EUREKA, Calif. (KIEM)- Hotels, motels, and short term-rentals can begin reopening as soon as Friday but with certification from the Humboldt County Emergency Operations Center
“We are really excited, to be honest, it’s because of the tourist season it’s important for us, that is how we survive,” said Joshila Patel who manages the Eureka Days Inn.
Eureka Days Inn manager and Broadway Motel manager both say Most hotels, motels, and short-stay rentals in Humboldt and Del Norte counties rely on tourist season which should have started in April.
“The impacts on us has hit hard. We end up closing in March and when we end up closing in March that is when the season begins, for the tourists.”
“It’s so hard because my business is slow customers are not coming, every people is scared, so yeah it’s hard. I want to open for everything,” said Broadway Motel Rupinderjit Kaur.
And open to everyone, Humboldt County Health Officer Dr. Teresa Frankovich says sectors such as hotels and short-term rentals are higher risk for COVID-19 transmission, which increases the importance of state-required safety measures as businesses reopen.
Which according to both Kaur and Patel, they have added to comply with county guidelines.
Patel says it’s about safety.
“We are ready the staff are ready, we are just taking a lot of precautions and we are making sure the guests whenever they are welcoming over here they know that we want them to put a mask on,” she said. “We are serious about this too we are not just opening up tourists, at the same time we are making sure the tourists are safe over here.”
lodging has been allowed for essential workers and essential travel throughout the covid-19 pandemic.
with updated travel guidance will allow for non-essential and leisure travel, which now allows hotels, lodging and short-term rentals to book tourists and other out-of-county travelers once a facility has been certified by the e-o-c.
For now, Patel says they hope to at least break-even.
“It’s not going to be able to help us to try to play catch-up this year. We already lost the business for the month of April and May is already gone,” Patel said. “So hopefully we can just survive this year.”
Additional requirements are included in the “hotels and lodging” and “short-term rentals” reopening plan forms, which can be found if you click here.
