I was attending a conference at the JW Marriott Marco Island Beach Resort and we all chose to ride out Hurricane Helene, here’s what that experience was like.
If you are considering booking travel or signing up for a new credit card please click here. Both support LiveAndLetsFly.com.
If you haven’t followed us on Facebook or Instagram, add us today.
Uncertainty, Not Hubris
My family arrived at the JW Marriott Marco Island Beach Resort On Monday, September 23rd ahead of a week long conference for travel agencies. The weather was starting to stir some as were concerns both from locals, like mother-in-law who still doesn’t have her home completely returned to normal following Hurricane Ian, two years to the day before, as well as those from afar.
Based on the storm’s trajectory, the conference (and most of the on-site participants) were happy to move forward, but the second half of the conference when the storm would impact the event the most, caused too many cancellations to maintain.
We faced a choice, do we stay and ride it out, or do we tuck tail and head to Miami (well out of the path) or return home. While we were uncertain, we closely monitored the storm and never decided to leave the resort. It seemed the track would be far enough away that there was likely inconvenience on the way but unlikely that there would be real harm to our particular area. Not far from the property, some saw flooding and devastation akin to Hurricane Ian.
We were fortunate.
Front Row Seat To A Storm Surge
Though the 420-mile wide hurricane was the third-largest since 1988 that’s hit the gulf of Mexico, it dwarfed Ian (Fort Myers) by one third, and still larger than Katrina (New Orleans) for context. During Ian, my niece had an apartment a block off the beach, and that storm surge was slated to hit 18′. On a second level apartment, the water line was above the doorway, and had she not fled before the surge hit, I don’t know if she’d be alive to tell the story. Even miles inland, waterways were flooded and poured outward, with my niece, nephew, and mother-in-law wading in chest deep water some five feet above the street level as an alligator swam calmly by.
Storm surge from Helene was estimated to reach 15′ and as the storm passed by some 190 miles to the west, we watched from our room’s private balcony as the water receded into the ocean 10-20 feet behind the low tide line. At that point, I had a couple of hours before high tide coincided with the storm surge and decided to swap my mother’s car which I borrowed for our stay for a rental car just in case. There was limited elevation from the beach to the parking lot.
Through palm fronds blown sideways and trees tilting in sheets of rain, the water began to creep up the beach. By the time I returned with the replacement vehicle, an SUV that sat a few feet higher than my mother’s sedan, water in canals had risen to near parity with the street level. The water had climbed up to the edge of the hotel property, and visibility dropped to 20′.
Thunder and lightning crashed outside from early evening until dawn, the glass door becoming pulled slightly open against the deadbolt lock to create an airflow gap whistle before resetting back in place. Winds were estimated to reach 80 mph at our location.
Thankfully, the water never proceeded in our location beyond the hotel’s grassy edges but sea life, and debris could be found some 50′ from the standard shoreline on the hotel’s private beach.
The JW Marriott Marco Island Beach Resort’s Response
Moving into emergency protocol, a couple of days ahead of the surge’s arrival, the hotel removed all exterior balcony furniture from the rooms and suites around the hotel and placed them inside the guest rooms. All of the guest balcony doors were locked by deadbolt from a key only the hotel management held.
Staff removed all of the beach loungers and secured the palapas with sand bags. They put bags outside of floor level doors as well, closed the pool, and its famous Quinn on The Beach restaurant on the adults-only Paradise by Sirene wing of the hotel.
Power flicked on and off throughout the night as it moved from standard power to reserve generators.
Perhaps the most impressive response was with children on property. Staff that would normally be assigned to the pool or elsewhere working with kids instead made a makeshift kids room in an open conference room. Inside, they played movies on a projector, worked with the kids making blankets for the homeless, and feeding them snacks. At one point, my daughter was even taken to the on-site Build-A-Bear to make a stuffed animal.
None of these added any cost to us, but it made it far easier for our kids to be taken care of and to feel safe while the storm raged just outside the glass windows.
Once the storm had passed, bus loads of linemen and tree removal labor arrived and were checking in at the front desk as the hotel made room for workers restoring the island.
Conclusion
I’ll review the hotel on the merits of the stay in the future. But the response to Hurricane Helene was nothing short of professional, and expedient. While I hope we don’t soon find ourselves riding out a storm of this caliber, I was relieved in the response from the property. My family was kept safe, the hotel continued to operate, and appropriate precautions were taken. Offering my children something creative to do and relieving our stress was an example of the staff and management of this excellent property.
What do you think?
I think that when a hurricane is moving in your direction and you don’t have a house that’s inland you move in the opposite direction with all possible haste. What possible benefit would there be to staying? Lack of electricity? No potable water? Devastation porn? I experienced hurricane Andrew in Miami and can attest that post-disaster life is rough.
The Bravest method of riding out a hurricane is in a small Boston Whaler on the sea … never to be forgotten .
Flash flood unannounced rain is common in Florida year round.
The piece that troubles me is that you apparently *could* have returned home but chose not to.
As a result, hotel employees stayed to take care of you and your family, rather than take care of friends, families, neighbors (not to mention themselves) and their homes and neighborhoods.
It’s one thing if you were not able to get out of the area, but that doesn’t seem to have been the case.
I would have been mortified if employees at a kids’ center at a hotel were forced to look after my children instead of their family in such a disaster.
@Greg – What a buffoon! I told you there was a whole convention that stayed at the hotel, hundreds of people if not more than a thousand and I’m personally responsible from keeping employees from their families. The hotel asked guests to stay and simply secured the property. As if my family had left, they suddenly would have shut down the hotel and sent everyone home.
I’m not sure what we should call this hyper sensitivity as if every action is selfish, and every result causes direct, irreparable harm to someone else for pure amusement, but it’s irrational, delusional, and untrue.
DRIVE TO MIAMI! SAFETY IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE 10K YOU GET FOR THIS ARTICLE.
Lol. 10k what?
I understand but your comment is really short-sighted. Many employees are young and unmarried without children, or near retirement age and divorced, or have few family obligations – these are the ones who remain during a storm; the others are released. The Marriott never forces anyone to remain in a storm – they ask you that question u from by so they know who is willing to remain or come in if they are off. Really…get off your high horse. Most large corporations and companies bend over backwards to protect their staff!!!
“@Greg – What a buffoon!”
Ah yes, name-calling. The first retort of the person who recognizes some truth to a critique. You literally asked your readership: “What do you think?” So I told you, and you couldn’t handle the criticism. But that sort of weak writing is on-brand for your articles.
But consider the broader picture. Although I don’t know about Florida’s state laws, many states’ regulations require certain staffing levels for child care centers based upon the number of children being cared for, and those typically apply to hotels. How do you *know* that fewer personnel wouldn’t have been necessary in the day-care center had you not had your children there? Or did you not consider that?
But hey, at least you got “content” out of it.
Living up to the hyper sensitivity mentioned. Our kids were not the only children on site, there were perhaps 100 or more (I didn’t run ahead count but there were many), and we didn’t ask them to care for our children, they came by and offered. Your assumptions are also that they’d prefer to be home.
This is about the hotel. They did an amazing job and should be commended on their approach.
@Kyle, staying is perfectly fine, evacuating is also fine, there is no right answer when these natural events happen.
While I understand the concern about the hotel employees, there is no way to make it equitable, that is just the way it is.
The hotel employee helping take care of your child, may lose her home or have her apartment destroyed or nothing bad may happen to the employee but again, there is no way to make it equitable.
I remember a while ago, my wife and I were in Bermuda and unbeknownst to us a hurricane was making a beeline for the island. We had checked in and were enjoying our first night when the hotel left a note in each guests room outlining the safety practices the hotel was going to employ to keep us safe.
I went down to the front desk and saw the GM, I said to him, would it be better for the hotel and the staff if my wife and I left, he looked at me funny and said how would that help us, your nightly rate allows us to stay open, employ people and be stewards in economy, if you check out we lose that revenue.
Obviously, leave if you like, but our precautions are time tested and work, the hotel will ride out the storm and by the following day you can be back out relaxing and enjoying yourself.
I said in that case, I am a physician and while I am not licensed in Bermuda to practice medicine, if you need an MD ASAP, please don’t hesitate to call.
The GM took my info and said lets hope we don’t need your services.
They had a lovely buffet meal the night of the storm and we dined with the staff who were staying over.
The hotels handled things beautifully and to the GM’s word, the day after the storm, my wife and I were once again relaxing.
Choosing to keep your family at a hotel in advance of Category 4 hurricane is rank recklessness. What if its track had moved toward you? Congrats on winning Father of the Year. /s
“But everyone else did it!” Like that excuse hasn’t been used before in history as a justification. People are responsible for their own actions. I just follow orders!
Rhoda – There’s also a theory that me leaving singlehandedly keeps everyone in their homes and they risk their lives in floods, but that doesn’t factor into your thought process. The comparison you’re making with “I just follow orders” is a horrible, debased analogy. You should be ashamed.
Clearwater Beach did the right thing and made everyone leave their hotel, which ended up being the right call.
Staying was the wrong call, and any amount of name calling of people that are calling you out won’t change that.
But hey, it was a “conference” and we all know how important those are to you people who think they are important in the world. How did you people survive 2020?
Y’all! He was on Marco Island. This was never in an evacuation zone. It’s not even near Tampa. So calm your horses in saying he should have left… The resort was extra cautious. Meanwhile, Disney was open the entire time. Should Orlando have evacuated too? It’s just not feasible or responsible when some people are supposed to shelter in place.
As usual a bunch of non-Floridians spouting nonsense. What Kyle did is perfectly fine. I promise you we won’t tell you all what to do when you have a blizzard. If you don’t live here and have no personal experience, you don’t know what you’re talking about, kindly STFU
Staying was the wrong decision.
Calling readers names is also the wrong decision.
Arguing that it was OK for you to stay because other people stayed is not intellectually honest. You’re still part of the problem, not the solution.
Jaxk – There’s nothing dishonest except for your approach. Let’s say there’s 900 people in the hotel, my family saves the world and sends all the workers home by checking out? That’s dishonest and delusional. If we stay, nothing changes, and if we leave nothing changes. But to be clear, it also demonstrates a lack of understanding on your part of the situation. If I put five human beings in a car unprotected from the elements rather than in category 5-grade hotel that’s somehow better? And unless those hotel workers were millionaires with incredibly durable homes, they were likely safer at the hotel too.
That hotel was a refuge not only for guests, but for locals and staff and you’re simply mistaken.
I used to work at this JW on Marco. It’s an amazing hotel and has an even MORE amazing staff. Seriously, I cannot say enough good about the employees that work there. That said, that particular hotel is built to withstand a major hurricane. The glass window (seen in the pics in the lobby) was replaced in recent years and is said to be able to withstand a CAT 5 or greater. During Irma (which was a direct hit to Marco Island, CAT 5), the hotel was close to empty and housed mostly emergency personnel needed for after the storm as well as some employees who VOLUNTEERED to stay on staff to help (with pay of course). Quite frankly, that hotel is one of the safest places to be on Marco should a hurricane hit. The writer of this article would’ve been made to leave had the management felt they were in danger in ANY way. Trust me, Marriott’s pockets are too deep to risk the well being of their guests and employees. And I’m sure the employees that stayed on to help entertain the kids did so without a gun to their heads. The “Spirit to Serve” attitude at that hotel is strong. They genuinely care about their guests.