Aloha Everyone,
The two of us were fast asleep. Someone started banging on our door. I thought perhaps a hotel guest made a mistake trying to access. However loud banging elsewhere continued. I opened drape and saw 5 fire trucks, plus ambulance and police cars. All the room lights were off. I woke up J.J. and we used the stairs to the lobby and out to the building. The illumination came from the flashlight feature on my iPhone.There’s no water sprinkler in our rooms. No emergency lights.
Crisis bring people closer. We were being approached by other hotel guests asking us if we knew what’s happening. A duo from Canada had their packed suitcases. Their complaints were why no emergency back-up generators and whether or not we will have a hot breakfast served in the morning.
A woman from Quito, Ecuador was huddled with her mother. She somehow twisted this fire to the current US government’s immigration policy. Interesting how people react under pressure.
Hotel staff were passing bottles of water, but none could tell us what was happening.
The incident lasted about an hour from 10:30 pm to 11:30 pm. Although the electricity was still off, we were permitted to return to our room. Pretty frightening.
Our normal hot breakfast was served in the banquet room of the basement. The management of the hotel tried to minimize the incident by saying “it was nothing.” “No problem”. Seeing electrical repair company trucks unloading large supplies at the hotel, J.J. suspects that, at a minimum, they need to replace electrical wires. The fire was probably at their top floor breakfast room.
Grateful that no one was hurt, and the hotel can continue to serve its guests. The only inconvenience is the elevator is not working.
Aloha -- Cathi
