Hotels, other businesses make windfall in the aftermath of flood
Hotels and other businesses are making a windfall in the aftermath of the massive flooding that hit this city last week.
Hotels, from budget rooms to high-end ones, have been fully booked since Sunday catering to affluent families who evacuated from their flooded and muddied houses, said Robert Ferrer, president of the Iloilo Hotels, Resorts and Restaurants Association (IHRRA).
With a total of 1,000 rooms, the city's hotels are usually fully booked only on major events like seminars and conventions and during popular festivals like the February 2 Jaro fiesta and the Dinagyang festival in January.
"We are doing good in terms of accommodating those affected by the typhoon," Ferrer said in a telephone interview
With two hotels damaged and temporarily closed because of the flooding, the 20 other hotels in the city have been booked for at least a week and had to turn way other customers looking for rooms.
The deluge of guests started last June 21 at the height of the typhoon "Frank" and increased the next day after flooding swept subdivisions mainly in Jaro and Mandurriao Districts and the neighboring town of Pavia.
Affluent families have been seen trooping to hotels with few belongings, grocery bags and with their children's nannies in tow.
Aside from escaping their muddied and flooded homes, the guests also fled from the inconvenience of having no electricity, water and telephone lines. Many of the guests came with just the clothes they wore and had to buy new ones from department stores.
Ferrer said the guests pay regular daily rates for several days to an entire week. "They want to stay in hotels temporarily while cleaning and repairs in their houses are being undertaken and until electricity is restored," he said.
Many guests would go to their houses and do or supervise the cleaning and repairs during the day and go back to their hotel rooms in the evening.
Most of the guests were expected to check out last Friday or Saturday. "But many others decided to extend until Sunday to watch the Manny Pacquiao fight on television in their rooms," said Ferrer.
Water refilling stations are also cashing in on the shortage of potable water after the Metro Iloilo Water District (MIWD) implemented a rationing of supply starting last Monday because of damaged transmission pipes.
The rationing is being implemented in the towns of Pavia and Sta. Barbara and the districts of Jaro, La Paz and City Proper. These areas will only have water supply from three to six hours daily
Residents in the districts of Mandurriao, Molo and Arevalo and the towns of Oton and San Miguel will will be experiencing low water pressure.
The Villa Sto. Niño Purified Drinking Water in Arevalo District has to limit its sales to each customer to one 5-gallon container because of the increase in demand. The refill station station has also been short of containers to cater to more customers. Lines of customers have become a regular sight in water refill stations in the city as residents find potable water becoming scarce.
The floodwaters which have damaged cars and other vehicles have also brought a boom on car wash services.
At the Bundakan Car Wash, customers start coming in as early as 5 a.m. with muddied cars and motorcycles.
"We usually service from 28 to 30 cars and motorcycles daily. But now we reach 40 and we have to turn away other customers because they have to wait for a long time," said Albert Bales, an employee at the car wash service.
The customers usually ask for car body wash, vacuum and under-chasis cleaning services to get rid of mud and other dirt from their vehicles.
Sales of department stores have also perked up as residents buy replacements for clothes, kitchen ware, toiletries, groceries, appliances and furniture that were lost or damaged in the flooding.
At the height of the flooding, candles, flashlights, batteries, bread, noodles and canned goods were out of stock.
Taxi cabs have also become scarce because hundreds of units of major taxi companies were lost or damaged by floodwaters in their garages.
But taxi cab drivers who continue to ply the streets said the lesser number of taxi units has boosted their income.
They said their trips have been brisk including ferrying customers to the city's motels. "I don't understand why motels are booked in this situation. They don't look like flood victims," a taxi driver who identified himself as Ricky, said.