Hotels sold out to stranded commuters and residents without power at home in a matter of hours during Wednesday evening’s snowstorm, providing an unexpected boon for businesses during a typically slow month. “We went from 60 percent occupancy to 100 percent occupancy in about 45 minutes to an hour,” said Jim Fowler, general manager of the Hampton Inn in Fairfax, an 86-room hotel. “And after that we had people sleeping in the lobby.”
All over the region, managers reported similar stories. Hotels in and near the District accommodated the brunt of commuters who gave up trying to get home after spending hours inching along on jammed roads.
Karen White, a downtown employee, left work at 4 p.m., making it as far as the National Harbor before nabbing the last room — the $300-a-night king suite — at the Hampton Inn at 10:30 p.m.
Suburban Maryland hotels were a haven for the thousands of residents who lost power.
Ann Lee, who staffs the front desk at Rockville’s Courtyard Marriott, said just half of the hotel’s 177 rooms were sold Wednesday morning. But by early Wednesday evening the hotel was sold out with some residents opting to sleep in the lobby.
The sellouts are an unexpected boost during a month when business is typically slow.
“We serve a lot of business travelers so especially in January and during the holidays travelers and businessmen [are] on vacation so we go to about 20 [percent] to 30 percent occupancy,” Lee said. “So to go from that to what happened last night … it helps a lot.”
Hotels in more urban areas had a whirlwind day — the Marriott Tysons Corner went from having all its 392 rooms sold Wednesday morning to one-quarter of reservations cancel because the weather prevented customers from arriving. Then the storm hit and new customers began “pouring in,” said General Manager Shelly DiMeglio.
Within hours the hotel sold out again and staff turned the lobby into a rest area for weary commuters.
