For months ahead of the RNC, hotels were booked as far as sixty miles out from Cleveland. Then, with Donald Trump becoming the presumptive nominee, some Republicans who don’t support him opted not to attend.
No-shows
Joe Savarise of the Ohio Hotel & Lodgings Association says there have been cancelled reservations; but there’ve been replacements too.
Changes
He says hotel managers are telling him the need for rooms the week before the convention for people ramping up for it was greater than forecast. And then some media organization sent more staff than originally planned. “We have people staying as far west as Sandusky. We have hotels filled down in the Akron-Canton area. And we know that from a travel economy perspective, we’re going to see the results that we anticipated all along for the local communities and for the state in terms of the business that this travel brings in.”
When it’s over
Savarise says final numbers on how many people stayed in hotels, and where, won’t be in until late next week.
