The American Quilt Society’s annual show came to the Lancaster County Convention Center for the first time last week, bringing up to 10,000 more attendees than a quilt show previously held at the Lancaster Host—which would typically draw around 10,000 guests. But not all Lancaster hoteliers were feeling those gains last week.
NewsLanc surveyed managers from six area hotels today, asking if they would characterize their business from the AQS show as “much better,” “a little better,” “the same,” “a little worse,” or “much worse” as compared to business from earlier quilt shows. Three hotels, all in close proximity to the city, reported their business to have been “much better” or “the same” this year; the three others, located east of the city on the Lincoln Highway, described last week as “much worse.”
For the Lancaster Host itself, last week was predictably “much worse” than previous years. As front office manager Marisa Gregory put it, business was “significantly much worse” with the AQS show, bringing less than half the number of guests seen before.
Business for the Fulton Steamboat Inn was “much worse” last week, as well. Stephen Sikking, sales and marketing manager for the Best Western Eden Resort, a sister business to the Fulton, described the Inn’s AQS experience as “a disaster.”
The Eden, on the other hand, located off of Oregon Pike at the northern outskirts of the city, did “much better” than previous years, according to Sikking. Counting the percentage of business lost at the Fulton as well as the percentage of business gained at the Eden, Sikking estimated that last week was about “dead even” with other quilt shows.
Another Lincoln Highway hotelier, who preferred to remain anonymous, said that this year’s business was “much worse.” The manager also noted that the shuttling accommodations were “a disaster,” at times requiring up to 125 guests to wait for a bus that would not be able to carry half of them.
The Courtyard by Marriott, located off of Greenfield Road, reported business “the same” as previous shows, since, according to a manager, the hotel sells out during any major event.
Finally, the Fairfield Inn, located on Granite Run Drive, characterized their AQS business as “much better” than previous years. According to the general manager, the Inn seemed to serve as a de facto overflow location for conventioneers due to its close proximity to downtown.
