Inauguration Creates Hotel "Obamanon!"

Tried to get a hotel in DC on or around January 20, 2009, lately?

Good luck! I tried searching for rooms on the Internet today, and could only find one hotel with a rate listed at all, and that rate was $369.00 a night.

That's not bad, though, compared to the $652 a night rates I've been hearing about, nearly double the rates that I've found on previous searches in that market.

Yes, they can.

It was one thing to house campaign workers in one of our hotels in Virginia Beach for a couple of months prior to the election (Yes, we did!), but we're now seeing a huge (and unprecedented) number of inquiries in Richmond, Virginia (about an hour from D.C.), and as far away as Suffolk and Virginia Beach, Virginia (nearly four hours from the nation's capitol) for people planning to attend the inauguration ceremony. Busloads of people are coming from all over and are finding it difficult to secure hotel rooms in the D.C. metro area, so are scouting out hotels with any availability at all and are finding them hours from where this historic event will take place.

It's beginning to look as if a huge chunk of the country's population is going to come together in Washington, D.C. on January 20, 2009 to celebrate the inauguration of this nation's first African-American president. And by huge, I mean a million or more. With this much interest in this event, and the willingness of so many to travel so far for Obama's inauguration, it's not unthinkable for hotels to fill in nearby Maryland, West Virginia, and Delaware.

If you're planning to witness Barack Obama's Inauguration, book your rooms now, and be prepared to travel a little between your hotel and D.C. There are literally thousands of people already ahead of you.

Yes, they are.

If this new administration can give the hotel industry that kind of boost by filling that many hotels across four states (or more!) their first day on the job, giving a sweet shot in the arm to an industry that has seen better years, it's clear to me that the U.S. cast their votes for the right man.

And by the way, yes, I did.