Like other Pennsylvania restaurants, the new Oliver's Rooftop restaurant, located on the eighth floor of the New Hampton Inn & Suites on Erie's bayfront, can't for the moment offer customers a seat in the dining room.
But even under recent restrictions imposed by Gov. Tom Wolf to tamp down the spread of coronavirus, the hotel is free to provide room service.
At a time when hotel occupancy is at a low ebb, Scott Enterprises, which owns the hotel, sees an opportunity in some of those empty rooms.
Starting Thursday, the hotel will begin offering 2½-hour rentals on 30 of its larger suites, which have been set up with dining-room tables to provide in-room dining for between four and eight guests. The charge for the room will be $40 with a minimum food bill of $49.