Anyone hear a report on how this business is doing around this convention? Is it brisk as usual around these political conventions? I always heard business was better at the GOP version because their delegates have more pocket money than the Dems. Also, I heard the Dems had a tendency to spend a lot more time in committee and special interest group meetings. But these days there are more of the holy rollers (read Evangelicals) on the Republican side, so maybe the money imbalance doesn't make so much difference.
Anyone with experiences or thoughts?No first hand experience unfortunately but there have been a lot of ads posted by traveling ladies this week. Since the general convention sessions don't start until the evening the delegates need to do something dusting the day
I was UTR. I was not going to get in any shit. Dam the hotels in the city was busy. I seen one from the RNC he was on ter and have a lot of information to screen he was a super cool guy
I seen one person he was cool. He was on ter and was in another city.
This guy was really cool. I was happy to met him
Haha! How funny! I came here to see if there was any talk about business during the convention. Not necessarily wanting to know if more money is being spent, but curious to know if its slowed things down. Maybe someone will chime in later.
JC - you still in CLE?
Seemed like there was less hobbying available than expected ... TONS of security forces etc
I'm just seeing this. I wasn't in town, but was curious to know the impact the convention had on playtime there 
Thank you for responding!
Some speculate it's because they were busy seeking play from men.
Some speculate it's because they are older folks, and the convention didn't let out until 11pm each night.
I saw wonderful locals while in town, but no actual convention attendees.
One thing i did hear though, from old friends still working in the bar/restaurant business- The RNC brought no additional business to Cleveland bars and restaurants, and in fact business was slower because regular business stayed away
Most folks were too afraid of being shot or blown up to come downtown. Even the planned protests fizzled.
Erin, that's true - many of the places in town actually closed early and sent people home. Most locals avoided the whole scene, and the conventioneers had everything brought to them so they didn't see much of the town either. The extremely high level of security just had everyone keeping to themselves. I'm waiting to hear details around the size of the economic impact of the convention.
The Scene Magazine published on the last day of the convention called for locals to come out and support businesses because the RNC took such a toll. It's really a shame, but yet another testament to why more and more cities are refusing large conventions like this (and why I'm so thankful Chicago didn't get the Olympics).
My question is this- Cleveland is definitely an up-and-coming convention town; there's great food, a great waterfront, it's affordable, and relatively easy to access. I'm hoping there's enough business to sustain all the new hotels built, but that's yet to be seen.
This is all true. I know most local people stayed away. There was also to much additilnal security, secret service and police presence at all of the nice hotels (especially downtown) and my local friends who hobby often did not want to take any chances on getting caught in a very crowded hotel with lots of media around. Things are now back to "normal".
Rumor has it the real players flew talent in from Vegas instead of shopping local.
Spent time with a very nice lady while the RNC was in town but my first question to her was about where she was hosting (since there was no way I'd go downtown that week). Turns out she was way westside so made the trip and had a nice time (see my most recent review).
Heard from numerous musician friends that many businesses outside of the "zone" were very slow. One restaurant bought a bunch of extra food only to have to donate it to the Food Bank when the hoped for biz didn't show up.
Nice thing is the city has a fresh coat of paint, new hotels and got great reviews. Hope this brings more biz to town. (and more ladies with it)