Hotels are filling up rooms again after having a slow year

STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI)- This time last year, it was easy to find a hotel room during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now, it’s hard to find a place to stay; especially the case with more events, such as post-season baseball in Starkville. Last year several businesses including hotels saw few people coming in their doors.

“The hotel industry was just devastated by everything that happened last year not being able to have guests in and then the guests not being able to go be with their kids. I mean there was a whole year of just that lost experience not just for the kids but for the families as well,” said hotel customer Gary Figgins.

From vacant rooms to sold-out nights, the tourism industry has rebounded. This return to normalcy has come with safety protocols.

“We’re always periodically throughout our shifts cleaning, making sure everything is sanitized preparing rooms very well for our guests to stay in making sure we have sanitizer dispensers across the entire hotel also inside the rooms making sure guests are still wearing masks inside the hotel as well and just make sure everyone is staying safe,” said the La Quinta hotel in Starkville front desk manager Zahria Towns.

The hotel hadn’t seen much business last year but with eased COVID -19 restrictions and baseball games bringing in large crowds; Towns said their business has resurfaced and their doors are always open.

“Baseball played a huge role for us we had teams staying with us. Samford University was one; we were happy to have them. We also had a couple of other small little league teams staying with us who you know enjoyed their stay. We enjoy looking for any team we welcome all of our guests,” said Towns.

Towns said when rooms are filled and guests are happy; that keeps her team going.

“I think there was a time where we had no one coming in the hotel to now we had full occupancy and like I said we were happy to have everyone here this weekend,” said Towns.

Towns and the La Quinta staff are hopeful that Mississippi State hosts a super-regional to gain another great weekend of business