Monthly Archives: July 2021

BURLINGTON, Vermont (WCAX) – Vermont continues to gain national attention for having the highest vaccination rate in the country, giving Vermont’s hospitality industry a boost. However, this comes at a cost to visitors, with housing prices rising in some areas.

The nightly rate has increased by about 15-20% over the past two years at the Vermont Hotel in Burlington. Joseph Carton, CEO of Westport Hospitality, owner of the Vermont hotel, says that has been the case for almost everyone in the area. “The volume of people generating is pretty high,” he said. “The rates go up automatically and the competition sort of stays with that.”

Carton said the number of visitors this year is about three times last year. “In the greater Burlington area, the occupancy rate was around 25-30%,” Carton said. “This year it’s in the 80 to 90% range. He also says that events such as weddings postponed from 2020 overlap with this year’s events.

Vermont Tourism and Marketing Commissioner Heather Pelham said the vaccination rate in Vermont could be another reason for the visitor boom. “Now that people are thinking more about where they travel and how they travel, Vermont is well positioned to provide these visitors with a wonderful experience,” she said.

Carton and others in the industry say just because people want to come to Vermont doesn’t mean they’ll be able to. He said that one thing that negatively affects the industry is a shortage of workers. The Vermont hotel is looking for at least 15 more employees. “We have definitely lost customers, there’s no question about it,” Carton said. “Mainly the food and drink side of the business. We operate two restaurants and one is not even open on Mondays and Tuesdays and evenings.

Meanwhile, even as the shortage of workers creates difficulties, Pelham said everyone in the accommodation industry is still working to provide the best service possible. She was unable to provide an exact number of visitors to the state, but said they would help the economy after last year.

Related stories:

With Vermont vax rate approaching 84%, state continues campaign

Vermont tourist season accelerates as labor issues persist

The region’s tourist economy is rebounding

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American Airlines pilots have been ordered to delay flights when they need to stop over in a city far from their home base until hotel accommodation has been booked and confirmed. The decision to potentially disrupt the airline’s operations comes as pilots and flight attendants face growing hotel accommodation issues that have now reached “unprecedented and unacceptable levels.”

In some cases, flight attendants have been forced to sleep next to airport baggage conveyors because the third-party company to which AA is outsourcing its limousine and hotel crew services has failed. managed to book accommodation.

In another case, a pilot allegedly arrived at the stopover hotel to find that a room had not been reserved and no hotel rooms were available in the area. Instead, the pilot was forced to sleep in the hotel lobby before making another flight the next day.

The flight attendants union and the Allied Pilots Association (APA) have filed grievances with the Dallas-based airline Fort Worth demanding that AA fulfill its contractual obligations to provide hotel rooms suitable for the crew.

As the situation dragged on, some pilots were forced to book their own accommodation out of pocket but are still waiting for AA to reimburse them. The APA wants AA to reimburse them with interest, while the Association of Professional Flight Attendants demands unspecified “relief” payments for the crew caught in the fiasco.

The APFA says flight attendants find it difficult to get to the crew’s designated hotels and sometimes have to bring an Uber to the hotel, only to find that the hotel has no rooms available for them. Flight attendants are also taken to “unsuitable”, limited-service hotels.

In an emailed statement, an American Airlines spokesperson told us, “Taking care of our crew members when they are away from home is a priority for American. We are reviewing the concerns raised by the Allied Pilots Association (APA) and APFA.

_{Photo credit: WKanadpon / Shutterstock.com. TOTH: View from the wing}

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SUFFOLK, Va. (WAVY) – For one more week, the city’s taxpayers will foot the bill for hotel rooms so some of those displaced from their apartments by an intentional fire have more time to find new accommodation.

The city and the Department of Social Services have partnered with nonprofits to help people displaced by Suffolk Tower apartments two weeks ago, according to city spokeswoman Diana Klink. Specifically, STOP Inc. – a community action agency – works to “assess the needs of displaced families and assist those who are eligible for their resettlement services.”

“To allow time for the necessary assessments to be completed, the Suffolk City Social Services Department will continue to provide vouchers for hotel stays until August 2.^sd“Klink said in an email.

The city began paying residents’ hotel rooms last Friday when Scott Alperin, the lawyer representing the owner of the burnt down building, told tenants he would no longer pay for housing.

Alperin said the building was locked and an electrical engineer found the building unsafe for reoccupancy. He said he was not sure if or when the building would reopen.

Herbert Boothe, 69, has been charged with arson, sexual assault and assault on an officer. Court records obtained by 10 On Your Side indicate that Boothe admitted to “setting a chair on fire” on the fifth floor, displacing dozens of people.

Most residents have stayed at the Quality Inn & Suites west of downtown. However, Klink said on Tuesday the city was securing 16 hotel rooms elsewhere.

“The Quality Inn & Suites intended to increase its previously agreed rates from $ 700.00 per week to $ 1,116.00 per week,” Klink said. “A bus provided by Suffolk Parks & Recreation will provide transportation assistance for those affected. “

No one at the Quality Inn was immediately available to comment.

A “reinvented” neighborhood of Belmont Bay is proposed for North Woodbridge, marking the latest development in the multi-storey mixed-use neighborhood that, over the past 20 years, has failed to achieve its grand vision.

The Caruthers Companies, the developer of Belmont Bay, has applied to the Prince William County government to dezone 170 acres of land in the isolated townhouse and condo neighborhood located at the confluence of the Potomac and Occoquan rivers in Woodbridge . The developer hopes to build what he calls the final $ 550 million development phase on the land acquired by Caruthers in 1960.

At the center of the project is the Beacon Building, a newly constructed community center to replace the existing harbor master in the development marina on the Occoquan River. A restaurant or dining hall would be located inside the building, and an outdoor patio would provide residents and the public with a gathering place for an outdoor view of the waterfront.

A new boardwalk would stretch nearly 1,000 feet from the patio of the Beacon Building at the George Mason University Science Center for River Studies, which opened in 2018. In addition, a new tree-lined urban plaza, a space for spectacle and a new green would run the length of Harbor Side Street, between Beacon and the Science Center.

The size of the marina would remain the same despite the loss of the harbor master’s office. The developer is also offering “less intensive” uses for the property than what was originally offered under the old downtown concept, swapping some 1.4 million square feet of planned retail space and 505 hotel rooms. which Caruthers had hoped to build with nearly 1,000 new homes.

These homes would span the gamut from stacked single family townhouses to urban apartments. “What we’re offering here is really a hybrid of the Georgetown Waterfront Park in Washington, DC,” said Jay Sotos, spokesperson for the developer who spoke to Potomac Local News about plans for the neighborhood.

Over 20 years ago, Belmont Bay was considered one of the first downtown developments in Prince William County, a mixed-use neighborhood that would feature new homes, restaurants, offices and a bustling hotel and conference center. Construction began in the late 1990s with new homes, a marina, golf course, and restaurant.

Ideal for commuters to Washington, DC who live in the neighborhood, Belmont Bay is located behind a Virginia Railway Express station. However, the neighborhood’s lack of direct access from nearby busy arteries – Highways 1, 123 and Interstate 95 – has kept businesses from popping up.

A long-awaited and once funded interchange on routes 1 and 123 that was supposed to provide direct access to Belmont Bay never materialized. However, now that Highway 1 has been widened from four to six lanes without the new interchange. The Virginia Department of Transportation is once again reviving discussions on the construction of an interchange.

When the Potomac Shores neighborhood began to develop six miles south of Belmont Bay almost 10 years ago, new homes, an ERV station (former Governor Terry McAuliffe opened the station seven years ago , and we’re still waiting for it to open), a commercial space and a hotel, the likelihood of Belmont Bay ever realizing its vision has started to fade.

“That was the big idea in the ’80s and’ 90s… the grand grand hotel and conference center, similar to what you have in Westfields [near Dulles Airport]”Sotos said.” Now we’re taking all that energy that’s on our mile of shore and focusing it on our marina. “

Sotos spear his new plan at a community meeting late last month, shortly before filing a rezoning application with Prince William County, which has cost the company around $ 100,000 so far. A new small area plan, adopted by the county board of supervisors in October 2019 to guide the type of urban development envisioned for this pocket of Woodbridge, is the catalyst for the rezoning plan, Sotos said.

“We’ve had kind of a change in policy that’s a little more progressive, a little more growth-oriented,” Sotos said. There has also been a change of leadership within Curruthers, a family business that sees its third generation take the reins.

“All of these things came together at the same time, and that’s why we are here,” he added.

The North Woodbridge Small Area Plan, as it has been dubbed, aims to transform the area into a pedestrianized district focused on public transport. Former Woodbridge District Supervisor Frank Principi, who stepped down the same year the Small Area Plan was approved, pushed for the idea of ​​a commuter ferry service between Belmont Bay and Washington, DC

Today, Sotos Caruthers wants to add a weekend ferry service from Belmont Bay to Old Town Alexandria.

Another popular spot in Belmont Bay, the former Osprey’s Landing golf course, which closed for the second and last time in 2017 after approximately 18 years of operation, will be donated to the county as a park as part of the Sotos proposal. That’s about 30 acres of property with access to the river, he adds.

The Prince William County Planning Office is reviewing the rezoning request and has yet to provide a date when the case could be referred to the County Planning Commission.