How HotelSpike works
Plain rules, official sources, and honest gaps.
The impact rule
| high | Published or expected attendance of 30,000 or more. Or a one-off, championship-size event that draws mostly out-of-town visitors (F1, the rodeo finals, the college football title game, the NYC Marathon). Or a peak holiday for that city, like New Year's Eve in Times Square. |
| medium | Attendance of 10,000 to 29,999. NFL home games, stadium concerts and bowl games. Big multi-day festivals. |
| low | Under 10,000. Arena concerts and shows. Graduations. Minor holidays. Anything where attendance is not published yet. |
Pro sports: NFL home games are Medium. Regular-season NBA, NHL, MLB, MLS, NWSL, WNBA and PWHL games are Low and grouped as "routine pro games": they draw mostly local fans, so they are not counted in a week's rating. Playoff home games are Medium, and a league final or World Series home game is High. Every game comes from the league's own schedule feed and links to the official game page.
Attendance labels tell you what the number is: expected (organizer forecast), last edition (the previous year's published count), est. attendees (the Las Vegas tourism authority's estimate), venue forecast (Music City Center's figure), or venue holds about (capacity, which we show for context but never use for the rating). We never make up numbers. If attendance is not published, we rate the event Low and say so.
Weeks run Monday to Sunday. A week is "Very busy" if it has a High event, "Busy" if it has a Medium event or several smaller ones, and "Calmer" otherwise. Quieter weeks are the upcoming weeks with no High event and the fewest tracked events.
Sources
- New York (224 events): Javits Center calendar, Madison Square Garden and Barclays Center calendars, NBA, NHL, MLS, NWSL, WNBA and MLB league schedules, Giants and Jets schedules, NYRR, Macy's Parade, Rockefeller Center, MetLife Stadium, Times Square Alliance. Attendance from NRF, Greater NY Dental Meeting, Greenbuild and NY Boat Show.
- Las Vegas (103 events): Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority calendar (Vegas Means Business: conventions with estimated attendees, plus entertainment at large venues), Raiders schedule, NHL and WNBA league schedules, F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix, NFR, College Football Playoff, Visit Las Vegas, UNLV.
- Orlando (82 events): Orange County Convention Center calendar, Kia Center events, NBA, MLS and NWSL league schedules, Camping World Stadium, runDisney, Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando, UCF. Attendance from IAAPA, PGA Show, ASHP, IACP, I/ITSEC.
- Chicago (90 events): Choose Chicago convention calendar (McCormick Place shows), United Center events, NBA, NHL, MLS, NWSL, WNBA and MLB league schedules, Chicago Bears schedule, City of Chicago parades, Magnificent Mile. Attendance from PACK EXPO, RSNA, AHA, SC26, Midwest Clinic, ABCA, AHR Expo.
- Nashville (68 events): Music City Center calendar (with venue attendance forecasts), Bridgestone Arena events, NHL and MLS league schedules, Nissan Stadium and Titans schedule, Music City Bowl, Visit Music City.
What we do not catch yet
- Playoff games appear only once the league schedules them, and NFL playoff home games are not listed until the matchups are set.
- Minor-league teams and leagues without a free public schedule feed are not tracked.
- Diplomatic and political events (like UN week), private corporate meetings, and school breaks are not on venue calendars.
- Many conventions do not publish attendance, so some big shows sit at Low until we find a number.
- The Las Vegas calendar notes it shows a sample of events, not every one.