After a seemingly endless US political primary cycle, filled with as many gaffes, twists, and shocking results as House of Cards packs into a season, the country finally has finally reached the Democratic and Republican National Conventions.
The GOP convention is to be held in Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena from July 18th to the 21st, while the Democratic convention will be taking place the following week, July 25th to the 28th, at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. Expectations are running high for both events, as both candidates face an uphill battle for the presidency, and prominent party members hesitate to give their full support.
Tripping.com, the world's largest search engine for vacation rentals, analyzed tens of thousands of house, apartment, and hotel properties in the Philadelphia and Cleveland areas to see what trends in demand could show about the overall interest in the conventions.
The results are telling:
·Attendees are flocking to Philadelphia and prices are skyrocketing: The average price for a vacation rental near the DNC convention has gone up 97% (from $258/night to $508/night) since last week.
·Fewer people are planning on going to the GOP convention: There is currently a 79% total available inventory in Cleveland (down from 83% last week), while Philadelphia is nearly half booked at 52% available inventory.
·Little demand for Cleveland, prices remain the same: The average price for a vacation rental near the GOP convention has only gone up 14% (from $290/night to $332/night) since last week.
The notable increase in demand and prices for Philadelphia could reflect Bernie Sanders' work in exciting new factions in the Democratic party, or perhaps the opposite cause: the concern over Donald Trump has unified an increasingly diverse party.
Similarly, the lower bookings and prices for Cleveland reinforces the news of prominent Republicans' hesitation or outright rejection of their unconventional candidate.
Are you surprised by these results? Would you attend one of the presidential conventions? Let us know below.