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Hotels were busy in the area during the snowy weekend Date published: 2/9/2010
BY BILL FREEHLING
A whole lot of white stuff coming down led to a good bit of green stuff coming in for Fredericksburg-area hotels this past weekend. Hotels across the area report that they were booked pretty solid for most of the weekend as people sought heat, shelter and safety. "Whenever there's a storm you pretty much fill up," said Richard Lyle, director of sales at the Wingate by Wyndham near Exit 133 in Stafford County. As the weather worsens people get off Interstate 95 and into area hotels, Lyle said. This weekend many people lost power amid temperatures that dropped into the single digits, and some of those folks decided to check into a nearby hotel. Like many of the hotels along U.S. 17 in Stafford this past weekend, the Wingate got a boost from Geico, whose nearby regional headquarters was open for business to take customer calls. To ensure that Geico associates were able to get in this weekend, the company put them up at hotels near the U.S. 17 office and shuttled them back and forth. Regional Vice President John Izzo said about 280 Geico workers stayed at nearby hotels Friday and Saturday nights, and another 125 people did so Sunday night. Some of the people shared rooms, but most had their own. Izzo estimates that the company booked about 600 room nights total at a half-dozen or so hotels in the area this weekend. Call volume into Geico is typically high on weekends such as this past one, Izzo said. Before the storm people call in with questions about car insurance; afterward they call to report damage to their vehicles and file claims. Izzo said he was proud of the associates and grateful to the hotels, especially the Holiday Inn, which provided food and had a Super Bowl party. Geico wasn't the only company that booked rooms for employees to ensure they could make it to work. Some Central Park businesses did that at the Hampton Inn & Suites and the Homewood Suites at Celebrate Virginia South, said general manager Ronnie James. Both of his properties were almost full, with Saturday night particularly busy. James also said people came from Locust Grove and King George County after losing power. The Country Inn & Suites in the Four-Mile Fork area had a lot of people from Caroline County and was mostly booked, said general manager Randall Dowdy. The Fredericksburg Hospitality House in Central Park was booked before the snow even started by groups including an advance team with the 2010 National Scout Jamboree, said Bonnie Martin, director of sales and catering at the hotel. The hotel got a few cancellations due to the weather but quickly filled the rooms with emergency workers, people who had lost power and drivers getting off I-95. Martin said she was thankful the hotel itself never lost power. She described it as "all hands on deck," as the hotel scrambled to have the staff on hand to handle the busy weekend. Bill Freehling: 540/374-5405
One thing the article doesn't mention is the cost to the hotels. First - snow removal. Overtime for staff that do make it in. Salt and chemicals. Then there's the joy of being separated from our families for the duration, subsisting on microwaved McNuggets, and pulling muscles we forgot we had to keep the doors clear. All in all it's a wash financially. The rest of it we do because, believe it or not, we actually want to help.
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