Monday, July 9, 2012

GOP books Hard Rock hotel-casino for RNC week

According to a Tampa Tribune report, someone within the GOP has booked the entire, 250-room Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Tampa for the duration of next month's RNC convention.

The hotel wasn't on the list of hotels reserved back in May through the party's official booking arm. But hotel-casino officials confirmed to the Tribune that someone linked to the GOP booked the property, which - following a $75 million expansion - now contains the world's fifth-largest casino. The Tribune tells us:

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"Casino executives confirm that someone within the Republican Party organization has made an unofficial reservation for not just a few rooms, but the entire 250-room hotel at the heart of the casino for Florida Republicans ? for the entire week of the convention."

Who'll get to stay at the Hard Rock?

It's not clear who booked the hotel or who they booked it for, the story says. Spokesmen for both the RNC Committee on Arrangements, which booked about 150,000 area rooms for the convention in May, and the Tampa Bay Host Committee told the Tribune that they didn't make the reservation.

"Speculation is that it's being reserved for corporate high rollers, big donors or high-level GOP elected officials," the article says.

What is clear is that the booking's an expensive one.

Based on $129 per night room rates for August - a rate quoted by the hotel before demand increases due to the citywide convention - the five-day convention booking for all 250 rooms would cost $161,250 in rate alone, excluding food and beverage and other incidentals, the Tribune reports.

The hotel-casino just completed a $75 million expansion and renovation that makes it the world's sixth-largest casino, based on gaming positions or number of seats at a table or slot.

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Source: http://rssfeeds.usatoday.com/~r/UsatodaycomTravel-TopStories/~3/v76Oft8FZH0/1

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