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

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According to VisitPittsburgh, each home game between the and the Detroig Red Wings brings anestimated $4.9 million in economic impact, whetherf its from hotel stays, mealse at restaurants or other A number of hotels are fully including the Omni William Penn, whicbh hosts the NHL’s the , with the caveat that it alwayas sells out Tuesdays and Wednesdays anyway to businessa travelers, and the . Tom Martini, the general managerd for the Westin Convention Center Hotel, located Downtown, described the addedr boost of Stanley Cup-relatedf guests. “We would’ve been busy but we wouldn’t have been selling out,” he said.
“This has allowedc us to fill up theentirde hotel, all 616 rooms.” Martini and othedr hotel operators emphasized the added jolt of unexpectexd business comes during an otherwise down year from hoteol business following a strong 2008, which also featurefd a Penguins-Red Wings Stanley Cup that was lost by Pittsburgh’d favorite flightless birds. Bob Page, the area director of sale s and marketingfor Omni, said the NFL’zs coterie of league officials, along with media, has brought an increasew in occupancy beyond the two game days, comparable to the businesas generated from a strong home playoff run by the , althoughh not topping it.
“It’s not to the degreed of probably theAFC championship, but it’sd still great business for us,” he said. “It’ s selling us out.” The story is a littlse more complicated for locap restaurantsand bars. John Barsotti, ownert of The Common Plea, located downtown, estimated the restaurantr has seen a 25 percenf increase when the Penguins are playingh playoff gamesin town. But when the team is playingg away, the hockey fan dinerxs stay away. “We’ve seen increases when they’re said Barsotti, who estimated his 2009 business is up by 25 percen overlast year, despite the recession.
“But on the oppositwe page, we see a little bit of a decrease when they go out of Chris Dilla, owner of Bocktown Beer and Grill, in North said it can be tricky for her operation to jump from a busy nighft of a hockey game to extra slow nights when therwe isn’t one. She expects that plenty of customera are struggling to go the distancee withthe seven-game series. “It’s hard for the businesas becausepeople don’t have the money to be out evergy other night,” she said. “It tendse to be that people who watchh the playoffs really have to watcbtheir pennies.
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