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Despite Game, There's Plenty Of Room At The Inns

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By TED JACKOVICS

tjackovics@tampatrib.com

Published: January 28, 2009

TAMPA - Hotel rooms remain for those seeking last-minute accommodations for Super Bowl weekend.

Both Visit St. Petersburg/Clearwater and Tampa Bay & Co., the Pinellas and Hillsborough county visitors bureaus, reported accommodations available for the weekend as of Tuesday afternoon.

Accommodations at more than a dozen Tampa hotels ranged from about $189 to $800, with three- or four-night minimum stays, on Tampa's tourism bureau Web site, www.visittampabay.com.

At least 60 hotels offer weekend accommodations on the Pinellas County tourism bureau's site, www.visitstpeteclearwater.com/superbowl/hot-superb....

Gulf-front rooms were as low as $249, and inland water-view condo vacation rentals started at $150.

One indication that Super Bowl traffic is strengthening is that since Jan. 18, when the Pinellas visitors bureau bought more than 100 key words on Google.com to increase the bureau's visibility among people searching for accommodations, online visits have increased 300 percent, Visit St. Petersburg/Clearwater Deputy Director David Downing said.

The National Football League reserved about 20,000 rooms for officials, guests, the media and participating teams, including 7,800 of Hillsborough's 21,500 hotel rooms, 3,600 of 30,500 Pinellas' rooms and 8,700 of the Orlando area's 100,000 rooms.

With an estimated 100,000 people expected to descend on Tampa with or without tickets to the game, that leaves plenty of accommodations in the area.

Reporter Ted Jackovics can be reached at (813) 259-7817.

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