REPORT FROM CALIFORNIA—California hoteliers are offering free or heavily discounted rooms at properties ranging from suburban motels to beachfront resorts for people most heavily impacted by the COVID-19 crisis.
While grappling with a plunge in travel demand, hoteliers in the most hotel-heavy states are working with state, county and local officials to make now-empty rooms available to both medical professionals and others who are most vulnerable to coronavirus—such as homeless populations and those living in shelters—through a patchwork of local, state and national programs.
Jolted by the need to provide a 14-day quarantine for passengers of the Grand Princess cruise ship that arrived at the Port of Oakland on 9 March, state officials announced Project Roomkey on 3 April. Under that program, county health departments would be reimbursed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to take over hotels whose rooms would be used to help stem the spread of COVID-19 by housing the homeless and people living in shelters. At the time of the announcement, the state said it had commitments from hotel owners with almost 7,000 rooms and set a goal of securing 15,000 rooms.
Meanwhile, the American Hotel & Lodging Association’s Hospitality for Hope initiative was announced in late March to provide rooms for first responders and other medical personnel and has lured some of the country’s largest hoteliers to offer properties throughout California.
Hyatt Hotels Corporation’s properties participating include the Hyatt Place San Jose/Downtown and Hyatt Place Bakersfield. Hilton, in partnership with American Express, is donating 1 million roomnights across the U.S. for medical professionals within 21 medical associations. Hilton’s participating hotels include the Hilton Los Angeles Universal City, Hilton San Francisco Financial District and Hilton Santa Barbara Beachfront Resort.
Marriott International and InterContinental Hotels Group are also donating rooms, though the companies declined to provide details on which California properties were involved. In all, the state has sent out requests for proposals to almost 1,900 properties for the medical program, while the California Hotel & Lodging Association is planning to contact owners and managers of about 4,000 hotels, according to CHLA President and CEO Lynn Mohrfeld.
Both sets of programs are expected to be in place in California through the end of June. The state’s 612,000 hotel rooms account for about 12% of the country’s total, the largest of any U.S. state.
“We’re getting hotels to basically dip their toe into the health care business to the benefit of the public,” Mohrfeld said. “That’s amazing to me.”
One company that’s raised its hand for both sets of programs is G6 Hospitality, whose flagship Motel 6 chain was founded in Santa Barbara in 1962. Upon Project Roomkey’s announcement, G6 offered 48 of its 190 California properties to the effort and had already reached an agreement to turn over a company-owned property in Thousand Oaks to Ventura County officials, said G6 Hospitality CEO Rob Palleschi. Since then, a franchised-owned Motel 6 in Anaheim has been turned over to Orange County officials, while Palleschi expected to reach agreements for seven more motels by the end of April.
Approximately 30 franchise-owned Motel 6 hotels near medical facilities are available for the state to house first responders. Additionally, G6 is using a reservation management app to train Los Angeles County officials to use the app for its properties within Project Roomkey and has donated 14 of its iPads to county officials as part of the effort.
“What really appealed to California was the fact that we own 50 locations with roughly 5,000 rooms,” Palleschi said, noting that, in addition to the Anaheim property, many of the Motel 6 properties offered to the state are franchise-owned. “We knew what we could bring to the table.”
Hotel owners are offering their rooms at a time when few travelers are demanding them. For the week ending 18 April, revenue per available room (RevPAR) in the San Francisco-San Mateo market plunged 91% from a year earlier to $16 as occupancy stood at 15%, according to STR, parent company of HNN. Further south, demand trends are nearly as dire, as RevPAR in the Los Angeles-Long Beach and San Diego markets was down 82% and 83% from a year earlier, respectively.
Meanwhile, on-property operating procedures have been upended as well. The 136-room Courtyard by Marriott Los Angeles Century City/Beverly Hills, which as of 23 April had housed about 150 homeless guests and other vulnerable members of the population since starting its work with Los Angeles County on 1 April, has made additional operational changes. The property has discontinued services such as valet parking, employs two security guards at all times and has a registered nurse on duty to take the temperatures of every guest each time they enter or exit the property, according to GM David Hutton.
The hotel, which is owned by Pacifica Host Hotels, saw its occupancy plunge from more than 90% to about 25% when the crisis hit. The property is using two housekeepers instead of one for room cleanings and has placed banquet tables around the front-desk area to ensure distancing. Additionally, prospective guests are pre-screened by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority.
New Motel 6 policies include allowing only one guest at a time in lobbies—or closing them off altogether when night windows are available—and limiting occupancy. Both Palleschi and Hutton said all staff members wear masks and gloves and, in many cases, smocks, while Mohrfeld said the CHLA is advising members to let checked-out rooms air out for 24 to 48 hours.
“We’re really trying to limit the contact, which is counterintuitive to a hoteliers’ DNA,” Mohrfeld said. “What the customers need now is a lack of touch.”
“It’s definitely a different animal,” Hutton said.
As for workers, hotels that have remained open to serve those most impacted by COVID-19 are being staffed by a mix of third-party providers and employees who said they’re willing to still work.
“Our preference is that we offer these opportunities to our team members first, with the understanding that some team members may not be comfortable with the environment,” Palleschi said.
Additionally, even with policies such as having third-party specialists deep-clean and disinfect rooms, hoteliers will need to contend with the potential of future guests who may be leery of staying at a hotel that may have housed COVID-19-positive guests.
“We are concerned, but right now, there’s a need to help,” Palleschi said. “Right now, you just need to do the right thing. We’ll deal with tomorrow, tomorrow.”
That said, amid the challenges, some of the kindness shown by the hoteliers and their workers has been reciprocated. Hutton noted that, despite the dire financial circumstances of many of his current guests, his housekeepers are regularly receiving tips.
“The first couple weeks were frustrating because this was something new to us, but the following Monday, when I came to work, I had so many guests stop by my office to say ‘thank you,’” Hutton said. “It meant the world to me.”
Correction, 6 May 2020: This story has been amended to include the proper ownership structure of some Motel 6 properties.