Philadelphia Hotel Business Booms with Republican Convention.

Byline: Earni Young

Aug. 4--Philadelphia's hoteliers don't want to be greedy.

On the one hand, they admit the Republican National Convention was "spectacular" for business in what would otherwise be a slow month.

On the other, they admit with some chagrin to expecting this week's bottom line to be better than "spectacular." Many restaurateurs also said they were disappointed with this week's bus-iness.

"Some people's expectations were unrealistic," said J. Mickey Rowley, executive director of the Greater Philadelphia Hotel Association. "The economic impact was all that it should be."

When Philadelphia, led by then-Mayor Ed Rendell, made its bid for RNC 2000 two years ago it was not exactly dealing from a position of power.

Philadelphia made some very big promises, including a commitment by area hotels to reserve 70 to 90 percent of their rooms, and meeting and banquet spaces for five days.

It wasn't until two weeks before the start of the RNC that hotels were given …