With New Orleans hotel room rates over the recent holiday weekend ranking among the most expensive in the nation—an average of $359 per night on New Year’s Eve, according to Travelmag.com—you might have thought Baton Rouge hotels would benefit from the spillover of price-conscious Sugar Bowl fans. They didn’t.
According to officials with Visit Baton Rouge, local hotels did not experience an uptick in business that could be attributed to the activity in New Orleans. However, downtown hotels reported one of their busiest nights ever on New Year’s Eve, due to the local festivities tied to Red Stick Revelry. Katie Guasco, director of marketing at Visit Baton Rouge, says downtown hotels were nearly 100% occupied, and that restaurants also reported a record number of reservations.
“People were here because they wanted to be here,” Guasco says. “It didn’t have anything to do with what was going on in New Orleans.”
Officials with the Downtown Development District did not have crowd estimates for the festivities as of this morning, but prior to the event they hoped to attract at least 15,000 revelers to downtown. DDD Executive Director Davis Rhorer says he is confident they at least met that goal.
“The hotels were full and I met several people from out of town that came in for the event,” Rhorer says. “I think Baton Rouge has quickly established itself as a destination for a New Year’s Eve celebration, which in turn drives the local economy.” —Stephanie Riegel
