MINNEAPOLIS — It was billed as the busiest week for Minneapolis since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic – and it delivered. 

Hotel numbers from last week show Minneapolis set records and shattered year-over-year numbers thanks to an influx of basketball fans, physicists and more.

It came to a head on March 5 when crowds filled 9,991 hotel rooms citywide, an all-time high for Minneapolis hotels.     

“This is why we do this,” said Kathy McCarthy of Meet Minneapolis. “Bringing these people here to see Minneapolis allows us to enjoy the things in Minneapolis we like because they’re helping with the dollars they spend in the city.”

The dollars added up, too – last week, hotels pulled in an estimated revenue of $11.5 million – an increase of 176% from the same week in 2023. 

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 Moreover, hotels posted their best week of occupancy since October 2019 last week – with 82.9% of rooms filled.

“To see a number like that means we’re on the right path and we need to keep going,” McCarthy said. “These people bring more than their luggage, they bring their pocketbooks. They bring their money. That spending is really important to Minneapolis and to our workers in this industry.”

McCarthy says the number she’s most proud of is the 579,000 future group hotel rooms already booked for events down the line.

“We see positive momentum and positive trajectory,” said McCarthy. “That’s what we want to keep going.”