David Balderson was caught off-guard when the Wayside Inn in Ellicott City took its first reservation for the presidential inauguration weekend in January.

“It was two weeks before the election,” said Balderson, who owns the bed-and-breakfast with his wife, Susan. “It surprised the heck out of me ... The caller told me, ‘If the right guy doesn’t win, I’m not coming.’ ”

The “right guy” was Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, and the caller was not alone in wanting to see Obama sworn in as president. Hotel rooms for the dates surrounding the Jan. 20 inauguration are booked throughout the Washington region, including almost all of the available space in Howard County, and county residents have even gone online to offer their homes and apartments for rent.

Out of the roughly 2,000 hotel rooms available in Howard County, nearly all of them were booked for the dates surrounding Jan. 20 as of Dec. 1, said Rachelina Bonacci, executive director of Howard County Tourism. Many of the rooms were filled within a week after the election, she said.

“The hotels are delighted because it’s a nice bump in business,” Bonacci said, noting it comes at a typically slow time of year. “To have this kind of demand in the middle of January is just fantastic.”

The tourism Web site will be updated with special information on transportation for inaugural tourists, Bonacci said, and tourism officials will be visiting county hotels to make sure they have enough maps and Howard County guides in stock.
 
She said she expects the influx of people will help boost other businesses, such as restaurants and stores, and perhaps convince a few people to return to Maryland for future vacations.

Balderson said the six-room Wayside Inn was completely booked up not long after the election, and he said he’ll be offering tips to guests on the best way to reach the city on Inauguration Day.
 
“Almost everybody’s coming from way far away,” he said, noting he had bookings from as far afield as Wisconsin. “I’ve got wait lists ... they’re not even asking how much it is.”
 
Bookings began coming in at the 98-room Hilton Garden Inn in Columbia shortly after the election and the hotel is now about 75 percent full, General Manager Patrick Campbell said. Reservations have slowed somewhat, but they continue to come in for the days between Jan. 18 and 22, he said.

“It definitely added some very good demand,” he said. “We’re excited to be a part of it ... I want to make sure that we’re a good ambassador not only for Baltimore, but Washington, D.C. and the whole corridor.”

The Belmont Conference Center in Elkridge is offering special inauguration packages, starting at $180 per room, that feature an “Obama Presidential Continental Breakfast” and “Michelle Margaritas” at the end of the day.
 
Other packages featuring robes and massages, wine and cheese and cognac and cigars are also available, according to Howard Community College, which operates the facility.

All 24 of the center’s rooms were still available as of Dec. 1, according to a news release.

Among the dozens of local residents offering to rent out their homes is Lena Wood, 47, of Fulton. She decided to rent out her four-bedroom house after a friend told her people were getting thousands of dollars for inauguration rentals.

She plans to stay with a friend if she is successful, she said.

“I’m looking for someone to rent the whole house,” she said. “I didn’t want to have to deal with multiple people.”

Standing out in a crowd of hundreds of postings can be difficult, which is why Matt Aaron, 24, of Columbia, is not only renting out his apartment, but also offering to be a chauffeur and tour guide for the duration of the person’s stay.

Aaron, who runs a home business doing search engine optimization, said his schedule is flexible enough to allow him to make the offer.
 
“I kind of like the entrepreneurial side of it,” he said. “I wanted to offer a chauffeur service to see how it stands out.”

Aaron said he knows the area well and will stay with friends near his home so he can be ready any time his guests might need his services.
 
But while he is willing to pick people up and drop them off at local airports, he is not planning to fight the traffic in D.C. on Inauguration Day itself.

“I will provide chauffeur service, but I will not drive into D.C., only Maryland, due to the heavy traffic and road closings,” he wrote on his post on Craigslist, the online advertising site.

---

user comments (1)

user bobtheteacher says...

Those lucky enough to have reserved a room at the Wayside Inn will not only have a great time for the inaugural, but will discover the best bed and breakfast accommodations and hospitality. I wish I could be up there for the inauguration as well, but I'll certainly be watching on TV. As a former Columbia resident and high school teacher in Howard County, this boost to the economy is great news indeed. I hope the weather holds up so traffic isn't a nightmare! Bob Jenkins

Posted 3:37 PM, 12.04.08 | Permalink