On the morning of March 16, I did some quick searching for Savannah hotels with availability for that night — the night before St. Patrick’s Day.
About 15 Historic District hotels turned up with available rooms in my quick search, and there were literally dozens more with vacancies throughout Chatham County, including in the clusters near the airport, near the intersection of Ga. 204 and Interstate 95, on the Southside and at Tybee.
That was just a quick search, and I pretty quickly located a couple of other downtown hotels with availability that didn’t show up at first. If I really had been coming into town for the Monday night party and today’s parade, I could have booked downtown for under $150 for the night.
On March 13, I did a similar search for available rooms from March 14 to March 16, which included a Saturday night. Again, about a dozen downtown hotels with vacancies showed up in a quick search, with dozens more in the area able to accommodate a last-minute traveler.
In 2014, my cousin and her husband randomly were heading north on I-95 and decided to visit on March 15, not aware of the mania on the Saturday before St. Patrick’s Day. They tried to book a hotel that afternoon but balked at the downtown prices. Instead, they found a cheaper room near the airport with no problem.
All that said, I’m sure that hoteliers have made a killing over the last few days. Many guests booked long ago at rates far higher than those available at the last minute.
This column is not a knock on the local hotels, by the way. I’m simply suggesting that a lot of prevailing assumptions about St. Patrick’s Day just aren’t so. The hotels aren’t “packed,” and you’ll never see River Street looking as crowded as it was during St. Patrick’s Day festivities in the 1990s.
Downtown streets were crowded on Saturday night, for sure, so crowded that the police advised the public not to drive downtown at all.
But it’s worth keeping in mind that the vast majority of partiers and holiday drivers are from the Savannah area, not out-of-towners booking for the full weekend.
There’s nothing wrong with that — not at all. In fact, it’s great to have a spring holiday that is so focused on local traditions.
Of course, it’s worth asking a follow-up question. If the holiday is focused so much on local traditions, why do so many locals avoid downtown? And why do so many local businesses close?
But let’s worry about questions like those another time. Enjoy the parade, and enjoy your safe celebrations after it.
City Talk appears every Sunday and Tuesday. Bill Dawers can be reached via billdawers@comcast.net. Send mail to 10 E. 32nd St., Savannah, GA 31401.