re: Auburn > Tuscaloosa

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So I should have said "what are you discussing?"? Asking what your argument is doesn't mean it is in mean spirit. It is that you have a point of thought that you are trying to get across.

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Thank you. What I was discussing was what Atlanta is and isn't, and why. An International City or a Regional Capital ? A tourist destination or a Regional Stop-over location ? Great Leadership or timely luck of the coin ?

I know people from that area will fight tooth and nails for the reputation of the city. But the discussion was related to facts vs hometown pride.

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People do not only "fly through" hence why Atlanta is just behind LA with most hotel rooms.

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I believe ATL is 7th in most hotel rooms. They are 9th in population... so I'm not sure why this fact keeps being repeated as if its something meaningful.

I would bet the "Cities with most Hotel Rooms" list would track almost identical to "Cities with largest population" list... with the obvious exception of Las Vegas.

I remember seeing something a few years ago that over 95% of the passengers flying through Atlanta's airport are simply stopping over en route to a different final destination. My guess is Atlanta is the #1 airport in the world in terms of % of passengers just passing through.

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Pittsburgh evolved in the way Detroit and Cleveland wished had happened post-industry. It's now a major financial and business center. On a nice summer day, downtown Pittsburgh is perfect

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While I agree Pittsburgh is a much nicer city (reminds me of a larger Birmingham), its growth has been stagnant for more than a generation... just like Detroit.

Metro populations of major industrial centers (1970... 2014... change):

Detroit- 4,299,000... 4,297,000... 0.0%
Pittsburgh- 2,401,000... 2,356,000... -1.9%
Cleveland- 2,064,000... 2,064,000... 0.0%
Buffalo- 1,349,000... 1,136,000... -15.8%

All four of these metro areas have either maintained equal population or lost population over the last 44 years.

If you look at the current 51 metros of 1 million residents or more, these are the only 4 that have had zero or negative growth since 1970. And none of the other 47 have suffered anywhere close to the level that these four metros have suffered growth-wise.

The next slowest would be Milwaukee, which has seen 12% growth since 1970. Then comes St. Louis which has increased by 19%... then New Orleans at 20%... Rochester at 23%... Philadelphia at 26%... Baltimore at 35%... etc.


Pittsburgh may look a little prettier, and it may have diversified its economy away from manufacturing a bit, but it has not diversified enough to attract growth. Of the 51 metros in America of more than 1 million people, only Buffalo has had "slower" (or negative) growth since 1970.

Most of the 51 largest metros have increased by well over 100%... granted some of that growth has been by adding new territory into its designated official territory.

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Big hint: hotels are for travelers who are staying in the city that the hotels reside in.

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Hey genius...

The number of people in a city is a good indicator of how many jobs/companies are located there.

The number of jobs/companies in a city is a good indicator of how many business travelers are coming to the city.

The number of business travelers coming to a city is a good indicator of how many hotel rooms are in a city.

You see how this works?


Show me a city with a giant population in the western world that also doesn't have a large number of hotel rooms.

Ever pulled into a city with 5 million residents to see all visitors fighting for a room at the lone Holiday Inn that's the only hotel in the city? It doesn't work that way.

Line up the largest metros by population side-by-side with the metros with the most hotel rooms, and outside of major tourist destinations such as Las Vegas and Orlando, those cities will correspond almost identically to each other.

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I don't know what your point was in the first place... let alone if I agree or not. All I'm saying is that unless you're talking Orlando or Las Vegas, the number of hotel rooms is not a statistic that has much meaning. Population seems like a better stat to me.

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Premise is that all those hotel rooms are because of Atlanta being a big business center and that the throughput of the airport has no impact on the status of Atlanta as a large economic hub.

I apologize, the "hotels are based off of population" vs business got me going.

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Largest Regional Economic Hub in the South, dealing with domestic economic trade. That doesn't always equate to an International City

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Since "international city" is not an actual designated term, I had been approaching it as far as the city on an international scale of importance, not how diverse the culture is. I agree we do not have the diversity of many other larger cities. I jumped into this midstream I think

Something tells me you would know something about blowing.

Auburn's fine but your comment about nothing but chain restaurants in Tuscaloosa is just stupid. Tuscaloosa like most decent college towns has a s###load of local restaurants, diners, and eateries. And by the way, for all of Tuscaloosa's apparent lameness they have 3 breweries to Auburn's 0.

That's the difference though. Many Auburn people (not all) are very proud of their city and like to brag on it here and on other social media. Bama people have never tried to make Tuscaloosa out to be anything other than a decent college town. Most of the comments about Ttown are limited to those defending the city against lame attacks like yours.