A manager of one of the hotels around Turner Field is speaking out about how the Atlanta Braves’ move will affect business.
David Rosenberg is general manager of the Holiday Inn Atlanta Capitol Conference center, which overlooks the northern parking lots of Turner Field.As heard on the radio
“Baseball is a significant part of our business in the summer based on being the largest and closest full-service hotel to Turner Field,” Rosenberg said.
Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau President William Pate said the three hotels near Turner will see a loss once the Braves for Cobb County after their contract with the field ends in 2016. The three surrounding hotels stand to lose a lot of business after the move.
“Most of those room nights are going to move to Cobb County,” Pate said, adding that won’t be a huge loss to Atlanta’s tourism industry.
“In the scheme of things, they’re smaller hotels. We have 20,000 hotel rooms in our district – Buckhead, Midtown and downtown – and of course the largest hotels. The preponderance of the Braves stays are over here in downtown,” Pate said.
But for Rosenberg, every weekend the Braves are in town, all 375 of his rooms are usually full.
“Fortunately we have three more years of baseball, and we’ll enjoy that in the next three summers and at the same time be working on marketing and sales plans to fill in those gaps,” Rosenberg said.
Rosenberg couldn’t put a percentage on how much of his annual business is generated from Braves games, but he called it “one of the main demand drivers.” He hopes a new development could bring more consistent business.