Hotels, restaurants, and other businesses in Abuja are booming as the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) holds its convention to select a presidential candidate.
Eagle Square, the convention venue located at the Federal Secretariat, has seen increased activity in the last few days as 2,340 delegates from the ruling party converge on the nation’s capital.
According to a survey conducted on Tuesday, eateries inside the Federal Secretariat’s public car park, which is adjacent to the convention venue, are swarming with increased patronage.
Previously, users of the car park were usually hailed by waiters in the eateries to come and patronise them, but this was no longer the case.
Customers were seen standing due to a lack of seats at the Calabar Kitchen and other eateries.
Some grocery stores and stores selling household goods were seen doing well.
Popular restaurants in the capital city, such as Jevinik, Secret Garden on Ahmadu Bello Way, Cantina Restaurant, and 355 Steakhouse & Lounge, were not left out of the increased patronage.
A visit to some hotels, particularly those near Maitama, Asokoro, and Garki, revealed that they were not only fully booked, but had also raised their prices.
The Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Summerseat, Lincon Luxury, and Fraser Suites were among the Central Area hotels visited.
Although hotel officials said they were too busy to speak, some of their front-desk employees, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said their patronage was at full capacity.
According to investigations, some of them raised their rates from N107,000 to N243,000 per room per night.
Others that used to charge N70,000 for a room now charge N120,000, while those that used to charge N50,000 for a room now charge N100,000.
However, some hotels in the Jabi axis that were surveyed were not fully booked, while others that were left with no more space turned away customers.
Sandralia Hotel on Solomon Lar Way in Jabi was fully booked and had to turn away some APC delegates who approached them for accommodation.
Prince Ugochukwu, the Hotel’s Housekeeping Manager, stated that some APC delegates had initially made reservations with the hotel before the party shifted its convention by one week.
Ugochukwu, who claimed to be speaking on behalf of the hotel’s Operations Manager, Eddy Kome, stated that when the delegates returned, the rooms were completely booked.
He revealed that the Sierra Leonean national team, the Leone Stars, who made reservations about two weeks ago, were staying at the hotel.
The Leone Stars will face the Nigerian national team, the Super Eagles, in an African Nations Cup qualifier on Thursday at the Moshood Abional National Stadium in Abuja.
Some Sierra Leonean players and officials were seen unwinding in the hotel lobby.
A visit to the Chida Hotel in Jabi yielded no positive results, but the General Manager of the 3JHs Hotel in Jabi, Ibrahim Abubakar, said that while the hotel still had some rooms available to accommodate some APC delegates who expressed interest earlier, they did not show up.
He did, however, state that the occupancy rate was between 60% and 70%.
Abubakar stated that the occupancy rate can sometimes reach 100%, and that the hospitality industry had overcome the COVID-19 setback.
