Key West set to reopen to tourists on Monday
The circus tent-like tarps used for fumigating buildings covered the sprawling Curry Mansion Inn in Key West this week.
But it wasn’t becausre of a bug problem.
“We don’t have termites,” said Phil Amsterdam, an owner of the landmark bed and breakfast at 511 Caroline St., just steps from Duval Street. “We just wanted to use the time wisely.”
Like a host of hotels, inns, restaurants and retail shops, the staff and owners of the Curry Mansion spent the COVID-19 pandemic lodging shutdown, which began March 22, doing repairs and renovations, scrubbing and sanitizing, all in preparation for the day they could reopen to tourists.
That day is Monday, when the checkpoints at the top of the Florida Keys will be gone and hotels can reopen up to 50 percent occupancy.
Mondays aren’t busy days for hotels in good times, so the Curry Mansion on Wednesday didn’t have any bookings. But it will reopen for business anyway.
They’re ready, Amsterdam said.
Hand-washing stations are in place. The menu has been altered. And employees are back on the job.
“Our housekeepers didn’t like staying home so they all came to work three weeks ago, painting and cleaning,” Amsterdam said. “They got tired of staying home.”
On Wednesday morning, workmen spread white soapy cleaner and scrubbed down the sidewalks at Duval Square, a cluster of restaurants and vacation rentals.
And the city itself took on a major project: repaving and repairing Duval Street from Truman Avenue to Wall Street, by Mallory Square.
The project, which included sidewalks and curb ramps, had been scheduled for later this year, but city leaders decided to do it during the shutdown. It started in March and is almost finished.
“No traffic was huge, it sped up the project,” said the city’s director of engineer Steven McAlearney.
But who will show up in Key West next week?
Hotel owners and business leaders aren’t expecting many tourists at first.
“It’s like dipping your toe into the water and gradually making your way into the surf,” said Scott Atwell, executive vice president and CEO of the Key West Chamber of Commerce. “It’s going to be a nice slow process. Fingers crossed, we can get some business.”
Hotels on Wednesday had a 30 percent occupancy rate for the next two weeks, Atwell said.
“If they can only sell half of their rooms, that’s like having 60 percent occupancy,” he said.
Hotels and restaurants will have new safety protocols in place. Already, the city requires restaurants to have staff take diners’ temperatures before they’re seated. Paper menus have been printed and servers are prepared to sanitize the wine list after each customer’s touch.
Some restaurants haven’t been open during the entire shutdown. Firefly, which offers modern Southern dishes, did takeout and delivery for a couple weeks after the March 17 order that closed down dining rooms.
But then Firefly shut down and waited until May 9 to reopen when they could serve diners on-site.
Now they’ve taken the salt and pepper shakers off the table and removed the communal salt scrub jar from the bathrooms, among a list of other precautions in the age of COVID-19.
“We’ve been looking at this period of time as a warm-up for Miami coming down, so all systems in place are second nature,” said owner Tricia Coyne.
“I think there’s a level of
Key West’s Duval Street has been slowly coming back to life with restaurants, like Old Town Tavern, reopening before tourists will be officially welcomed back Monday. anxiety there,” said Key West Mayor Teri Johnston, of business owners. “This puts a tremendous amount of pressure on them. People are trying to regain their footing and regain some of the losses they’ve incurred over the last two months. Now they have to be pseudo police officers, too.”
Masks are required to enter, according to the city’s directive outlining regulations during a state of emergency. Violating the order is a criminal misdemeanor, the mayor pointed out.
Johnston said some customers have been rude and disrespectful of the restaurants’ rules.
“It can’t be tolerated,” Johnston said. “We’d like to welcome you in but these are the rules. COVID-19 isn’t messing around and we can’t either.”
Not everyone is reopening, particularly some small guest houses that only have few rooms.
The historic Artist House, 534 Eaton St., won’t reopen next week.
“Just because they tell you you can reopen doesn’t mean you should,” said Jason Barnett, who has owned the seven-room bed and breakfast with his wife, Lori Barnett, since 2017.
She’s an entrepreneur and he’s an attorney, so they can afford to wait out the pandemic a little longer, he said. They will continue to pay their five employees, but are weighing options on reopening.
“We’re excited at the prospect for reopening,” he said. “Then reality sets in. The reality is we have a deadly pandemic with no cure. We’re not going to reopen until we are sure our staff and guests are going to be safe.”
The COVID-19 slump hasn’t gotten the best of Key West, though, Barnett said.
“Key West is a unique town,” Barnett said. “I believe, long-term, Key West is a town of survivors. They’ve always been OK and I have no doubt eventually we’ll be OK. In the short run, I’m not so sure this is a great move. I feel the decisions are based on economics, unfortunately.”