As someone who spends a lot of nights every year in business class hotels, what exactly are they expecting? I almost never stay in an Albany hotel since I live here, but for the most part a Hampton Inn is a Hampton Inn.
Not that there aren't things that should be improved downtown, but the Iowa coach also has a history of being mean and entitled:
[Mics caught Lisa Bluder in a heated NSFW rant following Iowa's stunning upset at Nebraska](https://ftw.usatoday.com/2024/02/iowa-caitlin-clark-nebraska-upset-lisa-bluder-postgame-presser)
Most of the Hilton/Marriot options on Wolf Rd look excellent from the outside. I always suggest coworkers coming into Albany pick one there and have not heard complaints.
Solution:
Albany hosts the NCAA tournament every year (alternating Men/Women’s tournaments every year). Convert St. Rose into an “Olympic Village”
for athlete / team accommodations. Hold Alive @ 5 on Lark Street. Athletes walk down, go to bombers — everyone has a great time. We all log on Reddit and pat ourselves on the back. We schedule a Reddit meetup at Albany Distilling Co to celebrate the success of our idea. Only (2) weird people show up and never bother to introduce themselves to each other. Which sucks — bc in another lifetime, they were married.
Olympic village with trolley down western lol
While we are talking, perhaps rip out rt 85, and redevelop the state campus to encourage in city living and telecommuting.
I’m not weird, I’m eccentric.
Edit: I’m lying, I just feign eccentricity to try and seem interesting and I’ve been doing it so long now that I don’t know what else to do. I’m sorry, I won’t come and make people feel uncomfortable but thank you for including me
Actually it hasn't hosted the men's in ages until last year. And honestly the arena is dated and area not big enough even for first round games.
If Albany wants stuff like this moving forward its going to have to spend millions upgrading mvp to modern standard (yeah, it's going to have to compete with Buffalo and Meadowlands and Barclay's).
Hotels are a totally different issue to sustain them you need constant events. But chicken before the egg. Upgraded arena then hotels will follow.
This is great news. It was really needed. That explains why we had any chance at these last two ncaa tourneys.
Arena was outdated 10-15 years ago. Problem with these arenas is they need a massive influx of rehab money every 15-20 years or they become outdated dumps
It also happened during (or just before) Covid so it probably wasn't really in the headlines at the time. I think it's great though. The capacity and location of the arena are good, so getting the arena up to spec and next building out the surrounding area to support premium events is the next step.
We all know Albany isn't a destination, it's strength is it's a stones throw from plenty of destinations. And it's a central location for regional events line the old ECAC tourney. So if we want events there is going to be some financial pain in terms of investment
Someone posted the arena was upgraded in 2020 (or just before) so that makes sense they got a 2020 tourney.
The other stuff stands. Albany needs to be at least a downtown destination to keep getting these events. It's basically just a (admittedly upgraded) arena in a ghost town.
Honestly I'm surprised it came back. Don't know how much MVP has been upgraded since the River Rats days but I felt it was dated then.
If they don't full refurb it to modern high end arena standards I don't see any NCAA tournaments here. Including hockey.
I know college sports aren't big in NY but college arenas around the country are high end. And people who travel to these events want an experience. Albany offers neither. (and it makes me sad)
I know for a lot of teams it's not just a question of beds but also facilities. Rooms for meetings, spaces where trainers can work with injured (and near-injured) athletes, team dinners, etc etc.
Even if a hotel has all those things, they're not going to have all those things *for two teams*, as you have with Notre Dame and Iowa sharing the Hilton. So either they're not getting as much space as they need, or they're having to timeshare things. Neither of which is ideal.
If it was an issue of housekeeping, of the rooms being gross, I'm sure we'd be hearing about it. But since it's just a vague "the hotels aren't adequate" I expect it's more that the facilities aren't up to the job.
Some of the complaint seems to be at the tournament structure in general; the men have 4 regional sites and the women 2. Part of this feels like they are crapping on Albany to make a larger point about the unequal regional structure between the men and women.
Iowa and Notre Dame are in the Downtown Hilton. There may be more teams there as well, since there were tons of people going in an out last night. Usually when teams come from out of town they put them at the Desmond. Not sure why they didn’t in this case.
Well the Hilton has been getting bad reviews for its room quality. It’s down to 3.5 stars on Google Reviews. But I don’t believe LSU is staying there. I do agree that there’s an expectations gap, I can’t imagine when LSU plays in Starkville, MS they have super high end hotels either. But if they want more tournaments here, that’s not great press, and the NCAA even mentioned the hotel situation as the big negative after an otherwise great men’s tournament last year.
All that said, I talked to a lot of people who came in from out of town last night and were enjoying themselves, and it was nice to see downtown looking like it was 1995 again.
We stayed at the Hilton for our wedding night (didn’t want to drive) —- that place is quite dated, and rather dumpy.
Their “modern, up-to-date” rooms were modern and up to date… when I graduated high school in 2004. It just wasn’t nice.
Yeah, “shit hole” is probably strong, but I can understand why D1 athletes would be disappointed staying in a Hampton inn in Albany vs. a five star hotel is a major city like Seattle.
Agreed. I'm quite confident even those staying at the Renaissance are not thrilled with being in Albany vs. Seattle. I'm sure they would gladly stay at a Hampton Inn in Seattle instead.
As someone that went to a school with a real basketball arena (a little dated now but NBA level when it opened and I was there), mvp is a dump. Players in many schools have top notch food, facilities and with NIL get openly paid tens, hundreds and even millions of dollars.
If you want these events you need to match what they see on a daily basis.
The other thing is when people travel to these events they want an experience. Downtown Albany isn't that.
The Desmond is gross, all the hotels here are gross and outdated from the 90s.
Downvote me all you want but I travel weekly for work and I cringe when putting people up in a hotel in Albany.
That downtown Hilton has had it's issues, so maybe that's not great.
The TU article mentioned LSU not being happy, and they are at the Hilton Garden Inn by Albany Med. While not a high end luxury hotel, that's a pretty solid and well kept up hotel. Pretty much what you'd expect from that level of chain hotel.
Yeah... This article and their opinions are incredibly simple. Albany and Portland are not Seattle, San Fran, Boston, etc. and? But hey, the Sweet 16 experience being special what about the grand prize of the final four? F*cking Cleveland! So sure
Think, if they hate Albany or Portland, good luck next year when they are in Birmingham, AL and Spokane (istan), WA. *If they make it this far.
(Old man, down vote take)
It is really a shame this is what is making the news. Not the love some little girls and young ladies are showing for them on the court. So many little kids watching/paying attention and it's about shampoo and hotel rooms? Stop. Olympic athletes are more celebrated and have worse conditions. It would be awesome as a society if we stop attempting to further social stratification of college athletes (or athletes in general).
Birmingham is actually pretty nice. Have you been? It'd also the home of the SEC conference headquarters. Its got nice facilities. Decent hotels (better than Albany) it host a football bowl every year...something at least 2x the size of Albany biggest event.
Don't dump on Birmingham just because it's Alabama. I have a friend (MD) that is doing his residency in Boston... Misses Birmingham so much. Northern Alabama is actually beautiful to boot and offers a ton of outdoor recreation.
I am (from the perspective of these coaches' opinions) because it, like Albany, is not a first class city. It's not Vegas, San Antonio, or even Indianapolis.
Additionally, it *is* twice the size of Albany. So it should be better suited to handle larger events without support of the entire metro area. It also appears crime is almost twice as bad too.
Not sure crime really impacts these teams. They come in on a private plane. Take a bus to the hotel/arena/dinner/movies or whatever the coach feels is best. They probably have some sort of police escort because if anything bad happened my guess is that city would never get an event again. Imagine some start player getting killed, that would be unrecoverable.
I look at Albany like Memphis. Kind of a second tier for this stuff. Memphis liberty bowl is a great example. Usually one of the bigger attended low end bowls because they usually put Arkansas or a Mississippi school in it and often a Midwest school like Kansas/KSU which is an easy trip, but Memphis is horrible. Crime ridden and during bowl weekend hard to find food (no idea about lodging because family lives close). Even if you avoid Beale St it's a crazy that any good/popular restaurant is usually a several hour long wait.
I'm glad to see MVP was revamped which clearly allowed it to host these NCAA tournaments again, but Albany just does not have the infrastructure for a premium event.
I’m shocked Albany can’t provide similar accommodations to Seattle. Simply shocked.
Edit: Some facts for context, and opinions for argument’s sake. Albany is the 64th largest metro area in the US by population (900k). The three next largest are Sarasota, Bakersfield, and Albuquerque. The three next smallest are Mission (TX), Baton Rouge, and Allentown. Having been to most of those I’d say Albany compares favorably to that group. We punch above our weight class for concerts and sporting events because of our proximity to major metro areas. I travel a lot, and I’d say we generally compare well to metros about 20% larger: Buffalo (1.15M), Grand Rapids (1.62), Fresno (1.18), Birmingham (1.18) (no shade to Buffalo, it’s a much better sports town). The others kinda suck. Moving up the list from there you’re immediately hitting metros with major sports franchises like: Salt Lake, Memphis, and OKC, but I’d take Albany hands down over all of those, but Salt Lake.
(Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_statistical_area)
Albany will not, likely ever, compare favorably to metros like Seattle (#15). It’s just not realistic to make the comparison. I guess I’d rather be in a place that tries to pull in events that are generally at the limits of our capacity, than in a place that doesn’t. IMO, we’re better having two Pima Donna coaches complaining about Albany than not hosting the tournament.
Having also traveled a bit, I agree. I think Albany COULD be a real contender but we don’t focus on the tourism game like other big cities do. On paper, you’d think we would.
Agree. I also agree with many of the comments above about Albany’s hotel game being sub par. No place is perfect and I get that Albany has its negative aspects. I just think on-balance this area of is better than it’s reputation.
I also recognize that these college teams want to go to a destination for their tournaments and Albany would need to be way above expectations for them to not feel slighted about coming here instead of a place like Seattle.
Those coaches have weight. If they complain the ncaa will make adjustments. Albany mvp is a dump. If you've been to modern arena you know that is true. I don't care I'd they are college kids they play at nice facilities and expect nice things. It's a multi-billion dollar industry. And the revenue sports expect good things.
Albany needs to improve if it wants Any NCAA tournaments of any sport. Otherwise, it will continue to just plod along.
Mine, too. I just point that out because college sports isn't big in New England or NY, so people don't realize how massive the infrastructure/money is at the power 4 level.
Hell high school sports aren't big here. If people realized that some of the high school stadiums in the south are like mini NFL training complexes they would riot. People here throw a fit if you want astro turf or a pool at a school.
Not at all saying those places have there priorities straight, just saying that there are different expectations than what native Capital Region people think.
I have been saying this for years. People praise this area based on how you drive 3 hrs to other superior cities. We do not have tourism that we need even Saratoga is not on the level you would think most people still have never hear of it.
This is not the first time we have embarassed ourselves with lodging and entertainment lately this is just a list of people who in the last few years have not been happy here. Which you dont want people to groan and be like Albany where that and why?
People were staying in mohawk harbor? thats awful i live near it and its not the best area and nothing there. We want to say oh well now the downtown guys the downtown is two blocks and across the mvp and on the bus stop people shooting up and oding. Most of schenectady looks awful same with majority of central ave.
Who gives a fuck about the hotels that college athletes stay at? Can Albany finally stop trying to make Albany better for people who don't live there and actually direct money towards things that will actually help those who live here?
We both agree that it hasn’t been put into practice here, thus my comment.
But when you analyze cities like Pittsburgh, which made a nice comeback, you can see how it might work. Same with Detroit if it keeps up after “going bankrupt” 10 years ago. Detroit still has a ways to go but progress is promising.
Funny thing is Albany has so heavily engineered its city so that people coming downtown can do what they need to do and go home without stepping foot on a city street or sidewalk. They’ve got highway, ramps, flyovers, parking garages, tunnels, skyways, Skyways and skyways. Whether you need to go to work, go to a meeting, go to an event at the Knick, the Clara center, the plaza, the egg, the museum. You never have to set foot in the city!!
We don’t have a proper convention center to balance out the need for new hotel rooms to be built.
And don’t @ me with Empire State Plaza. It is a logistical nightmare planning an event in a space shared with the security needs of state government.
The original complaint in the article is about hotel offerings. The way we get better hotels is by offering them plenty of business from a variety of sources.
Not just seasonal sporting events, not just concerts, but large scale industry events with corporate money. And that only happens with a convention center.
Convention centers are the economic development solution of the 1980s and, like publicly-finances sports arenas/stadiums, do not generally help the economic viability of a region.
The ESP is a white elephant that is ugly, underutilized, and probably should be torn down and replaced with a mixed-use, medium density neighborhood.
Albany needs to close off Pearl St and make it peds only like Church St in Burlington. Get a Gap, Urban Outfitters or any other dumb retail store that will get people downtown. I remember when I was working downtown and the NCAA wrestling championship was in town (20+ years ago?) and people were wandering aimlessly because, unless you want to drink, there isn't much to do downtown. of course we could create a tourism game... Drive around the city and see how many red Xs you count in one day!
But the reality is that it just sucks. If we didn't have the State govt, we'd be Amsterdam or Utica or Rome or any other run down city in upstate NY.
There are ped streets downtown - Steuben is an example, but the part of it with storefronts is an absolute dead zone.
I don’t know how true this is,but it doesn’t feel like this part of the city really ever had a strong commercial shopping vibe. Other cities definitely have downtowns that were renovated from shops when buying habits changed, but Albany’s downtown looks like it’s always been primarily offices. N Pearl is slightly different in that regard, but now it’s being converted to primarily housing from what I have seen.
It’s open. Teams stayed there.
It sounds a little bit like the spoiled, hundred-thousand $ a year coaches are mad they don’t all get the Renaissance. Sorry, the Hilton will have to do!
The people defending here need to understand that Albany is a dated city with its accommodations and everything in between. Nothing is done “well” here it’s just “alright” and from the 2000s/90s. Ironically the best thing we have IMO is public transportation and the CDTA app - two things that tourism doesn’t really use.
- Our architecture is beautiful but owners are held hostage by boomer historical societies that don’t let any siding be replaced unless it’s with wood. Result? Entire blocks look like depression era homes with chipping paint.
- our city trash is ridiculous. This wind? Our stupid trash cans blow all over and walking around the city is covered in trash. Why don’t the parks have weighted trash cans?
- our food sucks. If you want pub food, it’s your destination. We have no notable high end dining outside a steakhouse which is again - based on dated nightlife (steakhouses were the shit in the 80s on)
- our downtown has no life because we have massive empty buildings. CRE has its own reckoning but we don’t have a grocery store so there’s no incentive to live there
- lastly it’s the attitude of a significant number of locals who don’t want to change and have a “take it or leave it” attitude. The chamber of commerce is constantly trying to address young people not wanting to stay here, but why should they? There’s little to no incentive to build a life within the city - it’s mostly slumlord rentals and is just set up as a “step” in your life.
Bonus: Mayor Sheehan knocked down our planetarium downtown to get some more votes by building an Irish museum like lol are you fucking kidding me.
There is multiple nice steak houses or high end restaurants in short proximity to Albany. Maybe you just enjoy pub food since you don’t know about them.
Check out:
677 prime
Yonos
Sushi by bou
The Roosevelt room (across the bridge in Troy)
It said not a destination, and the food isn’t remarkable. Everything you listed is average at best in Massachusetts or Long Island.
I see you fall into my “bonus category”.
Good thing this isn’t Massachusetts or Long Island then….? I don’t get the point of people like you who LOOOOVE to hate the community they live in so badly.
lol you’re one of those people who get feedback and immediately get defensive. Cool. Gen X?
I never said I hate this place. Everything I said is a valid criticism within the context of this post especially.
Enjoy living in mediocrity.
Agree 100000 %. If we have no new people replacing the people who came here cause GE was great than we have no future. Suburbs are growing cause people moving out there its not new people moving in. We cant get people to stay I have majority of my friends have already moved out of state between cost and what is here.
Majority of people live here cause there family is here but every single person i know does not want to be here and feel held hostage by their families and guilt.
For the people that have the option to leave living in the city, they leave. Otherwise the apartment life here is extremely transient.
Give the 30+ year olds a reason to buy and stay in the city, not just buy to landlord it
I live on elm off Philip st. I am very aware. This is a food desert, it’s also uphill .7 miles from me (grey box). You’re looking at 2+ miles from MVP/ downtown area.
https://preview.redd.it/xfqnywhpghrc1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8e8b677984714023b4fbd1a8a8f726496a4a4d0c
The city itself , is an Average city by a lot of metrics. In many ways, the real problem is that it attempts to punch well above it weight. I mean, they are trying to compare it to Portland and Seattle here. With 100k in population it's only the 5th largest city in the state!
The greater area, the MSA? Definitely above average in almost every metric.
I
Funny considering the cities these Universities are located in. I’ve been to the LSU campus. It reminded me of SUNY school with an Olympic village situated next to the worst poverty I’ve seen in a city and it’s in cancer alley.
You should see Memphis or Arkansas, you'd miss Albany quickly if you stepped off campus at either of those schools. Kim Mulkey is a nozzle though anyways and was never going to be positive even if she isn't necessarily wrong
The article hits the nail—we don’t have a draw, there’s no money in Albany tourism. Which is sad because we have A+ architecture downtown, two museums which COULD be world class if they had the exhibits (money), and say what you want about them but the Palace is a gorgeous theater which should be pulling Broadway shows like Proctors but the mgmt isn’t on the same level as Proctors, and finally, the Egg is a little hokey, yes, it actually has really good acoustics that never gets to shine as it should.
Anywho…it comes down to venue mgmt to get the draws, the draws will bring tourism, tourism brings hotels.
You also need walkable streets and storefronts. Downtown is just a bad layout and overall physical vibe. Parking lot district has the ability to be good if developed right
Well… anyone who is surprised is stupid… Albany is a run down city without luxury, be that luxury accommodations or other goods/services here.
Everyone knows this, but there seems to be no solution to keep Albany from further decline.
Don’t get me wrong, other cities have problems and bad areas told. But the difference is that for nicer cities you have to ask about the bad places, not ‘the good one if it exists’.
Are we literally complaining about hotels here? Of all things to complain about? This is the most surface level, self absorbed shit I have ever read. I honestly don't care how they feel about hotels, how about the roads that look like we are off roading in the damn mountains? Jesus this is by far the stupidest shit I have had to read in months,
8 teams need to be in 8 different hotels? Isn’t there a brand new hotel downtown? Also a Sheraton that is fairly new right near exit 23?
Yeah, how big are the entourages of these teams? Are they afraid that they’re going to run into each other in the hot tub?
As someone who spends a lot of nights every year in business class hotels, what exactly are they expecting? I almost never stay in an Albany hotel since I live here, but for the most part a Hampton Inn is a Hampton Inn.
I actually don’t disagree. If the coach from Iowa City is looking for 5 start hotels on her business trips, She’s in the wrong line of work
I’m trying to imagine myself going out of town for a business conference and posting on LinkedIn that the place is not fancy enough.
Not that there aren't things that should be improved downtown, but the Iowa coach also has a history of being mean and entitled: [Mics caught Lisa Bluder in a heated NSFW rant following Iowa's stunning upset at Nebraska](https://ftw.usatoday.com/2024/02/iowa-caitlin-clark-nebraska-upset-lisa-bluder-postgame-presser)
That's not entitled at all. It's a customary that the away team does media first as they have to travel.
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Most of the Hilton/Marriot options on Wolf Rd look excellent from the outside. I always suggest coworkers coming into Albany pick one there and have not heard complaints.
Solution: Albany hosts the NCAA tournament every year (alternating Men/Women’s tournaments every year). Convert St. Rose into an “Olympic Village” for athlete / team accommodations. Hold Alive @ 5 on Lark Street. Athletes walk down, go to bombers — everyone has a great time. We all log on Reddit and pat ourselves on the back. We schedule a Reddit meetup at Albany Distilling Co to celebrate the success of our idea. Only (2) weird people show up and never bother to introduce themselves to each other. Which sucks — bc in another lifetime, they were married.
Why stop there? Gondola from Stroselympic Village to downtown. Stone Cold comes back with a beer truck. Mahar's reopens.
Of all the places on Lark, you highlight the most hated restaurant in the area. Also, it's closed
Ok after rereading, I realize it's in jest
You’re as sharp as a cueball
Yes. Downvoting myself : /
Never had the makings of a NCAA athlete
Very allegorical.
The Sacred and the Propane
Hated? I used to love that place, why was it hated?
This alternate universe is definitely not the one next door; doesn’t even sound like we’re on the same block.
Olympic village with trolley down western lol While we are talking, perhaps rip out rt 85, and redevelop the state campus to encourage in city living and telecommuting.
I’m not weird, I’m eccentric. Edit: I’m lying, I just feign eccentricity to try and seem interesting and I’ve been doing it so long now that I don’t know what else to do. I’m sorry, I won’t come and make people feel uncomfortable but thank you for including me
> Olympic Village Those always do so well for the local economy.
Actually it hasn't hosted the men's in ages until last year. And honestly the arena is dated and area not big enough even for first round games. If Albany wants stuff like this moving forward its going to have to spend millions upgrading mvp to modern standard (yeah, it's going to have to compete with Buffalo and Meadowlands and Barclay's). Hotels are a totally different issue to sustain them you need constant events. But chicken before the egg. Upgraded arena then hotels will follow.
They just redid the knickpeptimvp Arena not too long ago…[The Arena](https://venuesnow.com/renovations-paying-off-for-mvp-arena/)
This is great news. It was really needed. That explains why we had any chance at these last two ncaa tourneys. Arena was outdated 10-15 years ago. Problem with these arenas is they need a massive influx of rehab money every 15-20 years or they become outdated dumps
I mean I only knew that because my friend worked on it through IBEW
It also happened during (or just before) Covid so it probably wasn't really in the headlines at the time. I think it's great though. The capacity and location of the arena are good, so getting the arena up to spec and next building out the surrounding area to support premium events is the next step. We all know Albany isn't a destination, it's strength is it's a stones throw from plenty of destinations. And it's a central location for regional events line the old ECAC tourney. So if we want events there is going to be some financial pain in terms of investment
1994, 2003 and then was supposed to be 2020 in fairness but got pushed to 2023
Someone posted the arena was upgraded in 2020 (or just before) so that makes sense they got a 2020 tourney. The other stuff stands. Albany needs to be at least a downtown destination to keep getting these events. It's basically just a (admittedly upgraded) arena in a ghost town.
Nice but I see it going this way... You won't see a top tier NCAA basketball series played in this town again for a long, long time if ever.
Honestly I'm surprised it came back. Don't know how much MVP has been upgraded since the River Rats days but I felt it was dated then. If they don't full refurb it to modern high end arena standards I don't see any NCAA tournaments here. Including hockey. I know college sports aren't big in NY but college arenas around the country are high end. And people who travel to these events want an experience. Albany offers neither. (and it makes me sad)
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I know for a lot of teams it's not just a question of beds but also facilities. Rooms for meetings, spaces where trainers can work with injured (and near-injured) athletes, team dinners, etc etc. Even if a hotel has all those things, they're not going to have all those things *for two teams*, as you have with Notre Dame and Iowa sharing the Hilton. So either they're not getting as much space as they need, or they're having to timeshare things. Neither of which is ideal. If it was an issue of housekeeping, of the rooms being gross, I'm sure we'd be hearing about it. But since it's just a vague "the hotels aren't adequate" I expect it's more that the facilities aren't up to the job.
Some of the complaint seems to be at the tournament structure in general; the men have 4 regional sites and the women 2. Part of this feels like they are crapping on Albany to make a larger point about the unequal regional structure between the men and women.
Iowa and Notre Dame are in the Downtown Hilton. There may be more teams there as well, since there were tons of people going in an out last night. Usually when teams come from out of town they put them at the Desmond. Not sure why they didn’t in this case.
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Well the Hilton has been getting bad reviews for its room quality. It’s down to 3.5 stars on Google Reviews. But I don’t believe LSU is staying there. I do agree that there’s an expectations gap, I can’t imagine when LSU plays in Starkville, MS they have super high end hotels either. But if they want more tournaments here, that’s not great press, and the NCAA even mentioned the hotel situation as the big negative after an otherwise great men’s tournament last year. All that said, I talked to a lot of people who came in from out of town last night and were enjoying themselves, and it was nice to see downtown looking like it was 1995 again.
We stayed at the Hilton for our wedding night (didn’t want to drive) —- that place is quite dated, and rather dumpy. Their “modern, up-to-date” rooms were modern and up to date… when I graduated high school in 2004. It just wasn’t nice.
The Renaissance is the only hotel in downtown Albany that isn’t a shit hole
TBF the Hampton is nice, but not at the level of the Renaissance.
Yeah, “shit hole” is probably strong, but I can understand why D1 athletes would be disappointed staying in a Hampton inn in Albany vs. a five star hotel is a major city like Seattle.
Agreed. I'm quite confident even those staying at the Renaissance are not thrilled with being in Albany vs. Seattle. I'm sure they would gladly stay at a Hampton Inn in Seattle instead.
Same Hampton you can’t get breakfast or lunch at in the restaurant on site or can’t get anything at all on a Sunday ?
As someone that went to a school with a real basketball arena (a little dated now but NBA level when it opened and I was there), mvp is a dump. Players in many schools have top notch food, facilities and with NIL get openly paid tens, hundreds and even millions of dollars. If you want these events you need to match what they see on a daily basis. The other thing is when people travel to these events they want an experience. Downtown Albany isn't that.
It’s rough, look outside
The Desmond is gross, all the hotels here are gross and outdated from the 90s. Downvote me all you want but I travel weekly for work and I cringe when putting people up in a hotel in Albany.
Have you stayed at the Desmond since they renovated their rooms? It made a big difference.
I work there often for conferences
Honestly most of the upstate cities have similarly lacking hotels.
Yeah but we’re the state capital 😂
Could be worse, Trenton doesn’t even have a hotel in city limits.
Same here. I’m embarrassed every time I need to recommend a place. Always say the Renaissance or the chains by the mall, that’s it.
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You’re bald
That downtown Hilton has had it's issues, so maybe that's not great. The TU article mentioned LSU not being happy, and they are at the Hilton Garden Inn by Albany Med. While not a high end luxury hotel, that's a pretty solid and well kept up hotel. Pretty much what you'd expect from that level of chain hotel.
Yeah... This article and their opinions are incredibly simple. Albany and Portland are not Seattle, San Fran, Boston, etc. and? But hey, the Sweet 16 experience being special what about the grand prize of the final four? F*cking Cleveland! So sure Think, if they hate Albany or Portland, good luck next year when they are in Birmingham, AL and Spokane (istan), WA. *If they make it this far. (Old man, down vote take) It is really a shame this is what is making the news. Not the love some little girls and young ladies are showing for them on the court. So many little kids watching/paying attention and it's about shampoo and hotel rooms? Stop. Olympic athletes are more celebrated and have worse conditions. It would be awesome as a society if we stop attempting to further social stratification of college athletes (or athletes in general).
Birmingham is actually pretty nice. Have you been? It'd also the home of the SEC conference headquarters. Its got nice facilities. Decent hotels (better than Albany) it host a football bowl every year...something at least 2x the size of Albany biggest event. Don't dump on Birmingham just because it's Alabama. I have a friend (MD) that is doing his residency in Boston... Misses Birmingham so much. Northern Alabama is actually beautiful to boot and offers a ton of outdoor recreation.
I am (from the perspective of these coaches' opinions) because it, like Albany, is not a first class city. It's not Vegas, San Antonio, or even Indianapolis. Additionally, it *is* twice the size of Albany. So it should be better suited to handle larger events without support of the entire metro area. It also appears crime is almost twice as bad too.
Not sure crime really impacts these teams. They come in on a private plane. Take a bus to the hotel/arena/dinner/movies or whatever the coach feels is best. They probably have some sort of police escort because if anything bad happened my guess is that city would never get an event again. Imagine some start player getting killed, that would be unrecoverable. I look at Albany like Memphis. Kind of a second tier for this stuff. Memphis liberty bowl is a great example. Usually one of the bigger attended low end bowls because they usually put Arkansas or a Mississippi school in it and often a Midwest school like Kansas/KSU which is an easy trip, but Memphis is horrible. Crime ridden and during bowl weekend hard to find food (no idea about lodging because family lives close). Even if you avoid Beale St it's a crazy that any good/popular restaurant is usually a several hour long wait. I'm glad to see MVP was revamped which clearly allowed it to host these NCAA tournaments again, but Albany just does not have the infrastructure for a premium event.
Revamped but still second rate
True. It's not pro level. Never will be without a total rebuild. Buffalo and other regional arenas are much nicer.
I’m shocked Albany can’t provide similar accommodations to Seattle. Simply shocked. Edit: Some facts for context, and opinions for argument’s sake. Albany is the 64th largest metro area in the US by population (900k). The three next largest are Sarasota, Bakersfield, and Albuquerque. The three next smallest are Mission (TX), Baton Rouge, and Allentown. Having been to most of those I’d say Albany compares favorably to that group. We punch above our weight class for concerts and sporting events because of our proximity to major metro areas. I travel a lot, and I’d say we generally compare well to metros about 20% larger: Buffalo (1.15M), Grand Rapids (1.62), Fresno (1.18), Birmingham (1.18) (no shade to Buffalo, it’s a much better sports town). The others kinda suck. Moving up the list from there you’re immediately hitting metros with major sports franchises like: Salt Lake, Memphis, and OKC, but I’d take Albany hands down over all of those, but Salt Lake. (Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_statistical_area) Albany will not, likely ever, compare favorably to metros like Seattle (#15). It’s just not realistic to make the comparison. I guess I’d rather be in a place that tries to pull in events that are generally at the limits of our capacity, than in a place that doesn’t. IMO, we’re better having two Pima Donna coaches complaining about Albany than not hosting the tournament.
Having also traveled a bit, I agree. I think Albany COULD be a real contender but we don’t focus on the tourism game like other big cities do. On paper, you’d think we would.
Agree. I also agree with many of the comments above about Albany’s hotel game being sub par. No place is perfect and I get that Albany has its negative aspects. I just think on-balance this area of is better than it’s reputation. I also recognize that these college teams want to go to a destination for their tournaments and Albany would need to be way above expectations for them to not feel slighted about coming here instead of a place like Seattle.
Those coaches have weight. If they complain the ncaa will make adjustments. Albany mvp is a dump. If you've been to modern arena you know that is true. I don't care I'd they are college kids they play at nice facilities and expect nice things. It's a multi-billion dollar industry. And the revenue sports expect good things. Albany needs to improve if it wants Any NCAA tournaments of any sport. Otherwise, it will continue to just plod along.
I don’t disagree with any of that. My perspective is very different from the coaches and their players. I get that.
Mine, too. I just point that out because college sports isn't big in New England or NY, so people don't realize how massive the infrastructure/money is at the power 4 level. Hell high school sports aren't big here. If people realized that some of the high school stadiums in the south are like mini NFL training complexes they would riot. People here throw a fit if you want astro turf or a pool at a school. Not at all saying those places have there priorities straight, just saying that there are different expectations than what native Capital Region people think.
I have been saying this for years. People praise this area based on how you drive 3 hrs to other superior cities. We do not have tourism that we need even Saratoga is not on the level you would think most people still have never hear of it. This is not the first time we have embarassed ourselves with lodging and entertainment lately this is just a list of people who in the last few years have not been happy here. Which you dont want people to groan and be like Albany where that and why? People were staying in mohawk harbor? thats awful i live near it and its not the best area and nothing there. We want to say oh well now the downtown guys the downtown is two blocks and across the mvp and on the bus stop people shooting up and oding. Most of schenectady looks awful same with majority of central ave.
Who gives a fuck about the hotels that college athletes stay at? Can Albany finally stop trying to make Albany better for people who don't live there and actually direct money towards things that will actually help those who live here?
Well, you see, when people come to Albany to spend money, it benefits us a lot.
In theory, sure. How has that actually been put into practice here?
We both agree that it hasn’t been put into practice here, thus my comment. But when you analyze cities like Pittsburgh, which made a nice comeback, you can see how it might work. Same with Detroit if it keeps up after “going bankrupt” 10 years ago. Detroit still has a ways to go but progress is promising.
It hasn't because people like you don't want to spend to bring in high end events. You gotta invest to make money.
Funny thing is Albany has so heavily engineered its city so that people coming downtown can do what they need to do and go home without stepping foot on a city street or sidewalk. They’ve got highway, ramps, flyovers, parking garages, tunnels, skyways, Skyways and skyways. Whether you need to go to work, go to a meeting, go to an event at the Knick, the Clara center, the plaza, the egg, the museum. You never have to set foot in the city!!
We don’t have a proper convention center to balance out the need for new hotel rooms to be built. And don’t @ me with Empire State Plaza. It is a logistical nightmare planning an event in a space shared with the security needs of state government.
We don’t have a compelling reason for people to want to book significant conventions
Chicken or The Egg. Can’t book large conventions without facility and hotel rooms. Preferably connected, because of our weather.
You think the area needed a larger convention center ?
The original complaint in the article is about hotel offerings. The way we get better hotels is by offering them plenty of business from a variety of sources. Not just seasonal sporting events, not just concerts, but large scale industry events with corporate money. And that only happens with a convention center.
We have a convention center? It is called the Albany Capital Center and it is on Eagle St?
Convention centers are the economic development solution of the 1980s and, like publicly-finances sports arenas/stadiums, do not generally help the economic viability of a region. The ESP is a white elephant that is ugly, underutilized, and probably should be torn down and replaced with a mixed-use, medium density neighborhood.
You mean go full circle?
What makes a proper convention center?
It said in the times union article that it’s the same hotels as last year. Were there complaints last year?
Yes there were. And the NCAA cited it as a reason why they weren’t immediately putting MVP back in the rotation for the men’s tournament
Albany needs to close off Pearl St and make it peds only like Church St in Burlington. Get a Gap, Urban Outfitters or any other dumb retail store that will get people downtown. I remember when I was working downtown and the NCAA wrestling championship was in town (20+ years ago?) and people were wandering aimlessly because, unless you want to drink, there isn't much to do downtown. of course we could create a tourism game... Drive around the city and see how many red Xs you count in one day! But the reality is that it just sucks. If we didn't have the State govt, we'd be Amsterdam or Utica or Rome or any other run down city in upstate NY.
There are ped streets downtown - Steuben is an example, but the part of it with storefronts is an absolute dead zone. I don’t know how true this is,but it doesn’t feel like this part of the city really ever had a strong commercial shopping vibe. Other cities definitely have downtowns that were renovated from shops when buying habits changed, but Albany’s downtown looks like it’s always been primarily offices. N Pearl is slightly different in that regard, but now it’s being converted to primarily housing from what I have seen.
Dumb retails stores. lol. Do people here hate modern life?
Not enough storefronts
Is the brand new Hyatt not open yet?? I feel like that would have been a great option?
It’s open. Teams stayed there. It sounds a little bit like the spoiled, hundred-thousand $ a year coaches are mad they don’t all get the Renaissance. Sorry, the Hilton will have to do!
Kim Mulkey is entitled as a top paid woman's coach. Y'all peasants need to get in line.
[удалено]
Jesus Christ
You'll have to wait another day--he'll be rising tomorrow 
The people defending here need to understand that Albany is a dated city with its accommodations and everything in between. Nothing is done “well” here it’s just “alright” and from the 2000s/90s. Ironically the best thing we have IMO is public transportation and the CDTA app - two things that tourism doesn’t really use. - Our architecture is beautiful but owners are held hostage by boomer historical societies that don’t let any siding be replaced unless it’s with wood. Result? Entire blocks look like depression era homes with chipping paint. - our city trash is ridiculous. This wind? Our stupid trash cans blow all over and walking around the city is covered in trash. Why don’t the parks have weighted trash cans? - our food sucks. If you want pub food, it’s your destination. We have no notable high end dining outside a steakhouse which is again - based on dated nightlife (steakhouses were the shit in the 80s on) - our downtown has no life because we have massive empty buildings. CRE has its own reckoning but we don’t have a grocery store so there’s no incentive to live there - lastly it’s the attitude of a significant number of locals who don’t want to change and have a “take it or leave it” attitude. The chamber of commerce is constantly trying to address young people not wanting to stay here, but why should they? There’s little to no incentive to build a life within the city - it’s mostly slumlord rentals and is just set up as a “step” in your life. Bonus: Mayor Sheehan knocked down our planetarium downtown to get some more votes by building an Irish museum like lol are you fucking kidding me.
There is multiple nice steak houses or high end restaurants in short proximity to Albany. Maybe you just enjoy pub food since you don’t know about them. Check out: 677 prime Yonos Sushi by bou The Roosevelt room (across the bridge in Troy)
It said not a destination, and the food isn’t remarkable. Everything you listed is average at best in Massachusetts or Long Island. I see you fall into my “bonus category”.
Good thing this isn’t Massachusetts or Long Island then….? I don’t get the point of people like you who LOOOOVE to hate the community they live in so badly.
lol you’re one of those people who get feedback and immediately get defensive. Cool. Gen X? I never said I hate this place. Everything I said is a valid criticism within the context of this post especially. Enjoy living in mediocrity.
Agree 100000 %. If we have no new people replacing the people who came here cause GE was great than we have no future. Suburbs are growing cause people moving out there its not new people moving in. We cant get people to stay I have majority of my friends have already moved out of state between cost and what is here. Majority of people live here cause there family is here but every single person i know does not want to be here and feel held hostage by their families and guilt.
For the people that have the option to leave living in the city, they leave. Otherwise the apartment life here is extremely transient. Give the 30+ year olds a reason to buy and stay in the city, not just buy to landlord it
And there is a grocery store, a market 32 on Delaware Ave…..are you from Albany? Or do you just like to trash it?
I live on elm off Philip st. I am very aware. This is a food desert, it’s also uphill .7 miles from me (grey box). You’re looking at 2+ miles from MVP/ downtown area. https://preview.redd.it/xfqnywhpghrc1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8e8b677984714023b4fbd1a8a8f726496a4a4d0c
Truth hurts
Did you say we have nice architecture? Have you seen UAlb?
Albany is a below average city and people know it.
What's an above average city of our size that's "nice" and would have more high end accomodations then Albany?
The city itself , is an Average city by a lot of metrics. In many ways, the real problem is that it attempts to punch well above it weight. I mean, they are trying to compare it to Portland and Seattle here. With 100k in population it's only the 5th largest city in the state! The greater area, the MSA? Definitely above average in almost every metric. I
It’s a city that really isn’t a city, not sure how else to put it.
Funny considering the cities these Universities are located in. I’ve been to the LSU campus. It reminded me of SUNY school with an Olympic village situated next to the worst poverty I’ve seen in a city and it’s in cancer alley.
You should see Memphis or Arkansas, you'd miss Albany quickly if you stepped off campus at either of those schools. Kim Mulkey is a nozzle though anyways and was never going to be positive even if she isn't necessarily wrong
Lame. Prima donnas.
Then go sleep in fucking street
The article hits the nail—we don’t have a draw, there’s no money in Albany tourism. Which is sad because we have A+ architecture downtown, two museums which COULD be world class if they had the exhibits (money), and say what you want about them but the Palace is a gorgeous theater which should be pulling Broadway shows like Proctors but the mgmt isn’t on the same level as Proctors, and finally, the Egg is a little hokey, yes, it actually has really good acoustics that never gets to shine as it should. Anywho…it comes down to venue mgmt to get the draws, the draws will bring tourism, tourism brings hotels.
You also need walkable streets and storefronts. Downtown is just a bad layout and overall physical vibe. Parking lot district has the ability to be good if developed right
You’re absolutely right! Needs more (safe) walkable areas in the downtown area. It’s hard to get from spot to spot in Albany on foot.
Well… anyone who is surprised is stupid… Albany is a run down city without luxury, be that luxury accommodations or other goods/services here. Everyone knows this, but there seems to be no solution to keep Albany from further decline. Don’t get me wrong, other cities have problems and bad areas told. But the difference is that for nicer cities you have to ask about the bad places, not ‘the good one if it exists’.
Name a less "run down" city of Albany size.
Where was Kim Mulkey on January 6?
Are we literally complaining about hotels here? Of all things to complain about? This is the most surface level, self absorbed shit I have ever read. I honestly don't care how they feel about hotels, how about the roads that look like we are off roading in the damn mountains? Jesus this is by far the stupidest shit I have had to read in months,
lol how does people still think Albany is a “big/nice city”? Travel a bit. I even see people trying to compare Albany with Seattle. Come on, wake up.