OCEAN CITY, Md. -- The Oceans Calling Festival kicks off on Friday, September 27th. Hotels are hoping this weekend can help make up for what was a relatively slow summer.
Crews were busy at the Ocean City inlet setting up for the festival on Thursday, meaning a long awaited influx of hotels guests will be driving into town any minute.
However, Keith Whisenant, General Manager at the Marriott Residence Inn, said the excitement surrounding Oceans Calling actually begins the second the set-list is released and tickets go on sale.
"I can go and walk in the hotel the next morning and look at the reservations that took place overnight and see that we're sold out," said Whisenant.
One thing he said sets Oceans Calling apart is the diverse crowd it brings in. Nearly 50,000 people will be huddled around the inlet, and many of them crossed state borders to get here.
We spoke with travelers from Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas as well as some local Marylanders and Delawareans. Whisenant told he has reservations from Wisconsin and Arizona.
Then you have people who are willing to cross national borders, like the gentleman we spoke with from Columbia.
The place those festival-goers call home might be different, but one thing they all have in common: they need a room to stay in.
"The demand is obscene, I know that when they announce the next one this time next year I'm going to plan to be overbooked by 50 rooms again," said Whisenant. "It eventually whittles away, but at the same time it's just, there's nothing that created that level of demand here that we've ever seen and we definitely embrace it."
Ocean City hotels typically thrive in the summer, but Whisenant said occupancy was down across the entire town in July. Hotels need Oceans Calling, which is expected to generate $30-$50 million for the town and state of Maryland, to continue drawing in large crowds and fill up hotel rooms.
