One other thought is to move to the prior weekend, Jan 12 & 13. Charlotte rooms are more reasonable that weekend with rates at the full-service downtown Marriott at $153 vs $290 for Saturday of the holiday weekend. Hilton Charlotte is $157, HGI is $126. The trade off is the loss of the holiday.
The Charlotte event is a cheerleading competition - the 2019 Spirit of Hope National Championship at the Charlotte Convention Center. Sometimes an outsider can piggyback onto event hotel rates, but this one requires registration for the event. Bummer.
Having it on the holiday weekend has worked well for us most years prior, as it allowed for a free travel day home, which is important to those of us who have work to get back to or would need to take extra day(s) off.
Regardless of what the particular event is in town, having crowds of convention attendees tends to lead to difficulty in finding available and affordable places to eat, and could also crowd the transit lines we came to ride. So on that note, even if we did the option to use the MLK weekend but go to hotels further out of town, we still would need to be amongst the conventioneers while Uptown to ride the Blue and Gold Lines.
That said, we discussed going somewhere in New York State, like Rochester and/or Schenectady, and maybe to Springfield, MA as well. It was brought up on our most recent Sunday chat, and Bill mentioned the option here on Saturday morning, after which I posted 2 possible new itineraries. Should we focus on this now? Do any of our regulars who expect to participate this January NOT wish to do this? Upstate NY does have a greater possibility of snow, especially the lake effect type. We are coming up on 2 months before the event, so decisions should be made soon.
I looked at hotels in Rochester, and while they are a little on the pricey side, they are available and a lot less cost than Charlotte would have been. That HGI that is within a couple blocks of the Amtrak station is the best deal for those loyal to the Hilton brands. The Doubletree Strathallan is much higher.
Much better news for Sunday night, whether we choose the Schenectady or Springfield options. Schenectady both the Hampton Inn and Doubletree are very reasonable rates. In Springfield, the HGI is well priced, and Hampton Inn is doable as well.
If we do agree on either of the NY State options, those not living near New York City likely would need to stay there on the preceding Friday night, 1/18/19. So far, good hotel rates can be had for that evening.
In short, it may be worth our while to go where the people aren't. We still can have a very enjoyable journey on Amtrak trains covering a few cities in 3 days.... Plus we could get to see new stations and also maybe see the Hartford Line in daylight albeit passing through on an Amtrak train. My personal choice among these, for getting more travel in for the three days would be to go via Springfield, which would be on Trains 281, 448, 461, and 161.... although there are earlier trains back to New York City & points south if connections need to be made.
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