Motel a resort casino for RVs?
Share with others:
CAMP HILL, Pa. -- A group that wants to turn an ordinary Holiday Inn into a $75 million resort casino has an unusual marketing strategy -- appealing to RV owners, who are seen as full of wanderlust and disposable income.
Penn Harris Gaming thinks its casino would appeal to what it calls an underserved population -- folks who are often older or retired, but are well-heeled and who travel around the country in their large recreational vehicles looking for interesting places to visit.
It may come as a surprise to some, but the Penn Harris group thinks the Harrisburg/Hershey/Carlisle/Lancaster area is just the type of tourist area that "RVers" would like to visit, see the sights and try their luck at roulette and poker tables and one-armed bandits. They said that annual car shows in Carlisle and Hershey draw thousands of car buffs and other visitors. Hershey also has Hershey Park resort, and Lancaster has traditional Amish farms.
The developers include the CMS equity and real estate firm, which owns the Holiday Inn on Route 11 here, about 10 miles west of Harrisburg. They would convert the motel into a 40,000-square-foot casino with 600 slots and 50 table games, plus restaurant/bar, spa, fitness center and "RV World," a 6-acre parking area along Interstate 81. It's behind the hotel, and it's where drivers would park their RVs while gambling.
"We are not shooting for the high-roller market," said Atlantic City gaming lawyer John Donnelly, one of the investors. "We are going for a middle-class market," one that has considerable "discretionary income."
RVs figure into the Penn Harris project in another way, too. Because the Holiday Inn has 239 only rooms -- and a resort hotel casino must, by state law, have at least 275 rooms -- the motel is parking 36 spiffy new RVs just outside and calling them additional "rooms," which overnight guests can stay in at slightly lower rates than renting a room inside the motel.
First Published August 13, 2010 12:00 am
