The biggest winner of Super Bowl LIII might be Atlanta hotel owners.
Hotels in the city are tripling room rates as they prepare for more than 70,000 fans to arrive for Sunday’s matchup between the Los Angeles Rams and the New England Patriots, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Atlanta’s hotel rates in early February generally average $90 per night, but the average rate this weekend is expected to be about $271. And that doesn’t even rank among the sharpest increases for hotels in cities hosting the Super Bowl.
Last year, hotels in Minneapolis – St. Paul increased room rates by 267 percent, for instance, and in 2012, hotels in Indianapolis increased rates by 361 percent.
Prices tend to increase more percentage wise in smaller hotel markets, and Atlanta is one of the largest markets to host the Super Bowl in the past nine years with about 100,000 rooms. The city is projecting an occupancy rate of 80.9 percent, a 51 percent increase compared to its typical rate in early February. [WSJ] – Eddie Small