Extended Stay Hotels Provides Temporary Housing to Katrina Victims

Extended Stay Hotels is being helped by FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) to better provide temporary places for Hurricane Katrina victims to stay at various places across the country.

The agency had offered to pay for refugees to stay in participating Extended Stays for two weeks but has since expanded that time to one month. The hotel chain sent their Houston general managers to disaster areas all last week to help with relief efforts. Two Extended Stay hotels were destroyed in the hurricane.

“My parking lot is full of Louisiana license plates,” said Barbara Brauss, an Extended Stay Hotel general manager in Fort Worth, TX. “These were the people who could leave and got out by car.”

Brauss, general manager of Extended Stay on Bryant Irvin Road, was sent to Houston last week and was gone all week to help with hotel staff there.

Extended Stay said they support the hurricane relief effort and is addressing the crisis by assisting people in finding temporary housing wherever possible. The chain’s rooms include kitchens with refrigerators, cook top ranges, sinks, coffee makers, toasters, irons, ironing boards, and on-site laundry facilities, all of which may be of interest to those currently in need of interim housing. According to the hotel’s website, their most economical brands are Extended Stay America Economy, Crosland Economy Studios, and Home Town Inn. Home Town Inns include Canton Road in Marietta, GA among other locations.

Extended Stay Hotels with availability in the affected and outlying areas of the hurricane-affected areas are Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, TX, Jacksonville, and Orlando, FL, among others.

Those without availability are Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lake Charles, New Orleans, Shreveport, LA, Jackson, MS, and Pensacola, FL among others.

Studio suites include fully-equipped kitchens, cable t.v., computer data ports, and an on-site guest laundry.

Many locations have wireless or broadband Internet access, exercise facilities, and seasonal swimming pools or spas.

Corporations relocating professionals and employees traveling on temporary assignments, families or relatives in town for an extended stay, home buyers in between houses or remodeling, and people in transition due to divorce or retirement are some of the customers that make up Extended Stay’s client database. There is unlimited phone use and personalized voice mail.

For more information go to extendedstayamerica.com.