Round About
No room found in Lawrence inns
Reservations made up to a year in advance for weekend festivities
THE COMPETITION FOR LIMITED HOTEL ROOMS DURING EVERY KU homecoming in Lawrence is waged almost as fiercely as the football game.
Local hotels have no rooms available for homecoming weekend and have been booked for this weekend for several months.
"We filled up 47 weeks in advance this year," said Mike Montgomery, manager of the Best Western Hallmark Inn, 730 Iowa St.
Lack of hotel space in Lawrence seems to be the main culprit for the crunch. Judy Billings, director of the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce's Convention and Visitors Bureau, said there were only 857 hotel rooms available in Lawrence.
"Our yearly occupancy rate is higher than the national average." Billings said. "It would be nice to have more rooms."
The number of parents and alumni visiting this weekend far outstrips Lawrence's lodging capacity.
Reservations for homecoming weekend should be made as far in advance as possible, said Becky Clothier, manager of the Ramada Inn, 2222 W. Sixth St. "Our hotel is usually fully booked nine to 10 months before homecoming,"Clothier said.
Other Lawrence hotels typically are booked for homecoming several months in advance.
"We usually fill up one week after the football schedule is announced," said Mary Williams, a sales representative for Holiday Inn, 200 W. Turnpike Access Road.
However, some local hotels that are not part of any national hotel chain only recently have
Our hotel is usually fully booked nine to 10 months before homecoming.
BECKY CLOTHIER manager, Ramada Inn
filled up for homecoming weekend.
"We were not completely booked until several weeks ago," said Amy Rasmussen, sales manager at the Eldridge Hotel, 701 Massachusetts St.
Although most visitors realize reservations should be made months in advance, Lawrence hotels still are receiving calls requesting accommodations for this weekend.
Although some late callers are procrastinators, others are travelers hoping to take advantage of cancellations. These travelers usually already have reservations outside of Lawrence but are looking for a better location or rate.
Anyone still looking for accommodations this weekend should be looking outside of Lawrence. "We try to find rooms in Lawrence when we are full, but at this point, we
are having to refer people to Kansas City and Topeka," said Steve Smith, manager of Day's Inn, 2309 Iowa St.
Though it may be too late to make reservations in Lawrence for this year's homecoming, two new hotels will help ease crowding next year. A Comfort Inn south of the Best Western hotel on Iowa Street and a Hampton Inn by the Ramada on Sixth Street will add more than 150 rooms to Lawrence's total. Both hotels are scheduled to open next spring, Billings said.
But the extra hotel rooms may be offset by increased interest in next year's game. For the 1996 homecoming game, the Jayhawks tentatively are scheduled to play Colorado, a perennial power in the conference and the nation.
However, Richard Kronzem, assistant athletic director in charge of KU's football scheduling, said the success of the football team determined the popularity of homecoming, not the opponent. "Continued wins will build crowds," he said.
People making reservations for next year's homecoming weekend should keep these tips in mind:
Know how far in advance hotels are able to make reservations. As a rule, national chains do not make reservations more than one year in advance, but the advance time varies from chain to chain.
Toll-free numbers for national hotel chains are convenient, but they are not the most accurate gauge of a hotel's availability. An unsuccessful call to hotlines should be supplemented by a direct call to the hotel.
Independent hotels in Lawrence, such as the Eldridge Hotel, usually do not fill up as quickly as national chains.
—BY STANTON SHELBY
4
Homecoming
The Hill • October 11, 1995