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As people who live on Florida’s Gulf Coast hit the road before Hurricane Milton, many are landing in South Florida hotel rooms.
Many Broward and Miami-Dade hotels have filled up in the past 48 hours with people seeking refuge. But there is still some space. Airbnbs may also be available, but longer stays are usually required.
While South Florida is expected to get some rough weather on late Wednesday and early Thursday, hotels usually make good shelters, with plenty of food and sometimes generators if the power goes out.
Here’s what to know about where to stay in the storm:
Miami Beach and Coral Gables
Loews Miami Beach Hotel has booked as many as 75 rooms in the past 24 hours for people fleeing Milton, managing director Mutluhan Kucuk told the Miami Herald on Wednesday afternoon. That’s also the case at its hotel in Coral Gables, he said, which is fully booked for Wednesday night.
Initially, both Loews locations were getting guests from Tampa but now more are coming from Orlando.
People leaving the Gulf Coast and Central Florida initially avoided Miami Beach, fearing the city’s proximity to the ocean. But that has changed in the past 24 to 48 hours, said Kucuk who overseas both Loews hotels.
“Most of the hotels in South Beach are experiencing some pick-up today,” he said Wednesday.
Still, he said, Loews Miami Beach Hotel had plenty of rooms available as of noon Wednesday. And there are available rooms for Thursday and Friday as well.
Kucuk estimates that other hotels in South Beach have space, too. That’s because they got lots of cancellations from out-of-town guests early on, once news of the storm started to get spread.
Miami-Dade hotels are “seeing a pick-up but there’s still a deficit, especially in Miami Beach,” he said.
Loews Miami Beach Hotel is offering an initial rate of $229 per night for stays through Oct. 13. They have waived the pet fee as well as the cancellation or no-show fee.
Downtown Miami
CitizenM, which has three hotels in Miami-Dade County, also saw an influx and is full, said commercial director Bob Engeringh. He advised people looking for rooms that space could open up as others cancel.
That’s the case at its Worldcenter location as Usher postponed his concerts over three nights this week at the nearby Kaseya Center.
It may be tougher to find a room at the InterContinental Miami, which is not only filling up with Gulf Coast residents but also recovery crews.
The hotel experienced “large-scale cancellations” due to planned conferences, but “those guest rooms have been entirely replaced with a combination of utility personnel who are staging in Miami to be ready to assist the impacted areas of the state beginning tomorrow,” and a number of guests escaping Hurricane Milton, General Manager Glenn Sampert said in an email to the Miami Herald.
Sampert said he has spoken with numerous guests who have homes on the west side of Florida, and that the hotel has many families with small children and dogs, “which is not typical for weekdays at our hotel.”
The InterContinental was sold out Tuesday night and will likely sell out on Wednesday night as it offers standard room rates.
Aventura and Coconut Grove
The JW Marriott Turnberry Resort & Spa in Aventura and Mr. C in Coconut Grove have filled up with people who have left after Gulf Coast evacuations, said Wendy Kallergis, president and CEO of Greater Miami & the Beaches Hotel Association.
Sunny Isles Beach
The Acqualina Resort and Residences on the Beach in Sunny Isles Beach has rooms available.
More in Miami-Dade County
Kallergis, the head of the Greater Miami & the Beaches Hotel Association, provided the Herald with a list of several others that still have rooms available as of Wednesday evening:
▪ Nautilus Sonesta Miami Beach: Sold out Wednesday night but has 50 rooms available Thursday night at $120 rate.
▪ Pestana South Beach: Sold out, today but has rooms for Thursday and Friday.
▪ Carillon Miami Wellness Resort: Rates start at $279 and will waive resort fee until Oct 11 and not charging pet fees.
▪ Sagamore South Beach: Has a few rooms Wednesday night and Thursday. Rates are $179 per night.
▪ Nassau Suite Hotel: Has rooms Oct. 10-12 at $229 and $239.
▪ Leslie Hotel: Has rooms Oct. 10-12 at $189 and $309.
▪ Shepley Hotel: Has room Oct. 10-12 at $159 and $269.
Broward County
Broward County, which connects to the Gulf Coast via Alligator Alley, started filling up before Miami-Dade County.
Hotel executives at meetings on Oct. 8 indicated they were nearing capacity, said Peter Ricci, associate professor of hospitality management systems at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, who attended those meetings.
General managers from the Westin Fort Lauderdale, Sonesta Fort Lauderdale Beach and Renaissance Fort Lauderdale Cruise Port Hotel, said they were full, according to Ricci. The executives participated in a panel at a meeting held by the South Florida chapter of the Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International. It took place at the Westin Fort Lauderdale.
All the hotels from Broward County represented at the conference “were either full or near capacity,” said Ricci. Normally they are around 60% occupancy this time of year, he said. The storm has produced “a short-term boost in a bad way.”
The Diplomat Beach Resort in Hollywood took in at least 200 guest and likely more, Ricci estimated. However they may still have space.
Colby Cook, director of revenue management at The Diplomat declined to confirm an exact number but told the Herald in an email that “we have seen a significant surge in short-term bookings from guests in western Florida.”
He said the hotel’s internal reporting allows it to track guests’ bookings by their location including state of residency. Typically, during this time of the year, 40% to 60% of its leisure bookings come from in-state Florida residents. However, “we’ve seen that number rise to over 90%, which shows a significant shift in local demand,” he said.
The Hollywood hotel is offering discounted rates starting at $258, which includes self-parking, he said.
Cook also attended the Oct. 8 conference and told the Herald from those discussions, “we’ve seen a common trend of multiple group cancellations earlier in the week due to the storm.” That opened up rooms for people from the Gulf Coast who needed a place to stay. The executive expects the trend to continue through Thursday.
Weekend bookings for now “are slower as many guests seem to be waiting to assess the storm’s impact before committing to extending their stays,” he said.
The Westin Fort Lauderdale went from about 70% occupancy to sold out within 48 hours.
Palm Beach County
. The general manager at a Palm Beach County hotel, the Curio by Hilton Singer Island, was also fully booked.
In past storms, many people evacuating went to Orlando. It has more hotel rooms than any other city in Florida does.
But, now Orlando is in the path of Milton.
“Normally Orlando fills first,” Ricci said.
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