Nat'l Geo and Travel Channel say Pittsburgh a vacation spot. (Erie: hotels, neighborhoods)

[pman]

Originally Posted by Katiana

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.

and those places have far more rooms which I think is the key point you are missing. the current growth rate might put it on par with cincinnati (and yes, I think pittsburgh is a nicer city to visit on a more regular basis than cincy). at the time of that graph it was just below columbus and about 3k rooms ahead of cleveland, 3k behind cincy.
it's the closest city to fallingwater which, quite frankly, was a really pleasant experience. going to nyc is an expensive endeavor, staying in pittsburgh for a weekend from westmoreland county just isn't as big of a deal

[Tinare]

I've personally never spent a full week in any one city while traveling. I think the most was 4 1/2 days in New Orleans last year when I was there for a wedding. I've been to New York dozens of times, but never stayed more than 3 days consecutively. I spent 5 days each one time in London and one time in Paris, but I working, so that doesn't really count.

My vacations tend to fall into three categories -- long weekend trips, full weeks that are beach-centric where I do tend to mostly stay put in one locale or full weeks that are made up of constant motion -- a day here, a couple of days there, tour this place, move on to that, etc., in which case I'd travel a region that might include a day or three in one city, but then it's on to something else. I don't think building time in Pittsburgh while on vacation sounds that especially odd. I've considered doing that with Buffalo while heading to Canada.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by pman

and those places have far more rooms which I think is the key point you are missing. the current growth rate might put it on par with cincinnati (and yes, I think pittsburgh is a nicer city to visit on a more regular basis than cincy). at the time of that graph it was just below columbus and about 3k rooms ahead of cleveland, 3k behind cincy.
it's the closest city to fallingwater which, quite frankly, was a really pleasant experience.

If the point is that Pittsburgh is a great vacation spot, I'm not missing anything. Those towns have more rooms b/c more people go there b/c they have reasons to go there, other than to visit family, go to a wedding, funeral (face it, a lot of people come to Pgh for funerals), other occasion such as that.

Yes, Fallingwater is great, but unless you're an architecture buff, you probably wouldn't book a flight to Pittsburgh just to go see it. When we went to Pgh for a wedding, a bunch of us from Colorado went there.

[I_Like_Spam]

Nat Geo and the Travel Channel aren't telling me anything new.

I've been spending my vacations here in Pittsburgh for many years.

[ForYourLungsOnly]

My friend and I often "vacation" to other cities around the country just for the sake of exploring the sites/entertainment of other parts of the country, usually venturing for 3-4 days. We recently just went to San Francisco, went to Columbus last year, and will be going to Denver in the Fall. ANY city is a "vacation destination" for those who enjoy exploring other cities. Pittsburgh is no more a vacation destination than Cleveland, DC, Philly, NYC, Chicago, or Savannah is. It's more of a regional weekend getaway destination (similar to Cleveland or Columbus would be for a Pittsburgh local) than it is a cross country city destination for a week long vacation for someone from LA or something. The list doesn't really make sense though, just like most click bait 'Top Whatever' city lists.

[UKyank]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

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.

The Fairmont is having a promotion where your 3rd night is free through Dec 31 with code PMXX. On top of that, the Fairmont Visa Signature credit card is offering two free nights plus breakfast after you spend $1,000, so you could hypothetically spend a long weekend there for free.

[pman]

Originally Posted by Katiana

If the point is that Pittsburgh is a great vacation spot, I'm not missing anything. Those towns have more rooms b/c more people go there b/c they have reasons to go there, other than to visit family, go to a wedding, funeral (face it, a lot of people come to Pgh for funerals), other occasion such as that.

Yes, Fallingwater is great, but unless you're an architecture buff, you probably wouldn't book a flight to Pittsburgh just to go see it. When we went to Pgh for a wedding, a bunch of us from Colorado went there.

no, you're definitely missing something. you lost me with your second sentence. well, yeah, and people now have more reasons to go to Pittsburgh since they are going there. duh! and yes, people do fly in for fallingwater...but who said the people driving the increase in room nights are flying? that has not been established. my point, which you missed, is that it is NOT unreasonable to think that Pittsburgh could have as many rooms (or more) as cincinnati (Which is even further afield). if you have a reason to say so let's hear it. otherwise the current growth isn't unusual. in fact it would appear that pittsburgh is simply recovering from being below normal in rooms (which is likely a result of disinvestment for whatever reason)

Originally Posted by UKyank

The Fairmont is having a promotion where your 3rd night is free through Dec 31 with code PMXX. On top of that, the Fairmont Visa Signature credit card is offering two free nights plus breakfast after you spend $1,000, so you could hypothetically spend a long weekend there for free.

scr, do it. the fairmont is hands down the best hotel in town. the only downside is you don't want to leave

[AaronPGH]

it drives me mad that the Fairmont didn't build a rooftop pool/bar combo. ugh.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by pman

no, you're definitely missing something. you lost me with your second sentence. well, yeah, and people now have more reasons to go to Pittsburgh since they are going there. duh! and yes, people do fly in for fallingwater...but who said the people driving the increase in room nights are flying? that has not been established. my point, which you missed, is that it is NOT unreasonable to think that Pittsburgh could have as many rooms (or more) as cincinnati (Which is even further afield). if you have a reason to say so let's hear it. otherwise the current growth isn't unusual. in fact it would appear that pittsburgh is simply recovering from being below normal in rooms (which is likely a result of disinvestment for whatever reason)


scr, do it. the fairmont is hands down the best hotel in town. the only downside is you don't want to leave

What don't you get? People go to DC to see the nation's capital and all the accoutrements that go with it. Does Pittsburgh have the same? People go to NYC to see, well, NYC! The Empire State Building, Broadway, Central Park, all the other attractions. Does Pittsburgh have that? If you live in any kind of urban area, you have parks, arts offerings and the like similar to, maybe, just maybe, even better than Pittsburgh's in some cases, e.g. Denver's park system. People go to Philly to see the Liberty Bell, the Valley Forge battlefield, stuff like that. Does Pittsburgh have that?

"who said the people driving the increase in room nights are flying?" Aside from me not being able to understand that sentence, I didn't say anything like that.

The point of the OP seems to be that Pittsburgh is some sort of premier vacation destination, motel/hotel rooms notwithstanding. In fact, here's a quote from the OP: "The Travel Channel named Pittsburgh; lands a spot on the All-American vacation list." This has nothing to do with increasing hotel/motel rooms. In fact, I don't know where this motel/hotel room increase came from, unless it's how the Travel Channel picked its destinations. If so, that's lame.

Living and having lived in different parts of the country, I can tell you no one I know is booking/has booked a vacation to Pittsburgh just to sight-see. I know people that go there for the reasons I stated in my previous post, also sometimes for a college visit; someone I work with went to Moraine State Park for some Civil War enactment thing that she's involved with.

[UKyank]

I would put pittsburgh in par with denver on regards to a vacation 'destination'. People do go there to check it out on their leisure time even if neither is a 'premiere' destination ala NYC or Paris