Nat'l Geo and Travel Channel say Pittsburgh a vacation spot. (York: best hotel, credit card)

[Aqua Teen Carl]

I'm sure you do. There are people who travel to "obscure" destinations all the time, I am one of them. But to say Pittsburgh is a "vacation spot" because there are hotels and it's on some click bait article is laughable.

[pman]

let's see vacation in:
Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Columbus, Cincy, Buffalo or spend an assload more money to get to Philly, NY, or DC. not hard to figure out why someone would pick Pittsburgh for a taste of city life. kayak nearby? check. catch a game without driving? check. zoo? check. one of the best hotels in the country? check. relaxed atmosphere? check. I suppose the bigger question is where does pittsburgh's total room count stand in relation to other cities. while the city might not be the next san francisco, perhaps it is just normalizing in terms of rooms. I would say that the fact the hotels are in and around downtown would suggest to me it's a combination of business and leisure. fwiw, it's cheaper to stay on the north shore than downtown...and quite frankly there's a good reason for that.
here it is, article is from 2012. if you look at the graphic pittsburgh is a few thousand rooms shy of cincinnati (and also below columbus). there's no reason to think the city couldn't over take them in rooms, cincy isn't exactly the end all be all for urban vacations. I think the city is just normalizing.

Since 2004, 34 hotels with 3,304 rooms opened in the region, according to the Hendersonville, Tenn.-based Smith Travel Research Inc., a hotel research company. There are 254 hotels operating in the region, it reports.

Despite the increase in hotel building, demand for rooms in the Pittsburgh market remains high.

http://triblive.com/csp/mediapool/sites/dt.common.streams.StreamServer.cls?STREAMOID=AOAmE vKDKZrxotxXVE0ohpM5tm0Zxrvol3sywaAHBAmVT5SHe09I6V1 hCCUArU1OE0$uXvBjavsllACLNr6VhLEUIm2tympBeeq1Fwi7s IigrCfKm_F3DhYfWov3omce$8CAqP1xDAFoSAgEcS6kSQ--&CONTENTTYPE=application/pdf&CONTENTDISPOSITION=ptr-gx-hotels-122612.pdf

if business stays are growing, then all it takes is weekenders to fill otherwise empty rooms to make hotels more profitable.

[SteelCityRising]

I chose to vacation in Pittsburgh for SPRING BREAK (no, that's not a typo) back in my Junior year of college. We stayed at The Priory in West Deutschtown (or is it East Allegheny?) and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We checked out the Heinz History Center, the Strip District, ate at Harris Grill in Shadyside, saw Carson Street, and so much more.

Yes, some of us DO "vacation" in urban areas. Vacations aren't what they used to be for everyone. I don't personally get any paid time off, so I choose to take off a quiet weekday here and there and go on a day-trip to Cleveland, Erie, or Wheeling. I'm planning a day-trip next week to Johnstown to see the flood-related stuff. I'm planning another trip in July to see Flight 93 Memorial, Fallingwater, and do a short hike at Ohiopyle (with dinner in Greensburg).

Once I buy my first home I'm hoping to save a bit and do a "staycation" night where we board the dog, get a room Downtown at the Renaissance or Omni William Penn, and just go hog wild getting drunk and getting frisky.

[Aqua Teen Carl]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

Vacations aren't what they used to be for everyone. I don't personally get any paid time off

While I was being goofy in my previous post about this, I am aware that this is a legit problem in this country.

Being totally serious for a moment, I will say that Pittsburgh could be a good place for a cheapish weekend getaway for people in the tri-state who don't have a big amount of PTO or disposable income.

[FiniteAutomaton]

Originally Posted by Aqua Teen Carl

Visiting for a day or two is a vacation now? Man, American standards for vacationing have really fallen off.

You're forgetting about all the people who come back to Pittsburgh a few times a year to visit family. That 40 year exodus will always bring in people who visit their families during the holidays who have left the city previously. Pair that with conventions/business trips/sporting events and you can see why hotels are being built.

But tourism? Heh, no.

It is where people go on vacation while on vacation

[pman]

Originally Posted by Aqua Teen Carl

While I was being goofy in my previous post about this, I am aware that this is a legit problem in this country.

Being totally serious for a moment, I will say that Pittsburgh could be a good place for a cheapish weekend getaway for people in the tri-state who don't have a big amount of PTO or disposable income.

think of it as more people are doing than they used to. pittsburgh, in that graphic, had one third fewer rooms than baltimore and 20k fewer rooms than philadelphia (which itself has far fewer rooms than other cities its size like boston). unless this boom continues at the same pace for the next ten years, it is only in the midst of a modest catching up to the likes of cincinatti which, IMO, is not unreasonable.

SCR-search every date the fairmont has for the cheapest room, the only trouble is that you won't want to leave your room.

[gortonator]

Originally Posted by Aqua Teen Carl

But to vacation here? I'm sorry but I'm just not buying that. No one is vacationing in Pittsburgh, haha.

We have 3 sets of Aussies and 2 sets of west coasters coming to visit over summer, and last year had friends from UK and Australia pass through for a few days. You're right, they probably wouldn't come here unless they were visiting us, but most are staying for at least 5 days, are enthusiastic to go to a baseball or football or hockey game, the Warhol and the museums, check out local restaurants and microbreweries, ride part of the GAP, etc. And oddly - some of the industrial history (UK friends are from Sheffield - not far off a Pittsburgh counterpart).

Dunno if you count that as vacation or not, and really it doesn't matter ... I think they do.

[AaronPGH]

Originally Posted by Aqua Teen Carl

I'm sure you do. There are people who travel to "obscure" destinations all the time, I am one of them. But to say Pittsburgh is a "vacation spot" because there are hotels and it's on some click bait article is laughable.

I will give you that we haven't been (and still aren't) in a top tier for vacationing. But it has become pretty obvious over the last few years that we are really starting to change that. Pittsburgh is now on a lot of people's travel lists. It may take them a few more years to start arriving en mass, but this trickle is speeding up. We are one of the only major metros in the US seeing a hotel boom like this.

[Geeo]

I see Pittsburgh as a good destination spot for a select group of people who could care less about Disney World, Las Vegas, or the shore. We're not a place where ma and pa are going to pile the tots in the mini-van and spend a week waiting in line for the rides at Disney or for people who frequent the buffets in Vegas. Those are mass manufactured vacation places. Cancun is like that, too.

I can see us being a regional getaway for a few days of interesting sightseeing and history.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by pman

let's see vacation in:
Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Columbus, Cincy, Buffalo or spend an assload more money to get to Philly, NY, or DC. not hard to figure out why someone would pick Pittsburgh for a taste of city life. kayak nearby? check. catch a game without driving? check. zoo? check. one of the best hotels in the country? check. relaxed atmosphere? check. I suppose the bigger question is where does pittsburgh's total room count stand in relation to other cities. while the city might not be the next san francisco, perhaps it is just normalizing in terms of rooms. I would say that the fact the hotels are in and around downtown would suggest to me it's a combination of business and leisure. fwiw, it's cheaper to stay on the north shore than downtown...and quite frankly there's a good reason for that.
here it is, article is from 2012. if you look at the graphic pittsburgh is a few thousand rooms shy of cincinnati (and also below columbus). there's no reason to think the city couldn't over take them in rooms, cincy isn't exactly the end all be all for urban vacations. I think the city is just normalizing.

http://triblive.com/csp/mediapool/sites/dt.common.streams.StreamServer.cls?STREAMOID=AOAmE vKDKZrxotxXVE0ohpM5tm0Zxrvol3sywaAHBAmVT5SHe09I6V1 hCCUArU1OE0$uXvBjavsllACLNr6VhLEUIm2tympBeeq1Fwi7s IigrCfKm_F3DhYfWov3omce$8CAqP1xDAFoSAgEcS6kSQ--&CONTENTTYPE=application/pdf&CONTENTDISPOSITION=ptr-gx-hotels-122612.pdf

if business stays are growing, then all it takes is weekenders to fill otherwise empty rooms to make hotels more profitable.

You cannot visit the Liberty Bell or Valley Forge battlefield in Pittsburgh. You cannot see the site of the Twin Towers, go to a Broadway show, etc, in Pittsburgh. You cannot visit the nation's capital, the Smithsonian, Arlington National Cemetery, etc, etc, etc, in Pittsburgh. That is the reason people spend money to go to Philly, NY and/or DC.

Yes, Pittsburgh is a cool city with some interesting things to do. So are most cities.