Ottawa hotels set to sell out for Grey Cup weekend

With one month to go before the Grey Cup game in Ottawa, local hoteliers say they're well on their way to a sellout for the Canadian Football League championship weekend. 

"It's going to be a terrific week for us," said Steve Ball, president of the Ottawa-Gatineau Hotel Association. "Reservations so far have met all of our expectations."

Ball said while his association does not track data on existing bookings and occupancy rates — that would present a problem in the eyes of the Competition Bureau — he's hearing on the street that bookings are strong, and hotels are expected to be full for the weekend of Nov. 25-26.

CBC Ottawa contacted several hotels in downtown Ottawa Wednesday to inquire about occupancy rates.

Ann Meelker, director of director of sales and marketing at the Lord Elgin Hotel, said the hotel is sitting at 90 per cent occupancy for the weekend.

"There's been lots of pickup. We expect we'll be full," Meelker said.

Nearing capacity

Over at the Capital Hill Hotel and Suites on Albert Street, general manager Hume Rogers said his hotel is also 90-per-cent booked for the Grey Cup. 

"It's much busier compared to this time last year, when we were at 70 per cent occupancy," Rogers said.

As of Wednesday fewer than 500 tickets remained for the Grey Cup, which will be played at a TD Place reconfigured to accommodate 35,000 spectators.

The event comes near the end of a busy 2017 in Ottawa, as the city hosted several big events to celebrate Canada's 150th anniversary.

"It's a terrific bookend," Ball said. "We started with Crashed Ice, we're ending with the NHL Classic."

Bookings for NHL Classic lagging

The National Hockey League's 100 Classic will see the Ottawa Senators play the Montreal Canadiens to commemorate the league's opening night in 1917.

The game will be played on a temporary ice surface on the field of TD Place Dec. 16, also in front of an anticipated crowd of 35,000.

But the NHL 100 Classic doesn't seem to be the same draw for out-of-towners as the Grey Cup — at least not yet.

"We're not seeing the pickup we expected, so we're adjusting our rates accordingly [for the NHL 100 Classic]," Meelker said.

"The Winter Classic weekend is not quite as strong as Grey Cup weekend," said Rogers. "But we think it will be as we get closer."