The Traveler

Issue date: 2/16/09 Section: News

Media Credit: Lana Hazel Dana Staggs, an employee of the Country Inn and Suites in Fayetteville, checks in a guest at the hotel. As a whole, Fayetteville's hotel industry boomed after the ice storm.

While most businesses have seen a negative impact from the recent ice storm, one industry has experienced a boost in business - area hotels. The combination of people without power looking for somewhere to stay and the influx of construction workers and electricians kept hotels full for several days during what is normally a slow season.

The Hampton Inn of Fayetteville went from a steady 25 percent occupancy rate before the storm to completely full for four days, which was basically the trend for the whole industry, General Manager Noel Bowman said.

Lauren Bryant, a receptionist at the Holiday Inn Express, said she had seen a similar increase there even while the hotel was out of power Tuesday through Thursday. 

With the sudden increase in business, the hotel industry has been accused of price gouging. Arkansas has a law that protects against price gouging for 30 days after a state of emergency is declared. The law, enacted in 1997, prohibits increasing prices more than 10 percent from what they were before the emergency.

That 10 percent would allow most hotels to legally increase their rates by around $10, but almost all local hotels reported giving discounts or keeping steady rates during the storm.

There have been three complaints filed at the Arkansas Attorney General's Office to initiate price-gouging investigations in the area, said Gabe Holmstrom, a spokesman for the attorney general.

Holmstrom said the complaints are confidential and are being investigated, but when price gouging is discovered, the information is released. No cases have been released so far.

One of those complaints concerned the Comfort Inn in Fayetteville, said Raj Hundal, a receptionist at the hotel. Hundal said he welcomed the investigation, saying he had a paper record of rates for the last two years.

"We were helping people, doing more than we had to do," he said. 

Hundal explained that while the Comfort Inn kept its standard rates, the hotel did not add extra charges for additional people in the room as it usually does. Ordinarily, if more than one person stays in a single room or two in a double room, the hotel charges an additional $5 to $10.

Continued...

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