Coronavirus pandemic limits luxury hotels open for Memorial Day
Gym reservations, takeout or al fresco dining, designated pool space part of health guidelines
Designated pool space, by-appointment-only gym sessions and outdoor eating only is how some luxury hotels and resorts are gearing up for Memorial Day.
The unofficial start of summer will be more isolated for those venturing out to places that are now able to accept guests during the coronavirus pandemic as states slowly start easing up on stay-at-home orders.
Hotels in beach towns like the Hamptons are opening for Memorial Day with restrictions.
Valley Rock Inn and Mountain Club, a luxury property about 45 minutes outside of New York City, sent out an email last week alerting guests that it would start taking reservations again. The Club, which has 17 bedrooms in private guest houses, keeps two days between stays to sanitize thoroughly.
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“We stocked up on as much Lysol and Bleach as we could get. You might feel reassured by the smell,” Michel Bruno, owner of Valley Rock, told FOX Business.
The hotel is open, but it is no longer allowing one night stays because of the health and safety measures, he said.
“We don’t want someone checking out and checking in, on the same day, ” Bruno said.
Guests have access to private home entrances and they will be given private cabana spaces at the communal pool to adhere to social distancing guidelines. Bruno says the property's restaurant will remain closed. Instead, guests can access the inn’s market and order with takeaway meals.
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Hotels in the Hamptons, like Montauk Beach House and Hero Beach Club, among others, plan to reopen with new policies, some with no access to pools for health and safety purposes.
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The hotel reopening plans have apparently jilted locals. The town of East Hampton’s board on Thursday, wrote a letter to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo asking him to ban the opening of hotels and resorts, fearful that tourists could bring in and further spread the virus, according to Page Six.
And at luxury resort Gurney's Newport in Newport, Rhode Island, staff is pivoting to outdoor dining only beginning Saturday to meet state guidelines, and walk-ins are not allowed.
Hotels operating in Nantucket off Cape Cod in Massachusetts, meanwhile, are only open for essential workers with some like the Nantucket Ocean Resort planning to open more widely to the public in June. A number of second homeowners and renters flocked to the beach town when the COVID-19 outbreak hit in mid-March overcrowding the island, which only has one hospital.