no bites, but if she does, she and her family will bunk with her parents, who live in the same neighborhood, for the week.

"I just picked a number [price]. I was looking [online] and the ones I saw on there were like $30,000, so I said, might as well see what I can do," Gilbert said. "I saw the need when I heard the hotels were totally booked. If someone's really down and out they may come this way. It's just a try."

Regional economic development departments say they want to seize the inaugural opportunity to capture new tourists and business.

"We are in the early stages of saying, No. 1, what are the opportunities and No. 2, what are the needs? And how we can make Charles County part of the inauguration?" said Marcia Keeth, chief of business development for the Charles County Economic Development and Tourism Department. "We're talking about how to take advantage of making sure the visitors learn a little about us and focus on them coming back, and what we can do to show them Charles County and what kind of events we can create. This is a once-every-eight-year opportunity."

The Greater Waldorf Jaycees has already begun planning a "black-tie optional" inaugural gala from 6:30 to 11 p.m. Jan. 20 that will feature multiple bands, a three-course buffet, an open bar and big screen TVs so attendees can watch the inaugural balls and other events for visitors to the area and local residents.

"It's an opportunity to give our local community to celebrate such a historic moment without having to pay $1,500 or $2,000" to attend an inaugural ball in Washington, D.C., said Eric Vrem, who is in charge of the event.

About 750 tickets are available for $100 each and many local Barack Obama campaign volunteers have expressed interest in attending, Vrem said.

"We expect far more [interest] than that. Right now people are trying to see which events they can get into in the District. Many groups have already come in. We can accommodate more but we're trying not to pack people in like sardines," he said.

Bob Schaller, director of the St. Mary's County Economic Development and Tourism Department, said the inauguration will come at an opportune time, when the county will begin celebrating its 375th anniversary.

"We'll have materials there already in the hotels, and maybe we can turn this into a way of capturing them while they're there," he said.

"We've known for a while that inauguration was going to be big and as soon as Obama won we knew it would be craziness," said Beverly Brown, sales manager for the La Quinta Inn in Lexington Park and three other regional properties.

"I was literally sold out the day after the election. I didn't think it was going to stretch as far south. … I had a guy from Alabama wanted to bring up 55 buses. I've got 25 that want to come up from Georgia, 30 from New York. … I'm looking to build a long-term partnership with these groups for the future. When they get here, we'll roll out the red carpet."

kkulp@somdnews.com