Tallahassee hotels juggle two home football games, cancellations, Hurricane Ian evacuees

Hurricane Ian evacuees streaming into Tallahassee are snatching up hotel rooms as quickly as they can as the monster storm crawls toward the west coast of south and central Florida.

The influx is putting pressure on local hotels. By Tuesday afternoon, nearly every available room was booked, especially those near Interstate 10. Room availability is very fluid, said Kerri Post, who heads Leon County's Division of Tourism and Visit Tallahassee.

“One hotel, for example, started the day with 50 rooms available and had none by 1 p.m.” Post said “Most right now, along the I-10 properties they fill up, evacuees will be utilizing the hotels more in town.”

As of Tuesday, Leon County’s hotel occupancy rate ranged from 65 to 70% and could swell to 95% by today, Post said.

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The situation is tricky as hotels manage evacuee demands and numerous cancellations this weekend by guests who had planned to attend home football games at Florida A&M and Florida State universities. FSU postponed its homecoming festivities, originally slated for this weekend, until April 2023.

Though both football games are still scheduled to be played on Saturday, Post said every hotel in Tallahassee is experiencing cancellations.

“It’s not that they think the game is going to be canceled,” she added. “Hurricane Ian right now is so large that three quarters of the peninsula is going to feel the impacts from it. People are not going to travel. They are not going to be on the road.”

Cancellations tied to this weekend’s games began taking place Monday.

As of late afternoon Tuesday, the Holiday Inn Tallahassee East Capital had few rooms available due to evacuees. Room cancellations for the weekend also poured in.

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“I’ve talked to people from St. Pete, someone from Fort Myers. I’ve talked to a few different people who are all evacuating up here,” said Joshua Brock, the hotel’s general manager. “For every cancellation we’ve had, it’s been picked up by someone who’s evacuating.”

Several groups, including members of the Red Cross, insurance and claims adjusters, have booked rooms at Brock’s Holiday Inn. Staffers fielded calls from assisted living facilities in Central Florida that were hunting hotels with available rooms that can accommodate people with disabilities.

Should FSU cancel its football game — though, as of Tuesday, there has been no indication from officials this is expected — even more cancellations will start pouring in, Brock said. Guests can do so without fear of penalty since it’s a natural disaster, he added.

“All of those people who are going to cancel their reservations for the game, I’m sure we will slowly pick those up,” Brock said. “Will we fill up? Probably. But, all day long, every time someone canceled, someone picked up. We’re getting close to selling out but not quite full just yet."

In addition, the Holiday Inn Tallahassee East Capital is the host venue for Florida A&M University’s National Alumni Association. FAMU, which hosts Mississippi Valley State on Saturday, is slated to host Parents & Family Weekend beginning on Friday.

What are the odds of a hurricane threat and two home games at FAMU and FSU?

Mike Kelly, director of sales at the Holiday Inn Tallahassee East Capital, said the last time he can recall a parallel trifecta was more than a decade ago.

“It was a big challenge in town because we had evacuees, and they were asking evacuees to leave because we had to honor football fan reservations,” he said. “It turned into a big dilemma. Now we have a lot more room nights in Tallahassee and a lot more flexibility.”

Contact TaMaryn Waters at tlwaters@tallahassee.com or follow @TaMarynWaters on Twitter. 

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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Hurricane Ian evacuees book up Tallahassee hotel rooms