By Jeffrey Alderton
Cumberland Times-News

CUMBERLAND, Md.

Rooms in Washington, D.C., are so expensive and scarce for president-elect Barack Obama's inauguration in January that some visitors are planning to stay at least three hours away.

Innkeepers in and near this city 130 miles from the capital started booking reservations for inauguration visitors weeks ago. At least two lodges are sold out for the weekend before Jan. 20, when Obama will be sworn in as the 44th president, and the country's first black president.

The rest are booking up fast.

“It’s amazing and so unexpected," said Parika Andreassen, general manager of the Hampton Inn in Frostburg, 10 miles west of Cumberland. "I’m fascinated that these people are coming here, three hours out from D.C."

Andreassen expects two separate groups that have each set aside 20-room blocks, "plus a bunch of individual reservations."

The hotel is still getting requests.

Tim Grambley, general manager of the Rocky Gap Lodge & Golf Resort, seized a marketing opportunity as word spread early last week that D.C. hotels were selling out. He called the D.C. Visitors and Convention Bureau to offer rooms to his lodge just off Interstate 68.

Its rates are competitive, especially compared to the $800-per-night charges some D.C. hotels are levying for guests who agree to a five-night minimum. Grambley's lodge has rooms in the $139 per night range, with a two-night minimum.

It has already found 45 inauguration visitors who will be riding a bus from Alabama. “Our expectation is that we are probably going to sell out of rooms,” Grambley said.

Those traveling to Washington to see history made will find some geographic connection with their host city. Cumberland was the western end of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, now a national park that winds 184 miles along the Potomac River to Washington. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas famously led a hike along the length of the canal's towpath in 1954 to raise awareness of the need for its preservation.

Two bus groups from Indianapolis planning to stay at the Best Western Braddock in nearby LaVale will forgo the stroll,,

Stephanie DuVall, guest service agent at the hotel, said 60 rooms are set aside for the groups on the night of Jan. 19. The buses plan to drive to Washington for the inauguration and head back to Indiana from there.

The groups made reservations after searching area Best Westerns two weeks ago, said Duvall.

“The lady actually came here yesterday to see the rooms," DuVall said. "She said she was going to bring more business to our area."

Not that the Best Western, which has 40 rooms set aside for Frostburg State University that night, can handle any more.

"All our rooms are booked up," said DuVall. "... We refer any more requests for that night to our competitors."

Jeffrey Alderton writes for the Cumberland Times-News. He can be reached at jlalderton@times-news.com.