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Reservations Please... Demand High, Rooms In Short Supply!
By F. M. Harris - World Series Accommodations Update
March 08, 2006
As feared, hotels in the Uncasville, CT area are, in fact, already beginning to sell out for the weekend of the World Series of Darts event on May 19-21, 2006.
Taking our cue from a number of distressed readers who’d already called us in a panic regarding room reservations over the last two days, we set our research department on looking into this situation. (Meaning, of course, that I picked up the phone and made a bunch of calls this morning.) Here’s the skinny on what I discovered:
Indeed, most of the hotels in the immediate vicinity of the Mohegan Sun Resort are nearly booked. I say nearly, because —with the exception of the Best Western - Cristata, which is completely sold out for that Saturday night— virtually every hotel on our initial accommodations list did have at least a few rooms left for the weekend. However, I cannot emphasize the word “few” enough; in many cases that meant as few as just 3-4 rooms still left available.
Two notable exceptions here are the Comfort Suites - Norwich (860.892.9292) and the Economy Inn - Norwich (860.889.5201), whose reservations departments both informed me that, as of today, they were only approximately 50% booked for that weekend. So, these two locations are still strong bets nearby.
If you’re not from this area of Connecticut, I should probably also prepare you for a potential “room rates” price shock. This time of the year is what the hotels in this area lovingly refer to as their “high season.” (Which I can only assume now means “high rate season!”) In general, I discovered room rates ranging from a low of about $129 per night, to a high of over $300 per night for double occupancy, with the average falling somewhere right around $160 per room night.
You’ll also discover that there is a big differential between the room rates for Friday and Saturday nights and the rates on Sunday nights or week days. (As much as 60% higher on Fridays and Saturdays.) And... as a result of the enormous sirens call of the Mohegan Sun Casino (I’m just guessing here.), you’ll also discover that the closer the hotel is to the cashiers cage —the higher the room rates will be.
Initially, I’d planned on posting a new and dramatically expanded hotels list here this afternoon. However, as it turns out, there are approximately 80 hotels within a loosely-defined “reasonable” driving distance of the venue. So, rather than reinventing the cyber-wheel (so to speak), I’m going to refer you to the online tool of choice for our research department (and um... a personal favorite of mine) the “Google Local” business search.
Simply click on the link below and a new browser window will open directly to the hotel search for the Uncasville area on Google.
If you’ve not used this search tool online before, upon visiting this page you’ll see a listing of hotels down the left hand side and a local Connecticut map —replete with lettered pushpins— on the right. Each search results page will include a list of ten possible hotels in the area. As you move down the list (using the “next” button under the listings) you’ll see the next ten listings, moving geographically away from the Mohegan Sun Resort, and so on; with each subsequent click of the “next” button you will move you farther and farther away. It’ really a very slick little travel tool.
So, if the Comfort Inn or Economy Suites, as mentioned above, are not to your tastes or budget (or haven’t already sold out by the time you read this), clicking here is probably the best first step we can recommend in your travel plan of attack moving forward.
Side note: If you’re using this system and you get to listings in Rhode Island, you’ve probably gone too far! (Of course, if you delay making your reservations much longer, a month from now, that may not seem all that far at all. Don’t delay! ;)
If, for some reason, this link does not work properly in your browser, you can also simply go directly to the Google Web Site; type in “Hotels Uncasville, CT” and click “Search.” Then, on the page that follows, simply select “Local results for hotels near Uncasville, CT 06382” which will appear near the top of the page.
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