FEATURE ARTICLE, NOVEMBER 2008

HOSPITALITY PREVAILS IN HURRICANE IKE AFTERMATH
Hoteliers contribute to recovery as the Texas coast rebuilds.
Dan Marcec

Early Saturday morning, September 13, Hurricane Ike struck the Texas coastline at Galveston on its way to becoming one of the most devastating hurricanes in the state’s history. Despite the destructive impact Ike enacted on the lodging industry itself, hotels and hoteliers have been on hand to aid in the recovery as the cities in the storm’s wake continue to rebuild.

Ike’s Impact

Downtown streets flooded in Galveston

Resulting from mandatory evacuations, many of the lodging institutions across the state were at full occupancy — a departure from a downturn in demand across the country. For the most part, Galveston was hit hardest, and while Ike also blew through Houston, many of the hotels in the area were up and running with generators by the Monday following the storm.

“Hotels definitely have played a key role in rehabbing after the storm,” says Joan Johnson, president of the Hotel & Lodging Association of Greater Houston. “While Galveston is still rebuilding, and the Clear Lake/Seabrook area still has some damage, we’ve been able to accommodate evacuees as close to their homes as possible due to the response from our local hoteliers.”

Despite the fact that the damage was greatest overall in Galveston, hotels in the area mostly steered clear of serious issues. Sustained flooding and debris were chief concerns of most lodging properties, but some institutions, such as the San Luis Resort, Hilton and Holiday Inn, each housed city officials, the media and some employees during the storm. In the recovery efforts, FEMA workers and contractors utilized these hotels’ services as well.

In early October, those hotels still were helping with recovery aspects. “People want places to stay in order to help with clean-up and rebuilding, and as a result of everyone’s efforts, things are starting to turn back to normal,” says RoShelle Gaskins, public relations manager for the Galveston Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Across the state, lodging properties filled with first responders and evacuees. Overall, nearly 7,000 CenterPoint Energy repair workers, other utility workers, insurance adjusters and auxiliary police and coast guard representatives came to the rescue (and needed hotel rooms), and working with Dallas, Fort Worth and San Antonio, the affected areas were able to find rooms for evacuees that needed extended lodging.

“Generally, occupancy was at 100 percent in nearby areas and much increased anywhere within a day’s drive of disaster declared areas in Houston, Galveston and Louisiana,” says Scott Joslove, president and CEO of the Texas Hotel & Lodging Association (TH&LA).

Downtown streets flooded in Galveston

On the whole, it was reported that hoteliers generally were extremely gracious in hosting evacuees. Joslove explains that though hotels were not specifically asked by the state to offer discounted rates, many in fact did, and others that kept their ordinary rates often waived other charges and cancellation fees.

In the Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) area, the Hotel Association of Greater Dallas (HAGD) worked with TH&LA, FEMA and the surrounding seven-county area to provide an updated list of hotels that were offering discounted room, as well as generally how many rooms were available on any given day. With a 15 to 30 percent increase in occupancy rates — amounting to 90 to 95 percent occupancy overall during the weeks following Ike — keeping people who needed a place to stay updated on their options was imperative.

“The response of North Texas hotels was superior, as hoteliers stepped up to the plate by enacting a plan and effectively exhibited North Texas Hospitality,” Dieterlen says.

On the Road to Recovery

As of early October, Galveston was working its way back to normal. In a press release from September 291, the Galveston Island Convention and Visitors Bureau announced that many hotels were already back at full capacity, and the city was working to reschedule events from September and October. At the time, the flooding had subsided and the downtown area — which had been hit hardest  — was well on the mend.

“[The first week in October] things looked messy because people had gutted their buildings, but really it’s been huge progress,” says Gaskins. “It’s amazing how fast everything is being rebuilt.”

For the most part, though, the recovery efforts in Texas stem chiefly from the fact that cities, hoteliers and citizens alike were well prepared for the storm.

“We learned a great deal from Katrina, because we were not prepared for her,” says Johnson. “Many emergency programs were set up after that on the national and state levels, and as major hotel chains already have in-depth emergency plans, we constantly  put out information to smaller hotels for things should be aware of.”

©2008 France Publications, Inc. Duplication or reproduction of this article not permitted without authorization from France Publications, Inc. For information on reprints of this article contact Barbara Sherer at (630) 554-6054.