Distinguish your inn as you help your community in any natural disaster!
If there is a disaster in your area, such as a fire, tornado, flood, or snow storm, you can very helpfully engage with your community in the relief process.
Put your information on your website, Facebook page, Twitter, and Instagram accounts. Add pictures and comments of the people you help. Welcome them to your community and personally offer your help.
As a person who has participated in Disaster Relief, I can tell you it is a wonderful relief from the rigors and unpleasantness of the relief efforts to have a wonderful, clean room and bed to spend the night and prepare for the next day.
You should also consider making rooms available to some of the victims who have lost their housing. You can work with the Disaster Relief teams, such as Southern Baptist Disaster Relief, Samaritan’s Purse, and American Red Cross, to see how you can help. Other resources would be the Fire and Police Departments serving the disaster relief efforts.
If you offer temporary housing to victims of the disaster, be sure you have your attorney draw up an agreement that they will evacuate your premises after a defined period of time whether or not they have any other arrangements. Unfortunately, Hurricane Katrina produced some unpleasant experiences for innkeepers. Of course, that was contributed to the fact that the US Government was paying the bills. They stopped paying and the “temporary” now more-or-less “permanent” residents were sometimes difficult to remove BECAUSE they had not been required to sign an agreement before they moved in.
More early damage pictures from our damage assessment team just outside Dimmitt. #lubwx pic.twitter.com/J0cWLA72ls
— NWS Lubbock (@NWSLubbock) April 15, 2017
Here is to your facility being the dominant hotel business in your marketplace!