Hotels for Miami Super Bowl Are Filling Up Fast

There are still 364 more days to go before Super Bowl XLI comes to Miami, and already some hotels are sold out.  From Miami Herald:

“Don’t bother asking Steve Shalit for a hotel room during Super Bowl week. Two corporate groups snagged the bulk of his hotel’s 192 rooms well in advance, and Shalit, the general manager, says he’s saving what’s left for last-minute VIP customers.

The jostling for South Florida hotel rooms began months ago as tour operators, corporate entertainers, die-hard fans and the National Football League itself began staking out their Super Bowl territory.

Some hotels are fending off bookings as they wait for demand to increase. Alan Lieberman, owner of seven South Beach hotels, said his staff has fended off travel brokers looking to lock up Super Bowl rooms at a wholesale rate.

This past fall, they were all over the place, he said. I would guess half the town’s sold out for Super Bowl.”

Local businesses are hoping the high demand for hotel rooms during the Super Bowl will mean an economic windfall for everyone in area, but this may not be the case. A study shows the 1999 Super Bowl generated $240 million in spending for South Florida and increased hotel rates 54 percent.

“University of South Florida economics professor Philip Porter said the sky-high room rates for the Super Bowl don’t translate into an overall gain because the frenzy over the game wards off tourists who otherwise would be visiting Miami.

He cited data from the Florida Department of Revenue showing that Miami-Dade’s total sales for January 1999, when Super Bowl XXXIII was played, hit $2.23 billion—just under the $2.24 billion average revenue for January 1998 and January 2000.

The Super Bowl is not an extraordinary economic event,’’ said Porter, director of the university’s Center for Economic Policy Analysis.  If you didn’t have a Super Bowl, the hotels would be filled up with something else.”

Whatever the case, there is no doubt that the demand for hotel rooms is high. We spoke with the Delano Hotel about rooms rates during the 2007 Super Bowl, and they are charging $1,200 a night with a 7-night minimum. 

The good news in some Miami Beach hotels are slow to jump on the price gouging frenzy. When a reporter inquired about rooms at the Clevelander for next Super Bowl weekend, hotel reservations seemed unaware the football game was coming. Hours later, the $159 nightly rate she quoted for that weekend had risen to $329.

Related:
• 2010 Super Bowl in Miami

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