Remarkable

One of my memorable experiences in the hotel life would have to be the preparation for and the experiences of Hurricane’s Francis and Jeanne in 2004.

As GM of the Palm Beach Gardens Marriott you are responsible for the safety and well being of your guests and associates. At the same time you are to manage the hotel to maximize occupancy and sales to produce a expected profit.

It was June 1 the first day of Hurricane Season and that when I met with our management team at the weekly staff meeting and I gave the Executive Committee the responsibility of update and presenting the Hurricane Plan.

The forecast was not out of the norm for the season’s storm formation maybe 12 named and 1-2 to hit North America. Keep in mind the last major hurricane to hit Florida was 1992, Hurricane Andrew.

As the weather channel started to track the formation of the soon to be named Hurricane Francis it was approximately 7 days out from any threat of hitting land. I started to prepare anyways with many doubting Thomas’ in the wings. Our corporate offices were located in Cranston RI and they had not experienced a true hurricane, maybe some severe snow storms that closed schools for a few days.

As the preparations continued it is now 3 days out from the expected hit. The hotel was receiving calls asking our $10.00 an hour friendly front desk associates if they think the hurricane is going to hit our area. We did give the front desk specific responses to this question so as not to be accused of misinforming and potential guest. The hotel started filling up very quickly as did the other hotels in the area. Each of the GM’s remained in contact with each other to assist where/when necessary. We did try inform as many of our guests as possible that if they had the opportunity to get a flight out of the area to do so ASAP as the airport will shut down once the winds reach 35 MPH. Nearly all of the guests who could did end up leaving the hotel which made more room for the locals who were evacuating their homes, especially the home east of the intra coastal waterway.

In the mean time I was having meetings with the leadership team to review checklists related to supplies, human resources, food, water etc.

I had blocked off 45 rooms for staff to move into with their families with the understanding that it will be required that you will be scheduled to work during this time they were spending in the hotel. This program of having staff move into the hotel was voluntary. The other 235 rooms were going to be occupied by paying customers at a reduced rate due to the level of service being reduced due to not being able to have enough associates come into work as they were either evacuating themselves or staying at home with their families.

We had our final food and beverage orders delivered, the staff started bagging ice and storing it in the freezer, the pool furniture secured(not thrown into the pool, as this will ruin the surface) diesel fuel tanks topped off for the backup generator, associates moved into the hotel many with their family pets and of course the evacuating guests. Everyone’s senses were on hyper drive.

Well the storm came and stayed for 12 hours.

I had to use the emergency intercom system to communicate with the masses of people throughout the hotel. After the storm passed everyone was anxious to get home to inspect their own homes and on the way out our desk clerks were asking if they were checking out and the response was NOT YET. The powered was still out and remained out in the local area for 7 straight days. Many of our guests could not go home.

The next day after the storm moved on the corporate office sent down a 2 Meg generator that supplied enough power to run the entire A/C system which meant we were the only hotel and business and structure with A/C.

The remaining days went on and the numerous service stories that came about were incredible.

That’s all for now.

Roger Amidon

Executive Director

Tourist Development Council

Palm Beach County

1555 Palm Beach Lakes Blvd

Suite 900

West Palm Beach, Fl 33401

(561)233-3133 (direct)

(561)309-9214 (cellular)

ramidon@palmbeachfl.com

www.palmbeachfl.com