CLEVELAND — The hospitality industry has taken a hit from the lack of travel and big events during the pandemic. But with the NFL Draft right around the corner, the industry is excited to celebrate the return of big events.

What You Need To Know

  • Cleveland tourism saw a major drop in 2020, which was brutal on hotels

  • Hotels like the Kimpton Schofield are excited to have big events back

  • Hotels across Cleveland are going for high prices or are already sold out before the draft

  • The draft begins Thursday, April 29 through Saturday, May 1 in Cleveland

Jordan Nye, the director of sales and marketing at Kimpton Schofield, gets off the elevator and walks into a freshly cleaned hotel room. 

“So the NFL Draft is looking like it’s going to be a really busy weekend here in the city. Right now, we’re forecasting to be fully sold out for both Friday and Saturday nights,” said Nye.

This year, Cleveland is the at the heart of the NFL Draft, hosting it from Thursday through Saturday. 

Nye moves around some letters in the unique Kimpton Schofield hotel room, making sure it’s plenty festive. 

“Yeah. We’re extremely excited. I think for the city of Cleveland, welcoming in all the fans, the athletes, their friends, families to the community is going to be great.” 

Nye said hasn’t been in his current position very long, but is up for the challenge of preparing for the NFL Draft. 

“Just moved over here from Chicago, was with Kimpton over there for four years and looking forward to making Cleveland home and making the draft a big success," Nye said.

Downstairs, Nicole Baker from Betts restaurant, owned by the same company, puts a delicious football gameday spread on the table and pours a beer — what the restaurant expects to be doing a lot of in late April. 

“It’s been a while for anybody to have a big event. The excitement level is through the roof here. Everybody is excited about it, everybody who lives here is excited to be a part of it. Everybody who works down here is also excited to be a part of it. Everyone’s just through the roof excited that this national event is going to be here in Cleveland, and it’s been a very long time since something like that happened,” said Baker.  

Hotels across Ohio have experienced some unnecessary roughness from the pandemic, but the NFL Draft is a big and welcome opportunity. A quick search of hotel booking sites shows many downtown hotels going for more than $300 a night, if you can find a room. Nye said he's happy to see the gridiron come to the city of rock. 

“It’s incredibly important I think. Not only for the hotels but also the restaurants, (but also) the community, and I think an event like this really kicks off the year and brings a sense of optimism moving forward into the second half of the year not only for hotels (and) restaurants, but I think also just really for the community to be able to get out, enjoy seeing other people at an event like this,” said Nye. 

According to the Cleveland Sports Commission, the NFL Draft economic impact for cities like Nashville and Dallas exceeded more than $100 million. While it may be hard to predict the impact for this draft, it’s still a huge gain for the city after a rough 2020. The Greater Cleveland Sports Commission also said the NFL booked a block of hotel’s that has a number anywhere between 6,000 to 8,000 total nights. ​

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