uReport

City of Bloomington, Indiana

closed: Resolved #183852

Business:

Other: Hello, Mr. Hamilton. I have a student graduating from IU next fall. We put our names on a waitlist for Hilton Hotel two years prior. We just received the quote for the three night stay---3,000 which does not include parking or taxes. I wrote them and said this is highway robbery. We thought it would go to 500 per night and expected 1500 rates for the 3 days, however, them going up to 900-1000 plus a night is uncalled for. The sales manager, Diana Thomas, at Hilton Garde Inn wrote me back and said it is 'unfortunately, a market thing with occupancy going way up at graduation driving market.' I understand that rooms are in demand....that is why we booked two years ago. However, do you think, as mayor of your town, that upping the room rate to 900-1,000 per night....which is about a 400-500% increase is reasonable? I think this is something to be looked into. There has to be some sort of regulation or assistance in this college town. As parents, we are already flying in, going to your restaurants, paying for school/tuition and paying for housing and groceries for our kids. This is complete greed and gouging to me and I wanted to make you aware. (Sadly, we and our 6 other parent groups had to cancel due to this unreal price hike.) Thank you for reading. (Which I do hope you, as the mayor read this and not an assistant or tech person.) Appreciate that. -Wendy Deutsch

History

5/16/2023 17:44:40 Closed by Anonymous

Emailed Ms. Deutsch

Sent notification to Anonymous, Anonymous
https://bloomington.in.gov/crm/tickets/view?ticket_id=183852 Closed by Alex Crowley Emailed Ms. Deutsch

5/16/2023 17:44:18 Anonymous contacted Anonymous

Dear Ms. Deutsch, Thank you for your uReport regarding hotel room rates for the fall IU graduation. I spoke with our Visitors Bureau to get their perspective. Frankly, I'm as shocked as you are by the pricing and my colleagues at VisitBloomington are too. It is not atypical of college towns, especially around these premier events, but nonetheless boggles the mind. Unfortunately, there is no regulation in place to ease this kind of market swing in pricing. The perspective of hotels is that, if people are willing to pay these prices, they will continue to charge them. Unsatisfying as that may be to hear from your perspective, it's the way the marketplace works at these peak moments. While we certainly would prefer to have you spend your visitor dollars in Bloomington, I wanted to at least suggest to you that there are towns in the vicinity of Bloomington with hotel rooms. Notably, Nashville, Bedford, Martinsville are all roughly within 30 minutes. Those towns will have elevated rates, but they won't be to the same degree as what you've seen. I wish I had better news for you. Feel free to reach out to me directly via email if you have any questions or need additional information. And congratulations on your student's graduation. My son just graduated from Purdue and I know how thrilling it is for all involved to achieve this important milestone. All the best, Alex Alex Crowley Director, Economic & Sustainable Development City of Bloomington crowleya@bloomington.in.gov 812-349-3477

Sent notification to Anonymous, Anonymous
https://bloomington.in.gov/crm/tickets/view?ticket_id=183852 Alex Crowley contacted Alex Crowley Dear Ms. Deutsch, Thank you for your uReport regarding hotel room rates for the fall IU graduation. I spoke with our Visitors Bureau to get their perspective. Frankly, I'm as shocked as you are by the pricing and my colleagues at VisitBloomington are too. It is not atypical of college towns, especially around these premier events, but nonetheless boggles the mind. Unfortunately, there is no regulation in place to ease this kind of market swing in pricing. The perspective of hotels is that, if people are willing to pay these prices, they will continue to charge them. Unsatisfying as that may be to hear from your perspective, it's the way the marketplace works at these peak moments. While we certainly would prefer to have you spend your visitor dollars in Bloomington, I wanted to at least suggest to you that there are towns in the vicinity of Bloomington with hotel rooms. Notably, Nashville, Bedford, Martinsville are all roughly within 30 minutes. Those towns will have elevated rates, but they won't be to the same degree as what you've seen. I wish I had better news for you. Feel free to reach out to me directly via email if you have any questions or need additional information. And congratulations on your student's graduation. My son just graduated from Purdue and I know how thrilling it is for all involved to achieve this important milestone. All the best, Alex Alex Crowley Director, Economic & Sustainable Development City of Bloomington crowleya@bloomington.in.gov 812-349-3477

5/16/2023 12:09:03 Anonymous assigned this case to Anonymous

Sent notification to Anonymous, Anonymous
https://bloomington.in.gov/crm/tickets/view?ticket_id=183852 Anonymous assigned this case to Alex Crowley You can use the link to follow progress on this case.

5/16/2023 12:09:03 Opened by Anonymous