COLUMBUS, Ind. — While virtually every business arena has been impacted by COVID-19, the hospitality industry has taken a particularly severe hit. The American Hotel and Lodging Association reported that since mid-February, hotels have lost over $46 billion in room revenue.
Columbus and Bartholomew County are no exception. Smith Travel Research (STR) reported that in August, the local lodging industry saw a 46% decrease in business from where it was at the same time last year.
“Rates have been a challenge,” said Cindy Waddle, who is regional manager for Dora Hotels in Bartholomew County and on the visitors center’s board of directors. “… When there’s less demand, everybody is competing for the same business.”
Corporate travel is a key component to the success of Bartholomew County hotels, said Visitors Center Director of Marketing Erin Hawkins. “And since business travel doesn’t seem to be rebounding as quickly as we had hoped, hotel occupancy has been understandably low this year.”
Waddle and Hawkins both said that the drop in hotel business would be even sharper if it weren’t for one significant factor — sports tourism.
“Columbus has hosted tournaments each weekend since June 19,” Hawkins said, “and the impact on the local economy is impressive.”
According to the research firm, before the return of youth sports, weekend occupancy in Bartholomew County hotels averaged at 38%. During the first full weekend of play, however, it rose to 87.2%.
“It was huge,” Waddle said. “… They (the traveling teams) were chomping at the bit to get back into some sort of normalcy. And that meant playing tournaments, and that meant staying at hotels. … It was just incredible. I mean, we went literally from very minimal business, weekends prior, to being sold out.”
For more on this story, see Sunday’s Republic.
