DETROIT (WXYZ) — Ed Trudo, a resident of Royal Oak, said he's found hotel vacancies to be few and far between. So, he didn’t hesitate to check into the Siren Hotel in downtown Detroit after losing power Thursday morning.
“We checked the DTE app, and it said Sunday (for the power to be restored). I said, 'Sunday?' We checked the weather app too. I was like, ‘Oh no,'” Trudo said.
He explained, “We’ll stay another and hopefully later tonight or today we’ll have power again."
David Katz, a Dearborn resident, found a comfortable space to work in the Siren Hotel lobby. He said he lost power Wednesday night only to become more inconvenienced Thursday morning.
“I was supposed to work remotely, but I had no power so I went into the office and... we lost power at work too," he said.
It's a double whammy. Not a fan of freezing at home, Katz said he checked all around online for a hotel.
“And they were saying, 'Full, full'. And then I called to double-check and they said I’m sorry, we have nothing," Katz said.
“Most of the hotels in the metro Detroit area were full. I was lucky to find this place," he said.
7 Action News called around to a number of hotels in metro Detroit and found a number of them were at or near capacity.
Mary Beth Bennett, Siren's general manager said, “We sold all of our rooms that were available last night.”
She said that means an additional 40 rooms were sold compared to the average weeknight in February, and the uptick in calls started 5 p.m. Thursday.
Bennett figures people had held out hope for much quicker power restoration that still has yet to come.
“Obviously, we just want everyone to be comfortable in their homes. We’re happy that we can provide a safe, comfortable place for our neighbors and people throughout Detroit to stay. But it also puts pressure on us to make sure we have the team in place to take care of all those guests that we dislocated," she said.
Bennett said it’s been all hands on deck.
Katz said if the power outage goes too much longer and the temperatures stay below freezing, he’s concerned about pipes in his home freezing.
