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  1. #1
    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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    NYC hotel owner refuses to boot locals for marathoners

    NYC hotel owner refuses to boot locals for marathoners

    Barbara DelollisShare

    4:08PM EDT November 2. 2012 - The owner of a Hilton Garden Inn hotel in Staten Island refuses to kick out his current guests, who lost their homes to superstorm Sandy, to runners arriving for Sunday's New York City Marathon.

    Hotel owner Richard Nicotra told Hotel Check-In Friday afternoon that local residents are relying on his hotel while they remain homeless due to the storm and that he won't let them down.

    Both Nicotra and his wife are second-generation Staten Island residents. Local cable channel NY1 first reported the story on Thursday.

    MORE ONLINE: NYC hotels make do with fewer employees after Sandy
    TWITTER: Follow USA TODAY's Barb DeLollis on Twitter

    "We opened up the doors to our hotels on Saturday and Sunday for people, and everybody anticipated being here for Monday night when the storm happened," Nicotra says. "They were hoping to go back to their houses. Tuesday was supposed to be a little better and Wednesday was supposed to be fine, but by Wednesday, we started to realize it was worse than we thought."

    At first the hotel was telling guests that they would have to leave by Thursday, because they were sold out with marathon runners. But on Thursday morning, Nicotra's guests were in tears at the thought of checking out, he says.

    "On Thursday morning, people were begging me and crying saying 'You can't throw me out. I have no place to go,'" he says.

    Nicotra said he then contacted the marathon's organizers, the New York Road Runners, because they had a contract for rooms and told them "we have a problem here" and that "we can't just throw them out." Nicotra said he gave the group other options, including setting up a temporary dormitory in the hotel's 10,000-square-foot ballroom, which can house up to 500 people with cots.

    "As Hilton says, hospitality is what we're all about. If we can make everyone happy we will, but if we can't, the choice is easy," Nicotra says. "We need to take care of our neighbors."

    As a result of the NY1 story on Thursday, the hotel has seen a strong response on social media - almost all supportive, says Kristine Garlisi, spokeswoman for the Hilton Garden Inn in Staten Island's Bloomfield neighborhood.

    "Hundreds of people" wrote in on the hotel's Facebook page to show their support, she says.

    The reaction illustrates the challenge that New York faces in housing both local victims of Sandy and out-of-town visitors who can help bolster the economy. In announcing his decision to go ahead with the marathon two days ago, Mayor Michael Bloomberg cited the event's economic impact.

    The city-wide event traditionally attracts about 50,000 runners, including many from out of town who travel with friends or relatives, stay in hotels and spend money on restaurants.

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    But the challenge is housing all of the runners who will show up.
    Many hotels are filled with locals whose homes aren't habitable and out-of-town visitors who have not been able to fly back home because of the backlog caused by multi-day airport closures - two groups that keep extending their stays.

    Meanwhile, marathon runners and their supporters had booked hotels months ago specifically so they could participate in the high-profile, annual event.

    Among the hotels that do have room: The Pod Hotel on East 39th Street, which is selling rooms without electricity for around $160 a night.

    Some runners conflicted
    Baltimore-based marathon runner Ryan McGrath, 31, cohost of a radio show about running, told Hotel Check-In that he still plans to run Sunday's marathon, which will be his second in New York.
    "When the mayor announced on Wednesday that (the marathon) was still going to be held, there was a very small percentage of people who were supportive," he says. "The biggest concern is the ethical dilemma of displacing people who are without homes who are staying in hotels."

    But McGrath has been affected by Sandy, too. Before the storm, he'd planned to stay with his parents who live near the battered beach town of Sea Bright, N.J., but their home lost power. So now he's trying to find lodging. Some of his friends had reserved hotel rooms months ago - yet now are unsure whether the hotels are open or will have availability to check them in.

    "Everything has been wiped out in our town," McGrath says. "It's not like I'm sitting here from a 30,000 foot view saying nothing's affected me. It's important for the city not only to move on and put on that tough New York attitude, but also from a financial perspective. I think a lot of of the people who are very angry aren't runners."

    http://www.usatoday.com/story/hotelc...owner/1676087/
    Last edited by JohnDoe2; 11-02-2012 at 04:37 PM.
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    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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    Staten Island Hotel Owner Gives Away NYC Marathon Runners' Rooms to Sandy

    By JUJU CHANG (@JujuChangABC) and LAUREN EFFRON (@LEffron831)
    Nov. 3, 2012



    After superstorm Sandy sparked quarrels over hotel rooms in New York City, one Staten Island hotel owner said he decided to "do the right thing" by refusing to evict storm victims in favor of marathon runners with reservations.

    Richard Nicotra, the owner of the Hilton Garden Inn in Bloomfield, said his hotel typically is packed with marathoners every year for the annual New York City Marathon. But after Sandy decimated the city, leaving thousands without power as temperatures dropped, Nicotra decided not to honor marathoners' reservations made months in advance and, instead, gave the rooms to storm refugees.

    His hotel even hosted a local resident's wedding reception.
    "These are my neighbors," Nicotra said. "Am I going to kick out my neighbors who lost everything, who have not a place to go, for someone who's travelling here to run a race?"

    Nicotra said several guests were shaking when they came in, worried that he would have to turn them away. Jennifer Sorrentino has been staying at the Bloomfield Hilton with her baby since the storm forced them to evacuate from their home. She said they were "running for lives" when a "river of water" came up their street.
    "No diapers, no jackets, nothing," Sorrentino said.

    Nicotra said the hotel first called the NYC Road Runners Club, the official sponsor of the 2012 ING New York Marathon, on Thursday to say the hotel would not be providing rooms on Friday and Saturday nights to runners who reserved them through the organization. He said the hotel also called individual guests who made reservations on their own to tell them the same thing. In total, it amounted to about 180 guests.

    "Well, they weren't happy about it, obviously," Nicotra said. "But we asked them to look on the TV, look at what is going on in Staten Island."

    Though the marathon-goers were told they could not have a room, the hotel did offer them a free cot, free meals and a free shuttle to the starting line as an alternative.

    "This was bigger than all of us," he said, "but we told them, 'Come and we will take care of you.'"

    Nicotra said his contracts with the NYC Road Runners Club are the bread and butter of his hotel, and forgoing those reservations was not an easy decision. He was also worried his corporate bosses wouldn't have his back, but they supported him.

    "This [Friday] morning, I got a call from the president of Hilton on my cell saying, 'We're with you, whatever you need,'" he said. "And they are sending pillows and blankets."

    After first announcing today the marathon would go on despite Sandy's devastation, Mayor Michael Bloomberg this evening bowed to public pressure and canceled Sunday's running of the world-famous race for the first time ever. The mayor's action came amid two days of public outcry that the event would take away generators, water, police and other supplies from efforts to help thousands of New Yorkers who are without power or homeless because of Sandy.

    "We cannot allow a controversy over an athletic event -- even one as meaningful as this -- to distract attention away from all the critically important work that is being done to recover from the storm and get our city back on track," Bloomberg said in a statement.

    It was an expensive decision. The race typically brings in $340 million for the city and it had nearly 50,000 registered runners this year. Road Runners said every runner who qualified this year will be guaranteed a spot in next year's race.

    The marathon traditionally starts at Fort Wadsworth on Staten Island, one of the hardest hit communities in New York City. More than 80,000 residents are still without power and many remain homeless. At least 19 people also died on Staten Island because of Sandy.
    The Bloomfield Hilton Inn set up rows upon rows of cots in a ballroom so Red Cross volunteers and Coast Guard workers could have a much-needed rest. At the same time, a wedding celebration took place in another ballroom Friday.



    Newlyweds Christine Hassett and Matthew Bobe suffered in the storm. The bride's family's home was destroyed, but her parents said they never once thought of canceling the wedding.

    "All things you worry about and think are important are gone and my daughter is getting married," said the bride's mother, Pat Hassett. "And, you know what, you are so happy for her that for a day you have to put sadness aside and just live for your children because that's most important thing."

    http://abcnews.go.com/US/staten-isla...ry?id=17630773
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