‘It’s been insane’: Amid fires, hotels from O.C. to Palm Springs see a rush of Angelenos
January is usually an easy month to book a Southern California hotel room. Not this year.
Driven by the fires that have uprooted hundreds of thousands of L.A. County residents, legions of displaced families and individuals are grabbing rooms in surrounding counties, especially along the coast and in the desert. Beyond those under mandatory evacuation, many more, including many families and anxious pet owners, have left because of poor air quality or general wariness of the county’s precarious state.
“It’s been insane,” said Marie Corbett, group sales manager at the 14 West boutique hotel in Laguna Beach. “I’ve had people in tears... You can see their emotions are so raw. And then they’ve got their animals. There was one lady whose dog was biting her hand. The stress.”
On Wednesday, the lobby of the Beverly Hills Hotel turned into an evacuation zone for some of Los Angeles’ most well-to-do residents.
Corbett said that by 2 p.m. Friday, 14 West’s 70 hotel rooms were “pretty much booked out” for the night. She guessed that 80% or more of the guests had come from Los Angeles in the last few days.
Because the region’s hotel inventory is so large and January is usually so slow along the coast, many lodgings do say they still have rooms to offer, in many cases at emergency discounts. And some Angelenos who left town midweek are beginning to come back.
For information on available hotels, Discover Los Angeles has compiled a list that includes dozens of L.A. County properties. The city of Anaheim has a list with 39 hotels. The San Diego Tourism Authority has a list with more than 40 more. VisitGreaterPalmSprings.com has a list with more than 30 hotels. There’s a Santa Barbara list, too. Some of these lists include detailed rate information, and all are subject to change as rooms fill. Meanwhile, Airbnb is teaming with the group 211LA to provide free emergency housing to many people who have been displaced and first responders.
The sudden L.A. diaspora has already filled many lodgings and pushed occupancy rates skyward. And in desert communities like Palm Springs and Joshua Tree, this was already a busy season. The result is a flood of reluctant travelers — people who are fortunate enough to afford to book hotels at short notice but would still rather be home.
“We couldn’t really go outside,” said Mike Muney, 33, of Mar Vista, explaining his family’s departure on Friday.
“We just feel so lucky. We know so many people who lost homes,” said his wife, Libby Muney, 35.
As they spoke, they stood with their son Nate, 1, and their yellow labrador, Winnie, near the entrance to the Marriott Laguna cliffs Resort in Dana Point. The sky above was a brilliant blue, empty of helicopters and ash. Inside the hotel, staffers had converted a conference room into a play area for children, with “Bluey” on a big screen and a Twister game laid out on the floor.
Coverage of the fires ravaging Altadena, Malibu, Pacific Palisades and Pasadena, including stories about the devastation, issues firefighters faced and the weather.
The hotel’s marketing director, Andrew Sutrisno, said this was supposed to be a slow weekend, with occupancy likely under 50%. But the fire-driven exodus basically filled the property’s 378 rooms for the weekend. Sutrisno estimated that most of the hotel’s guests are from Los Angeles. The hotel’s January rates typically start around $300.
“Wednesday night was the biggest jump,” Sutrisno said. “Until you see it in person — you see your hotel suddenly fill up — it’s hard to imagine.”
“This hotel has been amazing,” Mike Muney said later.
“Two people I know went to Palm Springs. Another friend is coming here,” said Libby Muney.
On Ocean Avenue in Laguna Beach, Ansgar Fremiel, 27, and Julia Fremiel, 32, and their children — Emely, 7; Liam, 3; and Hailey, 2 — may have looked like any other family ambling toward the beach on a Friday afternnon. But they were only in town, Ansgar said, because “we were evacuated from the Hollywood Hills,” about 60 miles to the north.
The havoc caused by the blazes — more than 28,000 acres have been scorched — necessitates immediate and long-term relief.
“We just got the most distanced we could make,” Ansgar Fremiel said. “With three kids, we aren’t that fast when it comes to getting in the car.”
The Fremiels, relieved by the subduing of the Sunset fire, were hoping to return home for the weekend. But many families will be staying away longer. As these emergency travelers make short-notice decisions on when to go, where to stay and when to return, hoteliers are juggling more variables than usual.
The hoteliers are also bound by state anti-gouging laws, which limit prices hikes to 10% beyond the rates that were in place before a local or state emergency was declared. Even if an emergency is in one county and a hotel is in another, that law may apply, officials at the California Hotel & Lodging Assn. said.
At the 120-room Pacific Edge Hotel, also in Laguna Beach, a desk clerk reported Friday that “we were at 18% occupancy on Tuesday. We’ve been at 100% the last two nights.” Guests who were displaced by fire, the clerk said, are generally paying 25% under usual rates, with resort fees and pet fees waived.
For Fairfax Buchanan Banks, 36, who lives near USC and West Adams, the decision to leave “came down to quality of air.... It was raining ash.”
And pets were a factor. Buchanan Banks has a dog and a 16-year-old male cat (named Dad) struggling with viral bronchitis. Her best friend had two dogs. Both pet owners liked the idea of clean air, open spaces. They had doubts about squatting indefinitely at a friend’s home — and, Buchanan Banks noted, “we’re lucky enough to have the means to relocate.”
They tried Joshua Tree and couldn’t find anything that fit their situation. But in nearby 29 Palms, they grabbed an Airbnb rental house with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, washer, dryer and a fenced yard. On Thursday they laid plans.
On Friday they drove out, coping with pet accidents as they went. Still, Buchanan Banks said, “by the time we passed Redlands, I noticed that my sinuses and throat were clearing up.”
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