Thank you again for all the thoughts, prayers, and kind notes. We know we haven’t been able to keep up with all your questions (we got over 60 emails today, and they keep coming in!), but we’ll try to update you all here as best we can.
Hurricane Matthew ended about 24 hours ago, and it’s still a little early to give you some definitive answers, but here’s what we know: there was a lot of water on Avenida Menendez, and unfortunately some of it got into our first floor. We had about 2 feet of water in the kitchen, dining room, and first floor bedrooms. We have already started drying them out, and will begin removing damaged items tomorrow. We didn’t have power at the inn last time we checked, but it is coming on throughout the city, so we expect it to be back soon. Knowing when we have power and testing how much our a/c units were damaged will help us figure out when we will open again.
All of our team members are safe, and have volunteered to help with the clean up, so we think that will move forward quickly. We have had a lot of experience with water–including nine feet of it during Hurricane Ike in Galveston. So we’re in familiar territory (unfortunately), and hope to reopen the second floor soon.
Now here’s what we don’t know: the Vilano bridge didn’t open until late today, and we have not been able to inspect the cottages personally. They look good from the exterior (surprisingly good), but we want to go through every room in daylight. We should be able to do that tomorrow, and will let you know what we find.
We will be canceling all downtown reservations through October 16 (and we’ll be announcing dates if it continues later than that). We are running refunds on those reservations, and you will receive a phone call from us as well as a confirmation email showing a zero balance as we do that. Please be patient as we work through the lists of guests…we’re trying to clean up damage, schedule contractors, and talk to insurance adjusters all while working on generators!
Note: if you are getting married with us, our wedding coordinators Anna and Marina will be following up with you directly to talk about your event.
We’ll end with some last good news–despite the horrible images shown on the news the past day, there are plenty of businesses who will be open early this week–restaurants, boutiques, shops. They either were on streets that didn’t flood, or they are up a few stairs. So if you have a reservation in a few weeks, and you’re worried about any damage, don’t be–the town will be ready to welcome you back to the Oldest, Strongest, Most Beautiful City in the Country!