‘We’re kind of screwed’: Myrtle Beach area hotel owners react to coronavirus shutdown
La Dolce Vita Villas owner Angela Visalli was gearing up for a busy spring season until the coronavirus spread to the Myrtle Beach area, forcing local officials along the coast to shut down hotels and accommodations services through May.
Now, the North Myrtle Beach hotel owner, similar to others along the Grand Strand, doesn’t know how she’s going to pay her bills. While she agrees with the decision to shutter hotels to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, Visalli expressed the struggle in having to cancel nearly two dozen reservations just weeks after reopening for the season.
“I don’t know how I’m going to pay my bills coming in,” Visalli said. “This year is like a whammy because we don’t know when it’s going to end.”
Officials in Horry County, Myrtle Beach, North Myrtle Beach and Surfside Beach took action this week prohibiting hotels and accommodations services, such as rental properties, private management companies, HOA’s, Airbnb, VRBO-style lodging, public and private campgrounds and other overnight accommodations, from accepting visitors and new reservations until May.
While those staying outside Myrtle Beach can finish their existing reservations, visitors in Myrtle Beach hotels and short-term rentals are required to leave by noon Sunday. However, those occupying units since March 1 are exempt but are restricted from allowing visitors from staying with them until further notice.
The Aquarius Motel, which sits a block behind the SkyWheel near Ocean Boulevard, allows visitors to stay on a nightly or week-by-week basis. Despite the limited income from those who have been checked in since before March 1, manager Chelsea Toler said her business is essentially “screwed.”
“We were already trying to make it by with everything going on but with this, it’s killed us - I don’t know what we’re going to do,” said Toler, who added the motel, owned by her father, counts on local spring events to attract visitors who provide a financial boost following the slower winter months.
“Winter’s over,” she said. “All the winter money is gone, all the money that was held back to help us get through this month, so we’re kind of screwed.”
While Toler added she was received with anger and despair from visitors who were told they had to leave, other places, like La Dolce Vita Villas and The Pelican Motel in North Myrtle Beach, said their clientele was much more understanding, with some having opted to reschedule their stays to September.
As area hotels both large and small feel the obvious pressure to keep their doors open while being forced to close down, Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce President Karen Riordan said that while officials can’t speculate on lost revenue, each week this virus continues to spread will make it that much harder for many businesses to survive.
Several hotels cited seeing a decline in occupancy as the virus spread in both South Carolina and in states throughout the nation.
Hotel occupancy rates in the Myrtle Beach area fell to 26 percent last week through Saturday night, dropping 55.5 percent compared to the same week in 2019, according to the South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation & Tourism. Weekend occupancy was down 76 percent compared to last year with just 21 percent of rooms booked.
With the Myrtle Beach area employing approximately 57,000 people in tourism-related jobs, about 50 percent of the workforce could be furloughed or laid off temporarily as the virus continues to spread, Riordan said. But with tourism a major economic driver, she hopes newly passed legislation will provide relief to local businesses, along with a marketing campaign to bring visitors back when the time is right.
“Our community is not a stranger to business interruptions; we have weathered many storms and faced significant challenges, including the events of 9/11 and devastating hurricanes and floods,” Riordan said. “We have no doubt that together our community will overcome this newest challenge.”
Theresa Willey, manager of Midtown Inn & Cottages on 8th Ave. North in Myrtle Beach, asserted local officials should have ordered hotels to close much sooner, citing a sense of relief when the announcement was made on Thursday.
“I just think they should have acted on it sooner as far as bringing people in from other states and allowing them in,” Willey said. “The guests are our bread and butter, they pay my bills, but in the same token, it’s scary.”
Matthew Brittain, CEO of Brittain Resort & Hotels, which operates 10 condotels on the Grand Strand, including seven within Myrtle Beach city limits, echoed similar sentiments, stating that he’s happy to close under these circumstances to allow health officials a chance to squelch the virus. He said officials are doing the right thing.
As of Friday night, Horry County has 24 confirmed coronavirus cases, while the statewide total continues to spike. In South Carolina there are now 542 confirmed cases, with 13 people having died due to coronavirus, including one death reported in Horry County, state officials reported.
Horry County leaders Coroner Robert Edge and County Councilman Harold Worley, who both own hotels in North Myrtle Beach, stand by putting the public’s health first, even if it means their businesses take a financial hit. Both said they gave full refunds to guests who chose not to reschedule trips.
Worley, who runs Ocean Drive Resort, closed his hotel last Monday, explaining he made the decision after hearing stories that those from the north, where the virus has spread exponentially, and other highly impacted places were finding refuge in the South. The closure resulted in roughly 800 reservations having to be canceled, but Worley said he wanted to do his part in preventing the virus from further spreading.
While citing the current health crisis as devastating to not only his hotel, but businesses throughout the county, he has hope the community and economy can overcome this challenge and recover.
“We’re all going to have to pull together and help everybody,” Worley said. “We think at the end of the day we will come back stronger than ever.”
This story was originally published March 28, 2020 at 6:00 AM.
