Vacancy Signs Still Out For Some Philly Hotels Pope Weekend
By Mark Abrams
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - In less than a month, Pope Francis will be in Philadelphia and some local hotels still have rooms available for visitors who want to come to town and share in the pageantry of the Papal visit.
Ed Grose, executive director of the Greater Philadelphia Hotel Association, says he was surprised to learn recently of the availability of rooms and weekend stay packages:
"I think a lot of people were waiting for the final plans to come out. You know, there was a lot of uncertainty for a while, so I think a lot of people were waiting and seeing what happens before they made their plans to come to Philadelphia."
Grose says hotels also are discounting some of the packages they had initially advertised. He says, however, he doesn't expect the vacancy signs to be hanging out for too much longer.
Grose urges anyone who wants to make a long weekend of it to act now:
"There are rooms available and I would recommend that someone looking for a room go to their favorite hotel website."
If that's booked, Grose says the next best place to find a room is visitphilly.com.