NEW ORLEANS — When the Royal Sonesta Hotel on Bourbon Street reopens July 1, safety guidelines will greet every guest. Masks will be a must, check-in will be contactless, and only two people can ride the elevator at a time. That’s just for starters.
“We will not enter rooms that are occupied. In fact, when they’re cleaned, 24 hours after, we will seal the door, attesting to the guest that no one has been in there,” said Al Groos.
Groos is the general manager at the Royal Sonesta. He said the hotel has never closed since it was established in 1969, not even for Hurricane Katrina. It had no choice with COVID-19. It’s been closed since the first week of April.
“We want to welcome back certainly our team members that we can welcome back, at least for now. Hopefully, over time we can welcome more as business starts to increase,” said Groos.
The hotel plans to rehire 25% of its staff for the reopening. Groos said there are modest signs of tourism, and the hotel is getting some bookings.
“They miss New Orleans. You know what it means to miss New Orleans, and people are missing that. They want to come down. They want to support the city,” said Groos.
For perspective though, a survey by local tourism officials found that the occupancy rate for New Orleans area hotels was only in the single digits.
“Areas outside of the city are seeing a little bit of an uptick, but we’re not seeing anything above 10% occupancy. We don’t expect that to be much better for the rest of the summer,” said Mark Romig, the chief marketing officer for New Orleans and Company.
As Romig indicated, some hotels beyond the city of New Orleans are seeing improving numbers.
“June has seen a bit of an uptick, about 10 percent, so we are ranging about the mid 30’s in occupancy, so definitely a good sign,” said Vimal Patel.
When we spoke with Vimal Patel last month, he said he was unsure if he could keep his four hotels in Laplace open. He said some recent reservations offer some hope. Tourism officials have estimated that the hospitality and tourism industry may take three to four years to recover from the pandemic. For Groos and the Royal Sonesta, it’s been a lonely time, and they’re looking forward to offering their brand of hospitality, which until further notice will begin with the offer of a face mask.
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