Downtown hotels booking up fast for New Year's Eve Moon Pie party

Posted: 29 Dec 2010 06:10 AM PST

Published: Wednesday, December 29, 2010, 8:05 AM Updated: Wednesday, December 29, 2010, 10:07 AM

MOBILE, Alabama -- The Moon Pie has yet to drop, but the city's New Year's Eve extravaganza is already a success, according to Barbara Drummond, a spokeswoman for the city of Mobile and the chief organizer of the festivities.

Several of the main hotels downtown are booked to capacity for New Year's Eve, Drummond told the City Council during its business meeting Tuesday.

Kent Blackinton, president of the Mobile Area Lodging Association, said downtown hotels have been busy booking rooms during what is usually a slow season for local hoteliers. The Battle House Mobile Renaissance Hotel & Spa, The Malaga Inn and the Hampton Inn are booked solid, and others are on their way, he said.

His own establishment, the Renaissance Riverview Plaza Hotel, one of the largest hotels in the city, is booked to 80 percent of capacity, Blackinton said. Normally, it would be at about 10 percent this time of year, he said.

"We have done what we wanted to do, and that is put heads in beds," Drummond said.

The success is due in large part to a successful marketing campaign launched by the Mobile Bay Convention and Visitors Bureau and wellbornideas, a new downtown marketing group, Drummond said.

Thanks to the public relations and marketing push, the event has been publicized in newspaper reports across the country and will be the subject of an article in Southern Living magazine, Drummond has said in previous interviews.

Mayor Sam Jones encouraged the public to come out and celebrate, but warned them to keep coolers and folding chairs at home.

With crowds in the tens of thousands expected, there won't be room for such equipment in the party area centered along Royal Street downtown, he said.

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Hotels Lodging

Wednesday, December 29, 2010