Atlanta hotels were filling up as coastal residents in the path of Hurricane Matthew sought shelter in the metro area Thursday.
“They were coming from Savannah and Jacksonville,” said Marsha Middleton, a spokeswoman for Four Seasons Atlanta. “The hotel went from mediocre occupancy for the weekend to completely sold out. It all happened yesterday.
“People rolled in, obviously without having planned the trip much in advance, Middleton said. “The hotel is now over-capacity with people and dogs.”
‘No vacancy’ signs weren’t the only effect of the giant storm on metro Atlanta businesses.
Atlanta-based Home Depot was trucking materials to stores along the coast, adding stocks of items such as generators, water, batteries, flashlights, plywood and tarps.
“We’ve done this so many times that we have a plan and a template for moving product and for taking care of our associates,” spokesman Steve Holmes said.
By late Thursday afternoon, about half of the stores in the hurricane’s path were closed, he said. “Our goal is to be the last one to close and the first to open after the storm.”
Georgia Power also was “monitoring the changing weather around the clock, mobilizing crews and preparing to respond to any service interruptions, which may occur,” the state’s biggest electric utility said.
And Atlanta-based Waffle House tweeted that it had closed all its restaurants on I-95 between Titusville and Fort Pierce, Fla.
As many as 2 million people have fled Florida, and more than 500,000 people in six counties along Georgia’s coast were being evacuated on orders from Gov. Nathan Deal.
Mark Vaughan, executive vice president and chief sales officer at the Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau, said the timing for a rush on hotel rooms was lucky. A big Microsoft convention just finished and the city won’t have another large meeting until Oct. 19 when the National Association of Convenience Stores comes to town, he said.
“For the people who need a room this is a a good time because we are sandwiched between two great conventions,” Vaughan said.
Michael Fletcher, director of sales and marketing at Hilton Atlanta., said the downtown hotel has seen a “steady increase of rooms requested by large and small groups leaving the affected coastal areas. “Our transient demand with individual travelers has also increased dramatically,” he said.
Mark Woodworth, senior managing director of consulting firm PKF Hospitality, said pet-friendly hotels are in especially high demand during natural disasters.
“I fully expect Atlanta’s hotels will be much busier this weekend than they expected,” he said.
