Why should members of the lodging industry (hotels, motels and individual vacation rental hosts) expend funds on emergency preparedness? Fair question. I would answer that it makes great business sense, both from a promotional standpoint and towards business continuity. Different locations have different risks which require slightly differing approaches.

For example, rental properties along the west coast are filled with tourists. In Oregon alone, tourists contributed almost $5.1 billion dollars to the 2017 economy of coastal communities. Add the dollar amount visitors to Washington State’s beaches and Vancouver Island, B.C. make, and the impact is impressive. Tourists to these areas have choices on where to stay. I think expending some resources to protect the source of this revenue and being able to offer a differentiation amenity over your competitors is worth exploring.

How could lodging industry preparedness help protect tourists from earthquakes and tsunamis? Casualty projections for the west coast of Canada and the United States from a Cascadia event are staggering. For example, we can look at the 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami where up to 20,000 people died. Japan has much more experience in tsunamis than we do and yet the toll was significant. Another interesting fact is the death toll in the over 60 age group was many times more than any other age group. Think about the demographics of those filling your rental units? There’s a difference in a young family being able to evacuate on foot after an earthquake and an older couple with mobility issues. No one knows the make-up of people onsite better than you do. A simple one-size fits all community plan won’t be enough. Your guests will appreciate that you have taken an extra step to help keep them safe.

One estimate puts overnight visitors making up 27% of coastal county populations on any given night. That means during peak tourist times, the number is much higher. Also from my perspective, tourism at the coast seems to be growing into a year round venture.

Tens of thousands of tourists flock to Cannon Beach for the annual sandcastle contest. Interestingly enough, the contest was started in 1964 after a tsunami from a massive earthquake in Alaska damaged the bridge into town. It was created to bring tourists back to the area.

Tourists are usually not familiar with the local tsunami threat and therefore are considered to be in a highly vulnerable group. Not only are tourists unaware of the nature and threat posed by tsunamis in a particular area, they will not know what to do and where to go if a tsunami is imminent.

During an emergency tourists tend to rely on those who rented them the room to know more about the local situation. This means management of the rental unit is ideally situated to be the source of good information.

Imagine a conversation between families staying at different hotels. One family mentions the tsunami risk, but they know what to do to evacuate to safety if it happens. The other family says their host never said anything to them. Which hotel do you want to be, and who has the best chance to get a new customer? If the host is offsite as in Airbnb-type rentals, clear guidance would have to be available to the renter.

Yes, evacuation activities due to a natural (earthquake) or official tsunami warnings will certainly be disruptive to business and scary for guests, but you’re ideally positioned to play a key role in helping keep your guests and staff safe. Keeping staff safe means your business is better positioned to restore normal operations so your guests don’t have to fend for themselves or rely on the help of strangers.

Won’t telling people about the potential risk of earthquakes and tsunamis scare them away? Bungee jumping, shark cage diving, mountain or rock climbing or bull-running in Spain, are just a few activities that attract hordes of vacationers. Truth is, people don’t avoid activities that carry risk. However, they do expect those who promote or offer such activities to understand the risks and take mitigation steps to make participation as safe as possible. Letting tourists know about the risk of a tsunami is no less important than letting them know about the dangers of rip-currents, playing near logs in the surf, or turning your back to the ocean.

Lodging facilities that have pre-planned and bring order to the chaos of evacuation will find their guests highly complimentary of the experience. With people live-streaming or posting about the event, you can expect to receive some great PR if you’re on top of your game. Take a hands off approach and people will broadcast that as well and your reputation and future revenue streams can take a hit.

Make a difference.

Included in our custom preparedness package are simple and easy to follow instructions on what to do in case of an earthquake. If your rental is in the tsunami inundation area, instructions will include what to do, where to go and how to get there along with an evacuation go-bag. The go-bag contains everything needed to survive the night and longer if need be.

Regardless of your local risks of wildfires, tornadoes, floods or earthquakes, if you’re ready to protect your investment and guests in a responsible manner, reach out to us today for a quote at abetteremergency@gmail.com.