A pair of markets familiar with hosting the NCAA college basketball Final Four will get another crack at it this year on both the men's and women's side, setting up hotel demand worthy of cutting the nets down.
This weekend, San Antonio, Texas, will play host to the men's Final Four with the semifinals taking place on Saturday and the final on Monday. Tampa, Florida, will host the women's Final Four, with the semifinals taking place on Friday and the final on Sunday.
The men's tournament features an four No. 1 seeds in the Final Four, only the second time this has ever happened, as well as the projected No. 1 overall pick in the upcoming NBA draft this summer in Duke's Cooper Flagg. The two matchups this Saturday are Auburn vs. Florida and Duke vs. Houston.
The women's tournament also features the top prospect in the upcoming WNBA draft, UConn's Paige Bueckers. There are three No. 1 seeds remaining — South Carolina, UCLA and Texas — and a lone No. 2 seed — UConn. South Carolina will face UCLA and Texas will face UConn in the semifinals this Friday.
Not San Antonio's first rodeo
San Antonio's Alamodome, which holds 64,000 people, has hosted the men's Final Four four times before, most recently in 2018 when Jalen Brunson's Villanova Wildcats defeated Michigan in the finals.
Colin Sherman, director of hospitality market analytics in Texas and the U.S. South for CoStar Group, said there was a pretty sizeable lift in hotel demand in the market back in 2018. San Antonio reached a peak occupancy of 98% and revenue per available room of $327.61 in the central business district the last time it hosted the Final Four.
There was a $350 million economic impact in the city in 2018, and that's projected to be $440 million this year. When San Antonio hosted in 2018, the state of Texas reimbursed the city $13.4 million from its event trust fund, which resulted in a 70.94% out-of-state attendance.
Matthew Lauzon, hotel manager at the Hotel Emma in San Antonio's central business district, said his property put a strict 14-day cancellation policy on its rooms and required a four-night minimum stay for the duration of the Final Four. Occupancy for this Friday through Monday was at 81% before the tournament began and reached full occupancy once the Final Four teams were set last weekend.
The Hotel Emma operated at full occupancy when San Antonio hosted the Final Four in 2018 as well, but it's been able to nearly double its average rates, mostly due to hotel industry trends over the past several years, Lauzon said.
Mickey Steenberghe, hotel manager at Mokara Hotel & Spa, said his property started seeing group demand for the Final Four about a year out and transient demand started to pick up once the teams were decided.
This year's Final Four featuring the top four teams in the nation, including a basketball powerhouse in Duke, is "definitely going to be a factor" with hotel demand, Sherman said.
"Being that all four teams being No. 1 seeds this year, I think San Antonio can expect higher hotel performance and potentially higher occupancy levels [compared to 2018] over the course of all three days, not just on Friday and Saturday before the championship," he said.
Outside of hotel guest demand, properties with restaurants and bars will also see a boost from both locals and outside travelers who want to be close to the action without spending money on a ticket.
Lauzon said the Hotel Emma installed some TVs in its public area and bar and will have a DJ to play music during commercial breaks. The hotel is located in the Pearl District, which features 32 restaurants along with retail spaces and a farmers market. He said the effect of the Final Four will be felt across the city.
"The entire city obviously benefits from this; it's just a huge, huge impact," he said.
In addition to the games on Saturday and Monday, there's a Fan Fest at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center Friday through Monday. The March Madness Music Festival at Tower Park at Hemisfair takes place Friday through Sunday, featuring artists such as Pitbull, Chris Stapleton, Doechii and Jelly Roll.
All of the fanfare outside of the games has led to transient hotel demand growing over the course of the weekend while group demand is decelerating after peaking on Friday, Sherman said. Instead of only booking for Friday and Saturday to wait and see if their team advances, fans are booking out the whole weekend regardless.
"There's a lot to do within the middle of the games," he said. "If your team makes [the final game on Monday], great, that's just an added plus, but I don't think it distracts from fans of a certain team staying the whole three days."
Perfect storm of demand in Tampa
Tampa's Amalie Arena is also a repeat Final Four host, home to the event three times in the past. It most recently hosted the NCAA Women's Final Four in 2019, when Baylor hung on for an 82-81 victory over Notre Dame.
Sherman said Tampa is also expected to perform well this weekend, in part due to higher fan interest in women's basketball. Each year Tampa has hosted the event, there's been an incremental increase in hotel demand.
Demand increased 17% from 2008 when it hosted in 2015 and it increased 10% in 2019 from 2015, Sherman said.
"Provided that we've seen increases in demand every year it's been held in Tampa, we can assume that this year will likely see an increase in demand to 2019 levels, especially as women's basketball has grown in popularity," he said.
Chris Adkins, director of sales and marketing at the Tampa Marriott Water Street and JW Marriott Tampa Water Street, said the Final Four has been a strong demand generator over the years and has only become a more potent event with the growth of the sport.
Both properties, which are located directly next to the Amalie Arena, will likely be at full occupancy on Friday and Saturday, with the potential of another sellout on Sunday, Adkins said. The JW Marriott Tampa Water Street is hosting one of the finalists, and the Tampa Marriott Water Street is hosting the Women's Basketball Coaches Association Conference from April 3-6.
"Anything that takes place at Amalie Arena is essentially where we kind of end up being the headquarter hotels for that," he said. "We're always very much in sync with whatever happens next door at the arena."
A factor to watch out for in Tampa is the Final Four schedule overlapping with spring break. Sherman said there will be an overlap of travelers "without a doubt."
The Final Four is "icing on top of the cake" to any spring break travel that comes in, Adkins said. Because the inventory becomes compressed with an event such as this one, it usually pushes spring break business either to the weekend before or after.
There's also going to be added demand at the hotels' restaurants and dining options from fans just wanting to be close to the action, Adkins said.
"We get a lot of that foot traffic because we're right on the Riverwalk and people come down this way," he said. "People come down because it's very active. It's activated. You've got all the fans, all the different schools here. It's a fun area."
Similarly to the men's Final Four in San Antonio, there will be several events in Tampa sponsored by the NCAA, including Party in the Plaza and the Super Saturday Concert headlined by GloRilla.
"I would imagine the share of spring breakers that aren't attending the games would be larger than those attending the games, but that fan experience is also going to have a draw as well. Even if you're not going to the game, just that the city is hosting a Final Four and all the activities and events that take place there ... is going to definitely add to its appeal to travelers," Sherman said.