Hermosa hotels hold rooms, rates for evacuees
by Kevin Cody
Fears of rate gouging by hotels during the recent fires were dispelled, at least in Hermosa Beach, by two beachside hotels that offered lower rates to fire evacuees than were offered to vacationers last month.
It wasn’t because of a state law prohibiting price increases of more than 10 percent during a state of emergency.
Zubin Patel, manager of the 17-room Grand View, half a block from the beach, explained his room rates fluctuate with the seasons. January is a typically a slow season. So early in the month he lowered his rates to spur demand. He maintained the off-season rate of under $200 a night for fire evacuees because “it was the decent thing to do,” he said. His peak season rates are close to $300 a night.

Beach House General Manager Cara Marshall-Bryan lifted the hotel’s pan on pets for fire evacuees. Photos by Kevin Cody
Rates at the nearby Beach House Hotel this past week were almost $200 a night below their holiday and summer season rates.
Beach House General Manager Cara Marshall-Bryan had a practical, as well as ethical explanation for not exploiting the fire victims.
“We’re already the most expensive hotel in Hermosa Beach. We don’t want to add a reputation for price gouging,” the 38-year veteran of the hospitality industry said.
(In an acknowledged effort at public shaming, a Hermosa Beach residents’ Facebook page posted Hermosa Beach rental properties whose lease rates were increased after the fires started, including a Strand lease increased by $10,000. The post has been removed.)
The initial impact of the fires on the two hotels was a flood of cancellations.
“People flying into LAX saw the smoke from the fire and canceled their reservations. My phone was ringing off the hook,” Patel said.
The following morning, with his hotel half vacant, his reservations desk was again deluged with calls, but this time from fire evacuees looking for rooms.
Marshall-Bryan said the Beach House also suffered a large number of cancellations the morning the fire started, among them a company that had booked 35 rooms and the conference room. One of the company’s employees had lost his home in the Palisades Fire. But by Tuesday night, she said, “Our lobby was full of people and dogs.” The Beach House allowed evacuees to bring their pets to the hotels. Under normal circumstances, only service dogs are allowed.
Many of the evacuee guests were in shock, the general managers said.
“They were walking around with this look on their faces of ‘What do I do now,’” Marshall-Bryan said.
Patel said one guest asked him where the elevator was, though it was just a few feet away from her. “They were definitely on edge,” he said.
By Sunday, five days after the fires began, the evacuees began leaving the hotels for home, or long term accommodations. Neither of the two hotels offer rooms with kitchens.
Sunday evening Marshall-Bryan, said following the high wind predictions, there was another rush of evacuee reservations. But by mid week, most evacuation orders had been rescinded, and those who could return to their homes, she said. ER