The short answer is yes. You may market locally, but even local people may want a room (versus needing one).
I have heard the objection over and over again. "We do events that are primarily for locals. They don't "NEED" a hotel room. "
Needed rooms are generally for those that are coming in from out of town (usually more than 100 miles away) where it simply wouldn't be possible to go and come in the same day without a hotel stay. This can also happen when an event starts very early (such as a triathlon) or it ends very late (like a concert).
Do you know what your demand is from those that are truly out of town? A simple tip to check on this stat is to sort your attendee list by postal code and then have your IT or marketing team plot that info out on a map. Draw a circle and see what percentage of your users are outside the 100 mile area.
WHO DOES ALL THE WORK?
In the case study that we talked about in the Room Block part of this series, the event had a special ACCOMMODATIONS page on their website that showed the negotiated hotel deals. There was a graphic on their home page that would take you there, or you could find it on the HOTELS navigation.
Bottom line is that time matters. Whether you are the attendee or you are the meeting planner that is taking the calls from attendees asking where they should stay, making it easier for people to get to your event will cause you to sell more attendees.
Ask yourself "How long does it take to find a room nearby your event?"