durham inc.
WELCOME BACK: HOTELS ATTEMPT TO MAKE UP LOST GROUND BY HANNAH MCCLELLAN | PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOHN MICHAEL SIMPSON
on Wood and Stephanie Wood bought the Arrowhead Inn Bed and Breakfast in March 2019. They never expected a pandemic would interrupt their dream just one year later. The husband and wife nearly made their revenue goal during that first year. Then COVID-19 brought the hospitality industry across the country to a near standstill. “Two, three weeks after that is when the pandemic hit, and the wheels came off,” Ron Wood said. “Just like everybody else, we had a significant number of cancellations and more money going out than coming in.” The Woods ultimately decided to close the inn completely for three weeks. They opened up two rooms – a cottage and a log cabin – out of its nine total in early summer 2020. “That was our lifeline,” Ron Wood said, until they gradually reopened rooms in the main house. They began taking reservations for all the rooms last September. Nearly 15 months after they shuttered the inn at the onset of
Brian Teune rolls up to the JB Duke Hotel, one of three Duke University hotel properties located near campus.
the pandemic, Ron Wood said business is the best it’s been since they became owners – they came out ahead of their pre-pandemic numbers for the past three quarters. “We attribute a lot of that to the fact that we’re a small inn,” he said. “People feel safer, they
can easily keep themselves distanced.” Business among larger and chain hotels in Durham painted a less idealistic picture. Managers and local leaders said the hotel industry has a ways to go to reach pre-pandemic revenue, though business has increased
some since 2020. Durham’s hotel occupancy this June was about 57%, up from a rate of nearly 43% last June, according to data from Discover Durham. In June 2019, however, Durham’s occupancy rate was nearly 75%. Average room rates are also important for hotels to fully
September 2021
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