Our proposal is for hotels to collaborate to design the National Hotel Vacancy Resource - “Designed by Hotels for Hotels”. Together we can create new opportunities in the hotel industry.

FindShelterNow™ - Why we need a National Hotel Vacancy Resource

Our consortium of hotels across the nation ensures that hotel managers and owners, emergency managers and evacuees can quickly and easily find and reserve available hotel space located outside the risk area. A unified source of hotel vacancy information will significantly improve the efficiency of evacuations and reduce everyone’s stress. Hotels, armed with real time vacancy information, can strategically and quickly take control over unpredictable events.

We offer hotel across the US the opportunity to have input in the design and development of FindShelterNow, the only national, consolidated, real-time hotel vacancy resource with reservation capabilities, used exclusively during time of mass catastrophic evacuations.

HOTELTechSystems collaborative partnership between hotel chains/brands, along with the National Hotel Vacancy Resource database, ensures that the next disaster to strike America does not cripple Americans during a mass catastrophic evacuation.  At HOTELTechSystems leaders at all levels of the hotel industry can communicate, develop shared goals and align capabilities so we are not overwhelmed when the next crisis happens.

Evacuations affect hotels in three ways:

1. Evacuees coming into an area in search of short term shelter. 

2. Relocating current guests from areas to be evacuated.

3. Coordinating and providing room accommodations for first responders. 

Source: “The Potential for an Uncontrolled Mass Evacuation of the DC Metro Area Following a Terrorist Attack: A Report of Survey Findings” 2006 Summary of how hotels are affected - Coordinated hotel availability is a key element in addressing regional/national shelter concerns in emergency preparedness and evacuations. Direct communication between FEMA and hotels, and hotels to hotels is the stated goal.

The hotel industry plays a vital role during evacuations. From Oct 25, 2005 - March 2006, FEMA provided 4,270,350 cumulative hotel nights to hurricane victims. The Red Cross provided hotel rooms to over 650,000 Hurricane Katrina and Rita victims at more than 11,000 hotels. The ability to quickly and efficiently get evacuees to hotels during a catastrophic event is chaotic and extremely stressful. Currently it’s an everyman for him-self scenario and results in congested evacuation routes as evacuees exit and enter highways looking for information on the location of available hotel rooms. (Source: Better Planning Needed for Housing Victims of Catastrophic Disasters www.gao.gov/new.items/d0788.pdf)

In mass catastrophic evacuations hotels and emergency service providers need a way to quickly and easily relocate hundreds of guests to other hotels, assist evacuees and emergency responders in finding available hotels to shelter for a period of time. Finding available hotel rooms beyond the evacuated area poses immediate problems for the evacuee and hotels because often, evacuations result in evacuees relocating several states away and hotels for hundreds of miles are sold-out. What’s lacking is one source of information and a unified solution like HOTELTechSystems proposes. 

(Source: All Hazards Consortium (ahcusa.org) The All Hazards Consortium is comprised of the Emergency Management Agencies of the states of NC, DC, MD, VA, WV, DE, PA, NJ and NY and major vendors for Homeland Security - Report “Mid-Atlantic Region Catastrophic-Event Preparedness Workshop Report” Regional Findings and Recommendations: Mass Care Section: Recommendation 15c: Establish agreements with private sector partners such as hotels, apartments and corporate housing agencies within the region to develop sheltering solution.)

The purpose of FindShelterNow is to provide fast and accurate information to help ease the burdensome process of evacuating. FindShelterNow will be available instantaneously when the need to evacuate is realized.

Opportunities – By bringing together all stakeholder groups, a powerful environment for collaboration is created to solve tough problems.

FindShelterNow only works because of YOU, the Hotelier.

         ·            This is an opportunity for hotel chains/brands to work collaboratively among one another to provide:

•  Support the needs of state and federal emergency management agencies to coordinate evacuation efforts.   
•  Include tracking of all destination hotel reservations from the onset of the event via the INNformer database so we can model destination points and inform strategic state and local partners where people are going.
•  Include provisions for informing evacuees and hotels about the locations of available hotels for special needs (i.e., with pets, handicap, etc.).
• The only networked system offering unified reservation information for all participating hotels throughout the nation.
• Direct hotel-to-hotel reservations with a private site for first responders and hotel officials as well as a public site for evacuees.
• Online, social media and mobile distribution of hotel vacancy information with reservation capabilities.
• Real-time maps and modeling showing room availability across affected geographic areas and evacuees destinations.
• Bulk room reservations, across brands if necessary, to accommodate the relocation of hundreds of current hotel guests.

Why will hotels become HOTELTechSystems partner?

• Hotels that become contributing partners with HOTELTechSystems will benefit from:
• Interaction with other hotels and government authorities regarding disaster preparedness strategies and best practices via the HOTELTechSystems Community forum;
• Be the first-choice for bookings, as hotels that participate will naturally receive the majority of the bookings because they will be the easiest to find and to book;
• Contribution to the development of a new networked reservation system;
• Positive PR as your company is viewed as being proactive in helping out with disaster/crisis nationwide;
• National and Federal recognition as a HOTELTechSystems partner.

Contact:

Leslie J. Mack
Founder
lmack@HOTELTechSystems.com
Columbus, OH