In downtown, hotels safe havens for stranded tourists, residents
Aaron Fettes regrets leaving his hotel in Cypress to watch the Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor boxing match at a downtown sports bar on Saturday night.
That decision trapped him and his friend Dexter Murdoch, both from Scotland, in a frustrating dilemma as Hurricane Harvey bore down on Houston.
“It’s the biggest regret of my life,” said Fettes, who has been in Houston for two weeks for a training meeting for an oil and gas company. Fettes and Murdoch found a room at the Lancaster Hotel in downtown Houston when it became clear they couldn’t get back to Cypress late Saturday night. The Lancaster lost power on Sunday, so the two decamped to the Hotel Icon, blocks away. Then the Icon lost power. On Monday, the two were in the darkened lobby of the Icon wondering how they were going to get back to Cypress and clean, dry clothes.
“We really don’t really have a plan,” Murdoch said. “We’ve never been in anything like this before.”
Their predicament was shared by many lodging in hotels throughout downtown Houston.
Gustavo Villega arrived for a business meeting in Houston on Friday,
unaware of Harvey’s potential severity. A resident of Buenos Aires, Argentina, he was due to return home on Monday.
Sitting in the lobby of the Magnolia Hotel downtown working his laptop, Villega said he doesn’t know when he can get back home. But he said he’s grateful to have a room as the rain continued to fall. “I feel safe here. I don’t feel at any time we were in danger,” he said. “We have the internet, we have coffee, we have food. There’s no problem.”
Dan Maguire didn’t feel so fortunate. A resident of Jacksonville, Fla., Maguire was on his way to start a new job working as a buyer for Whole Foods in Austin. Driving from Florida, his travel plans were to spend the night on Saturday in Houston at Hotel Icon. He briefly considered plowing through on Saturday night but “it was getting dark and the roads were dangerous.” So he put down for the night at a hotel that lost its power.
Maguire said he’s been through hurricanes in Florida before, most recently Hurricane Matthew in 2016. “It was nothing like this. This hurricane isn’t moving,” he said. “It’s a deluge and there’s nothing you can do.”
With all his clothes and some essential belongings packed in his car, Maguire said Monday he wasn’t sure how or when he was getting to Austin. Today was to be his first day at his new job.
Nina Mithani traveled to Houston on Thursday to attend her cousin Rozmeen Ali’s wedding Saturday. The wedding went on, at the height of the storm, but she and dozens of fellow wedding guests are stuck in Houston.
“It was scary but we’re a family and we’re in this together,” said Mithani, who like other members of the wedding party are staying at the JW Marriott Houston Downtown. “What was of utmost importance is that we were here to celebrate her special day with her.”
The wedding reception at a downtown event space was joyous. But then heavy rains came. “We were enjoying ourselves and dancing but we got scared when Uber terminated service,” she said. “I don’t think any of us expected it to get this bad.”
Mithani said her family decided to make the best of it at the JW Marriott where she said they’ve been treated to excellent service. “The people here have been absolutely amazing. I work in the service industry and I understand how frustrating this situation is.”
Hotels downtown have been operating as best they could, taking care of guests who have had to extend their stays while grappling with the logistical complexities imposed by the heavy rains and flooding. Cahal Mowery, director of sales for the JW Marriott, said there are currently about 250 guests at the hotel, including some that were relocated from the nearly century-old Lancaster when it lost power Sunday.
A Lancaster employee confirmed that there are currently no guests at the hotel and that water had entered the building.
“We’re trying to take their minds off everything and trying to make this feel as much as home as possible,” Mowery said from the JW Marriott’s lobby, which was busy and almost festive with the lobby bar full and the restaurant’s kitchen operating at full tilt, sending out burgers and pizza.
There were about 30 guests and 20 employees at Hotel Icon when the power went out Saturday night. The emergency generator ran out of fuel on Monday. The hotel was working to find lodging for the guests who wanted to leave but accommodating those who chose to stay, said Mitchell Roessler, front desk manager.
“It is what it is,” Roessler said of the hotel’s predicament. “It’s not something we can control. We’re doing everything we can to take care of our guests.”
The Magnolia became a hotel of refuge for some downtown dwellers. About 50 residents of the downtown apartment building Rice Lofts, which lost its power on Sunday, took rooms at the Magnolia, which on Monday was home to 178 guests. The hotel also was open to taking in first responders, said Ion Garza, front desk manager. “We have food, we have water,” he said just before the hotel set out a lunch buffet for guests. “Everyone is appreciative to ride it out with us. A lot of them are just happy to have a roof over their heads, air conditioning and TV.”
Robert and Trish Baker, residents of the Hermann Lofts, which lost power on Sunday, checked into the Magnolia, joining other nearby residents looking for a place to live until the storm passes.
“We’ve met an abundance of people from downtown. It’s like a small community in the lobby,” Trish said.
The Bakers said they had intended to stay in their home but when the power went out and the water started rising downtown, they found temporary shelter in a neighborhood hotel.
“We’ve lived here our entire lives and never saw anything of this magnitude,” Trish said.
“My biggest concern is for the thousands and thousands of people who are trapped and stranded,” Robert said. “We’re fortunate.”
Mithani feels the same. “I have a home to go to. Some of the people who work here have had their homes flooded. We can’t really complain.
“I think none of us will ever forget this wedding,” she said. “It’s been epic.”