By JUDY RATTNER
Affiliated with the Hilton chain, the 83-room hotel at 125 Merrick Road (off Sunrise Highway) boasts secure, luxury accommodations conveniently located within walking distance of the village's many restaurants and downtown shops, easy access to area airports, as well as a 37-minute trip to Manhattan via the nearby Long Island Rail Road. But last week, it wasn't access to any of those destinations that filled it to near capacity - it was the hotel's proximity to Hofstra University in Hempstead, where the historic presidential debate took place Wednesday night.
The Hampton Inn's management, including its owner, long time village resident Jules Abramson, general manager Jennifer Foti and director of sales Audrey Love, said that 65 percent of the rooms in the hotel had been reserved for Oct. 12 -16 for members of the press who were working at the third debate between Democrat Barack Obama and his Republican rival, John McCain.
They said that CNN had booked 30 rooms for members of its technical staff and on air personalities as long as a year ago. Ed Henry, CNN's White House correspondent, Bill Schneider, the network's senior political analyst and Jessica Yellin, its political reporter were among those who stayed at the hotel. And the Hampton Inn's management team said that 25 rooms were also booked by NBC for its employees during the same time period.
Lisa Davala, from the neighboring Best Western hotel at 173 Sunrise Highway, said that she didn't note a large increase in its occupancy rate last week, but that security people and other individuals going to the debate did stay at her hotel, "It didn't make a major difference," she said, "but it did help."
On a normal week, Hampton Inn management said their hotel usually has an 85 percent occupancy rate with Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays frequently sold out to corporate visitors. On Thursdays and Fridays the business travellers check out and are replaced with leisure guests who stay through the weekend, attending area weddings and bar mitzvahs and enjoying brunch at the hotel after the events.
Many business travellers today are women, approximately 40 percent, according to the hotel's management, and the Rockville Centre location, which had been the site of Abramson's textile factory, Bramson House, before it outgrew its facility and relocated to a new, larger factory in Freeport, was designed with female guests' comfort and security in mind - the Hampton Inn has cameras in all public areas, open corridors overlooking the atrium and glass elevators. Contributing to the hotel's comfort and beauty are its upholstery, drapes and duvet covers which are all manufactured by local workers at Bramson House.
According to the hotel's staff, the only upcoming event that has practically sold out rooms as far in advance as the debate did, is the U.S. Open PGA golf tournament, scheduled to return to the Bethpage Black in June 2009. But if Abramson's plan to expand is approved by the village - he wants to knock down an empty warehouse abutting the hotel and Sunrise Highway to build a new wing with 40 additional rooms - there eventually will be many more rooms for future guests. "We built this hotel in the time after 9/11," Abramson said, "and because the extension will take a year or so we hope to come back when the economy improves."
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