Lodging report details hurricane hotel status

Still playing catch-up on all the stuff I've been hoarding since my Hartford trip. Here's one: The Closed Hotel Count in Louisiana is 160 Hotels, in Mississippi,

93 Hotels and in Alabama, 33 Hotels as of September 15, 2005

New Orleans, one of the nation’s key convention and business meeting destinations, was devastated not only by the hurricane’s winds, but also by the subsequent widespread flooding. Of the 203 hotels/35,574 guestrooms in New Orleans, 127 hotels/24,972 rooms, or 70% of available guestrooms, are reported closed. In Biloxi, 22 hotels/5,646 rooms out of 34 hotels/7,930 rooms, or 71% of available guestrooms, are reported closed; and 12 hotels/1,987 rooms out of 21 hotels/3,021 rooms, or 66% of available guestrooms are closed in Gulfport. In Mobile, of the 92 hotels/10,206 rooms available, 29 hotels/3,389 rooms, or 34% are closed.





Along the Mississippi Coast, the Hotel/Casino industry is all but demolished. Notably, the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, which had been under construction since February, 2004 and was scheduled to open this month, will have to be completely rebuilt. In the three counties along the Mississippi coastline, there are 11 Hotel/Casinos having 5,606 rooms. All received major damage and are closed for guest traffic. Two are temporarily being used for housing. “Reconstruction along the Mississippi and Alabama coasts could move along more quickly than in New Orleans,” said Ford, “because these areas did not experience the double-whammy of the long-standing flood waters.”