BATON ROUGE: Some hotels have canceled reservations for guests not aligned with Ida’s recovery effort, sources in the WBRZ Research Unit have reported.
Hotel reservations during the second week of October have been automatically canceled, so rooms can be used for both first aid and utility workers, with priority given to power grid workers.
Marriott canceled all rooms for people who were not aligned with the recovery during the weekend of October 2 and 3, which includes the LSU-Auburn game at Tiger Stadium.
At the Courtyard by Marriott Baton Rouge Acadian Center / LSU Area Hotel, the Courtyard on Acadian on I-10, Entergy booked all 149 rooms during the first week of October.
“We wanted to contact you personally to inform you that Hurricane Ida has affected our property. We are unable to accept your arrival and your booking has been canceled, ”he warned an email to guests with reservations at the hotel in early October.
A hotel employee confirmed that the entire hotel was booked with companies performing storm response tasks and all other reservations were canceled.
A hotel operator told WBRZ Marriott that properties in Baton Rouge and Greater New Orleans were canceling reservations and booking hotels to try to respond to the storms.
“It’s not just ours, it’s in every hotel in town,” the hotel person said.
Hotel cancellations are likely to affect bookings of at least three LSU home games: the McNeese State game on Sept. 11; the central Michigan game on October 18 and the Auburn game on October 2.
Visiting universities usually reserve blocks of rooms for officials and athletics teams. LSU did not respond to any calls about what, if any, it was planning for the next three visiting teams.
Auburn University did not respond to any emails when this story was originally published.
Hired nurses complained to WBRZ earlier this week because they were having trouble booking rooms day after day after the storm. Medical staff hired to help care for patients with COVID in Baton Rouge hotels were staying in the city and extending reservations every night, but hotel operators informed them this week that storm response reservations claimed all rooms open for the foreseeable future.
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