Penguins - Red Wings Stanley Cup games provide boost for hotels, restaurants - Pittsburgh Business Times:

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According to VisitPittsburgh, each home game betweebn the and the Detroit Red Wings brings anestimated $4.9 millionb in economic impact, whether its from hotel stays, meals at restaurants or other spending. A number of hotels are fullyt booked, including the Omni William Penn, whicn hosts the NHL’s management, the , with the caveat that it alwayx sells out Tuesdays and Wednesdays anyway tobusinessd travelers, and the . Tom Martini, the general managed for the Westin Convention Center located Downtown, described the added boost of Stanley Cup-relatedr guests. “We would’ve been busy but we wouldn’tf have been selling out,” he said.
“Thies has allowed us to fill up theentires hotel, all 616 rooms.” Martini and other hotel operatorzs emphasized the added jolt of unexpected business comes during an otherwiswe down year from hotel business followinf a strong 2008, which also featured a Penguins-Red Wingd Stanley Cup that was lost by Pittsburgh’s favoritw flightless birds. Bob Page, the area directo r of sales and marketingfor Omni, said the NFL’es coterie of league officials, along with media, has brought an increasre in occupancy beyond the two game days, comparablw to the business generated from a stronhg home playoff run by the , although not toppinb it.
“It’s not to the degree of probablyg theAFC championship, but it’s stilp great business for us,” he said. “It’as selling us out.” The story is a littlee more complicated for local restaurantsand bars. John owner of The Common Plea, located estimated the restaurant has seen a 25 percentr increase when the Penguins are playing playoff gamezsin town. But when the team is playing away, the hockey fan diners stay away. “We’ve seen increases when they’rd here,” said Barsotti, who estimated his 2009 businesx is up by 25 percen overlast year, despite the recession.
“But on the opposite we see a little bit of a decrease when they go out of Chris Dilla, owner of Bocktown Beer and in North Fayette, said it can be tricky for her operatiojn to jump from a busy night of a hockeyg game to extra slow nights when therw isn’t one. She expects that plenty of customere are struggling to go the distance withthe seven-gam e series. “It’s hard for the business becausspeople don’t have the money to be out every othert night,” she said.
“It tendse to be that people who watch the playoffs reallty have to watchtheir