Last night during KHOU-11‘s Hurricane Katrina coverage, it was mentioned that many Houston hotels have put up their no-vacancy signs, with a notable exception: the city-owned Hilton Americas still had 600 rooms available (out of 1,200) and the going rate was $250 per night.
Of course, the first thing that popped into my mind was that Louisiana residents fleeing to Houston should go to PriceLine.com to get the $50 room rate at the Hilton Americas.
Then I wondered why the hotel wouldn’t knock down the room rate for what is clearly an emergency. KHOU also had a brief soundbite from Mayor White saying that Houston would be very welcoming to fleeing Louisianans; the city-owned hotel sure didn’t put out the welcome mat, as of last night, with $250 room rates.
UPDATE: KTRH-740’s Chris Baker reports that the Hilton Americas has indicated they’ve offered evacuees a $109/night rate, but the rooms are all booked up now.
