MotorCity Casino Hotel Has Lights, Vacancies

I'm not exactly sure how this is a story, but MotorCity managed to garner some press coverage for turning on the LED lights that encircle the new hotel tower. The tower can display up to 16.7 million different colors, and will be lit from dusk til dawn, with programmed light displays to match the seasons and holidays. Good job by the MotorCity public relations gurus to get this non-story covered.

The only actual news reported in the story is that MotorCity still has approximately 50 rooms available for the North American International Auto Show in January, 2008. That seems a bit troubling, since that is the one week each year when downtown hotels are universally fully-occupied, and MotorCity has a 12.5% vacancy with only one month remaining. By way of comparison, the Book Cadillac hotel, which does not open until October 1, 2008, is reportedly already fully booked for the 2009 auto show, one year out.

I am not sure whether MotorCity's vacancy rate is an indication of the poor location of the hotel for downtown convention business, or a testament to the lack of confidence in the hotel's management, given the unexpected one month delay in opening the hotel.