MIAMI— Evacuations, as well as flooding and electricity outages, impacted hotels along Floridas barrier island areas with damages and, in some cases, closings, reported due to Hurricanes Charley and Frances. The wrath of the hurricanes affected more residential areas. “The affects on most hotels appears to be short-term; it could have been a lot worse,” said Scott Berman, a partner in PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Miami-based hospitality/leisure group. One of the hardest hit areas during Frances was the Cocoa Beach area, and about six of 40 or more properties were still closed at presstime due to damage, according to Darlene Heumann, director of the Cocoa Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau. Nearby Cape Canaveral recorded the highest wind gusts (126 mph) during the storm. The still-damaged properties include the Hilton Cocoa Beach; the Hilton Indiatlantic; the Holiday Inn Cocoa Beach; the Doubletree Cocoa Beach; the Quality Suites Indiatlantic; and the Ramada Inn Satellite Beach. Those properties expect to reopen within three to 12 weeks, according to Heumann. Other affected areas include Palm Beach, “which has a mature inventory of hotel rooms,” according to Berman. “This area sustained moderate to superficial damage.” Some properties, such as the Crowne Plaza near the airport in West Palm Beach and The Breakers received damage and were both still closed at presstime, according to spokespeople at those hotels. “By next week we’ll be back 80% to 90% [of businesses up and running],” said Enid Atwater, spokesperson at the West Palm Beach Visitors and Convention Bureau. Properties, such as the Four Seasons, PGA National and Boca Raton Club, are open. In the hurricane-affected areas, relief workers needing temporary housing are creating an up-tick in hotel business, especially at more inland properties, Berman said. On the west coast of the state, most properties are or will be ready for the upcoming season, Berman said. While major tourists destinations didn’t get hit directly on the west coast, some limited and mid-scale properties in Punta Gorda and Port Charlotte on the west coast were damaged by the previous hurricane, Charley. While both storms went through Orlando, hoteliers there said damage was not major and there was no evacuation “We had a lot of rain, and some leakage, but there was no evacuation and we didn’t lose power downtown,” said Mary Kenny, director of marketing at Kessler Enterprise, which operates four hotels in the Orlando area. Following Hurricane Frances, Walt Disney World reported minor “horticultural” damage and the temporary closure of the park Saturday and Sunday, according to Kim Prunty, a spokesperson at Walt Disney Co. . However, none of the Disney hotels were closed. September is normally the slowest month of the year in Florida, and hotel occupancy in tourist areas usually lingers only around 55% anyway, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Berman. But, Frances visit was ill timed during the normally busy Labor Day weekend. Most hotels were evacuated on the southeastern barrier islands. Even Miami Beach, which did not receive any damage, was evacuated for the entire weekend. “There was mandatory evacuations (at South Beach), and many people went inland to Miami during Frances,” said Heidi Riesgo, director of sales at South Beach’s Avalon Majestic Hotel. “We didn’t get hit, so the hotels are open again.” Even as hoteliers in Central Florida begin to reopen as electricity is restored and flooding from Hurricane Frances abates, they are looking over their shoulder at Hurricane Ivan, which just ripped through Grenada and is heading toward Jamaica and the Florida Keys. Tourists in the Keys are being urged to evacuate as the storm is predicted to make landfall this weekend. Grenada, which by some estimates has less than 2,000 hotel rooms, relies heavily on tourism for its economy. Jamaica, where Ivan is next expected to hit, has upwards of 20,000 hotel rooms and is probably the fif
Crowne Plaza West Palm Beach near the airport sustained damage