PERRY, Ga. — Places across Central Georgia are seeing the economic impact from the National Bikers Roundup at the Georgia National Fairgrounds in Perry. We stopped by some hotels and a restaurant where they say they're seeing a big boom of business this week.
At Avid Hotel in Perry, General Manager Amita Patel says the hotel has nearly 80 rooms total -- and about 60 are reserved by bikers in town for the roundup.
The roundup was supposed to happen in Perry last year, but was canceled because of the pandemic. Event organizers expect this year to be one of the largest yet, with about 40,000 people coming in from all 50 states.
Patel says Avid Hotel has been booked for roundup week since 2020.
“The bikers, they have been booking since last year August, so we were fully booked since last year August for this whole week. So it's been, yeah, I'm excited to see them,” said Patel.
Right up the street from the hotel, there's Red Lobster. Manager Matthew Newkirk says they're in the ideal location.
“When something's going on at the ag center, we usually increase our business,” said Newkirk.
He says they get a big boom during dinner hours.
“We've seen, in the last two nights, that the bikers usually come in at nighttime, they've been here roughly an hour before we close,” said Newkirk.
We checked online, and it appears hotels across Central Georgia are full -- the closest vacancy is at least 45 minutes away.
Tru by Hilton in Macon just opened last month. General Manager Jamilah Stuart says they have at least 75 bikers with rooms.
“They started arriving into town yesterday, and so it's been really fun to have a full hotel,” said Stuart.
We asked all three business owners if they had any worry about the spread of COVID-19. They all say they're doing their part to keep everyone safe.
Stuart says safety comes first.
“We ask that anyone that is not fully vaccinated is wearing a mask when they're in the public areas. We are really good about wiping down all public surfaces with Lysol and other cleaning supplies. We have a few other things in place according to Hilton standards that we're doing to ensure the safety of our employees and guests,” said Stuart.
Most of the roundup events are outdoors -- for the indoor ones, masks are required.