Where do the hotel chains stand on evacuees?
When you take in evacuees as paying guests, how do you make the decision to make a guest leave for a previously made reservation? I recall one time when I went to Disney World and stayed at a Disney Resort. I stayed on the border line date of a slow period going into a busy one. I had a good room rate, was having fun and so I decided to stay another day. I called the front desk to notify them and was told, not so fast, we are full for the that night. They told me how they have incoming guests who made their plans and are coming in from all over the world. I realized it is not fair for me to suddenly expect my room to stay available while another person would be out in the humid Florida night air. So we moved to another resort that had availability and at a much much higher price. In the end, we should have just left as scheduled because the whole move and added night took the fun out of the whole trip.
So does that apply to hurricane evacuees who may have lost everything and are struggling to pay their hotel bill? What about the business customer who has an important meeting, always stays at a particular hotel and nothing else is available at this late date? He or she may also spend money on those expensive hotel phone calls, food, room service and incidentals while the evacuees save every dime and use more of the hotels utilities 24 hours a day.
It's a tough call and one that Hilton is making now by asking many evacuees to leave so it can honor the reservations of incoming guests.
So here is the bad publicity for kicking out hurricane evacuees. And if they let them stay? They get bad publicity in business circles and anger big-spending repeat customers who travel for business. If a hotel does not honor your reservation and leaves you out in the cold, would you go back to them later on? Probably not. If a hotel lets you stay as an evacuee in what may be the hardest time of your life, would you go back later on, perhaps to relive those memorable days? Probably not.The governor of Louisiana issued an executive order for hotels not to displace a evacuee who is guaranteeing payment. This is also an executive order for hotels not to honor reservations, something which they would probably be penalized for under other circumstances.
Holiday Inn and Choice Hotels International, which markets the brands Clarion, Comfort Suites, Quality and Sleep Inns, are encouraging their franchises to give guest priority to evacuees and other emergency workers.
It's a tough call and a hotel may lose either way. As long as they don't price gouge, AllStays sympathizes with both sides. Hotels that closed for a couple weeks with minor damage just may be the luckiest ones.
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