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Hurricane Idalia made landfall north of Tampa Bay earlier this week. The area of Pinellas County where the Hyatt Regency Clearwater Beach Resort and Spa is located, issued an evacuation order two days earlier, but the hotel chose to remain open and lied to guests about the danger.
The Tampa Bay Times reported that while other hotels in Clearwater Beach were empty, the Hyatt Regency was emailing guests and sliding notes under doors that said it had “not been ordered to evacuate Clearwater Beach.” The resort started sliding letters under doors around 5:00 PM on Monday, which is around four hours after Pinellas County announced the evacuation order.
The 286-room hotel remained open and guests that were not watching the news or informed otherwise were unaware of the evacuation order.
The Hyatt Regency’s General Manager, Jeff Thompson said:
“The safety and well-being of our guests and colleagues is always a top priority, and even more so during natural disasters.”
Other than the above statement, there was no comment as to why it told guests that there was no evacuation order in place.
@creativid2019 Hurricane Idalia Impact: Clearwater Beach #tampabay #hurricaneseason #hurricaneidalia #hurricaneidalia2023 #hurricaneidalia🌀
Areas of Clearwater Beach saw four to six feet of surge shortly after Idalia passed the Gulf Coast. The TikTok video above shows some of the flooding. The evacuation order applied to around 338,000 residents on the coast, barrier islands, and in mobile home parks in Pinellas County.
Anthony’s Take: This is not a good look for the hotel and it should have evacuated when the rest of the hotels on Clearwater Beach did on Monday. Lying to guests just exacerbates the issue. Luckily, no one was injured or killed in the storm as a result.
(Featured Image Credit: @creativid2019 via TikTok.)
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11 comments
Anyone who visits Florida during hurricane season should expect to be responsible for their own safety. Then again, Florida in general is a knuckle-dragging place that should be avoided yeat-round.
yea Lance – you tell ’em. Florida is so much like DC, SF, NYC, Chicago, and…
*rolls eyes*
Ridiculous. That’s garbage talk. I have lived in Florida my entire life. The people are exception and nice. Nothing like the pillaging, disrespect, stealing, burning, ugliness that fires in our major cities that we all enjoyed visiting back in the day.
Traveling during hurricane season is always a risk and keeping up with the weather news is probably the responsibility of both the vacationer as well as the resort. Still, no excuse for the Hyatt Regency Clearwater management in this case. As for Lance…bless your heart.
@ John L you forgot a few other wonderful places Lance probably enjoys hanging out in, like LA, Seattle, Portland, Philly, and the list goes on……
Where would they have gone? Probably in the best place they could be anyway
First off no where did they get 4 to 6 feet of water stop lying
If the hotel is in a mandatory zone why did the authorities not evacuate the hotel….. Are mandatory orders issued but not enforced…. Bad look for everyone….
This is a free state. Mandatory means laws enforcement won’t rescue you immediately if you call 911. Not a crime…
Whenever you hear a spokes person of authority within a company that preaches,, safety is their number one priority, it’s almost always a lie and the exact opposite is the honest truth. I’ve learned this over 35 years of service on various safety committees.
It’s not like a tornado, you have plenty of warning of aproaching hurricanes. If you come to Florida or go away for vacation anywhere in the South during hurricane season, watch the weather. Use common sense and watch the local weather. Do you really need the hotelier to give you information about an impending disaster? Do your due diligence and have a back up plan when you head to an area that your not familiar with. Tourist!?!?!