Hotels in Buffalo near or at capacity

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - Hotel business is booming in Buffalo this summer. Many inns are putting up their "no vacancy" signs.

The Adam's Mark is booked, and so is the Holiday Inn. The Hampton Inn and Suites is also filled to capacity Tuesday night. These hotels are seeing a surge thanks to around 2,500 law students in town to take the bar exam.

Theresa Smith at the Best Western said, "We have 50 guest rooms for the bar exam and we have 61 rooms all together."

But the bar exam isn't necessarily what's bringing in all these people to the area.

Ed Healy of Visit Buffalo-Niagara said, "Typically, this is a busy time of the year. Hotels are running about 85 percent occupancy during these high summer months."

Healy says the "buzz" about Buffalo is growing, thanks to nationwide publications touting Buffalo as a place for all seasons.

"It's helping us to tell a new story and tell a new narrative about buffalo and it's really working, the AP has done a story that was picked up by the Wall Street Journal, the Atlanta Constitution, all sorts of publications nationwide," said Healy.

The Visitors Bureau can thank the Buffalo Garden Walk. Dozens of Queen City landscapes have been featured in over 40 national gardening magazines.

Garden Walk president Jim Charlier said, "We've created a garden industry, a cottage industry out of nothing, it didn't even exist two years ago. We've got buses coming in from Toronto, Harrisburg and Ohio, just wanting to see our gardens."

And all those visitors need a place to stay in the city. Smith says each year, the Garden Walk business "grows."

Smith said, "Absolutely, we get more and more people calling earlier, saying that's what we're coming in for."

Last year, the Visitors Bureau conducted a survey of over 3,000 people at the Buffalo Garden Walk and found that 24 percent were from outside Erie and Niagara Counties and 34 states were represented. You can find out more about the Garden Walk here.