Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Hospitality topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
UMaine researcher: major concerts drive hotel sellouts and rate spikes in Bangor
Summary
Todd Gabe told councilors that large headliner announcements (for example the Jelly Roll concert) coincided with hotels selling out and room-rate spikes — in one case room rates roughly doubled after a concert announcement — and he said he is continuing a detailed hotel rate analysis.
The University of Maine's analysis includes a targeted look at local lodging markets and shows some headline acts materially affect availability and price. "Right after the announcement, you saw what happened to the room, the accommodations, both in terms of what they were charging and the availability," Gabe said, describing analysis of hotel room rates around the Jelly Roll concert. "So as it got closer to the concert, a lot of the hotels were sold out. Right after the announcement, you saw that the hotel room rates, they actually doubled, as a result of that announcement."
Gabe said he has compiled repeated daily rate observations (about 50,000 price‑day observations) across area hotels and is using those repeated observations to estimate how announcements and ticketing drive price and availability. Councilors said hotel supply constraints present an economic development opportunity — and asked staff to consider how hotel gaps and rate premiums inform recruitment of additional lodging capacity.
