Pubdate: Thu, 09 Apr 2015
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Copyright: 2015 The Denver Post Corp
Contact:  http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122
Author: Steve Raabe

ROOM SEARCH BUZZING

The Hunt for Accomodations Around 4/20 Is Lighting Up Hotels.Com

Online searches for Denver hotel rooms around the marijuana 
celebration date of April 20 are soaring, according to data from 
booking website Hotels.com.

Search totals also spiked last April, during the first year of legal 
retail weed in Colorado.

Hotels.com said the numbers suggest that the oft-asked question - 
does legal marijuana generate an increase in tourism? - has been 
answered affirmatively.

Marijuana enthusiasts hold so-called 4/20 rallies each spring that 
attract thousands of publicly smoking participants, even though 
Colorado's statute prohibits public consumption.

The website operator said searches for Denver bookings during April 
17-20 are up 60 percent over the same period in 2014. Searches last 
April had soared 73 percent compared with the same period in 2013, 
before retail marijuana sales were legal.

A Hotels.com spokeswoman declined to disclose the number of searches 
used in calculating the percentage increases.

Hotels.com said similar increases are being seen in Washington, where 
recreational sales became legal in July. In Oregon, where legal sales 
will begin July 1, booking searches are up 25 percent for travel 
during the first 90 days of legalization.

Deborah Park, a spokeswoman for Visit Denver, the city's convention 
and visitors bureau, noted that the Hotels.com report analyzes only 
online searches, not bookings for hotel rooms.

Park said Denver's lodging tax collections in 2014 were a record 
$19.6 million, up 21 percent from 2013. She said hotel bookings were 
driven by increases in convention delegates, business travelers and 
ski tourists.

In addition to its data on 4/20 hotel searches, Hotels.com reported 
that Denver's ranking as a travel destination is rising. The city in 
2014 was the 14th-most-popular domestic destination, up from 15th in 
2013 and 19th in 2012.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom