Marble Falls feeling power of Austin’s Grand Prix

October 08, 2012, 9:00 pm by Adam Troxtell

Marble Falls will be gearing up for its own version of race weekend when the Circuit of the Americas in Austin hosts its first ever Formula 1 race, the U.S. Grand Prix, on Nov. 18.

Major hotels Hampton Inn, Holiday Inn Express and Motel 6 are booked solid Nov. 16-18, and they say it is due to the big race. LaQuinta Inn & Suites is also completely booked, but they say they have family functions filling up their rooms. The Hill Country Inn does have rooms available, but they are taking more reservations than usual for that weekend. Across the street from them at the Quality Inn, only a few rooms are still available for Nov. 16-18. Hotels in Austin are reportedly all booked, as well, and demand for rooms has skyrocketed as race weekend approaches.

"Hampton’s got a big bloc on the books from a third party,” Tucker Johnson, with Hampton sales and marketing, said. "It was booked over a year ago. The dates kept changing, but as soon as the date got finalized, we had 15-20 rooms get snapped up. [The race] is supposed to generate a Super Bowl-type of demand.”

The increase in traffic is an opportunity for businesses in town to attract a larger than usual customer base.

"I foresee a day when every South by Southwest, every Austin City Limits and every F1 race will present a chance for us to capitalize on having those people in the area,” Bill Rives, executive director of the Marble Falls/Lake LBJ Chamber of Commerce, said.

For more of this story, see Tuesday's Highlander.