More than a fee: For independent hoteliers, survival is about family and identity

Victor Beauchamp, the owner, stands at the window of the Royal Hotel lobby in Long Beach Wednesday, April 29, 2020. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.

In nearly 100 years in business, the Royal Hotel has weathered many storms. The 1933 earthquake, the Great Recession and is now a global pandemic.

Located in the heart of East Village Art District, the 30-room hotel with a pastel façade and pastel colors has become popular with European visitors looking to explore the city.

But as international and domestic travel has stopped sharply during the coronavirus pandemic, the Royal Hotel and other independently owned hotels face its biggest challenge in recent history: a complete closure.

Since the 2008 economic meltdown, independent guest houses such as Hotel Royal and The Varden on Pacific Avenue have become symbols of the transformation of Long Beach city center.

The downtown hotels were once one-room accommodations, providing housing for low-income workers and those living on the margins of society, and now providing boutique accommodations for tourists and business travelers alike.

“We went through the worst. This was previously a crack house, and there is no way for that [virus] Victor Beauchamp, the owner of the Royal Hotel, remembers telling his staff as the scale of the global epidemic becomes clear.

On March 17, Royal had to close its doors. Since then, the hotel has lost thousands of dollars in bookings every day. “I assume that by the end of the week it will be half a million,” Beauchamp said. All ten employees were temporarily laid off.

The hotel owner said he has exhausted his options for emergency financing, including a request for funds under the Federal Salary Protection program, but to no avail.

According to Business.org, only 5.7% of U.S. companies received funding through the program. Only 2.8% of California businesses received funding through the program, the lowest in the country.

Goodbye to his staff was painful. He said: “They are like my family and I had to let them go.”

But despite the continuing losses, Beauchamp said he would do everything necessary to keep Royal in action. He said: “We put a lot of blood, sweat and tears in this beautiful place.” “So, you should go on.”

It is their passion and passion that keeps small business owners like Beauchamp going through this difficult period.

“Small business owners are their own breed: we tend to be more fragile,” said Kim Rescamp, co-owner of a Dockside boat and bed inside the downtown Rainbow Harbor with her husband Kent.

The couple witnessed the boat and breakfast – the guests are staying in private yards anchored at the harbor – during difficult times since it opened in 1999.

“Just after 9/11, no one wanted to leave his home,” Rescamp recalled. In the end, just as it is now, our phone started ringing again.

Unlike the Royal Hotel, Dockside Boat & Bed is not primarily dependent on international travelers. Most Dockside guests come from the surrounding area, Los Angeles and Orange County.

This puts them in a useful position. While international travel restrictions may be in the foreseeable future and the agreement schedule is still uncertain, domestic travel is likely to start again once closure orders are phased out.

Until then, Ryskamps was designed to keep their work afloat. “It is much more than just a salary for us, it is our identity,” said Kim Rescamp. “We will not lose it due to a virus.”

Once visitors start returning again, hotels will have to respond to new concerns about shared spaces, cleaning protocols and contactless services.

“We have a high density, as in [hotels in] Europe said, I wonder if people will be concerned about it.

Contactless payments, and door locks that can be activated from guests ’mobile phones – fear of surfaces that the virus generally touches will change the way hotels and other hospitality companies operate.

“I think life will be very different, until we have a vaccine,” said Larry Black, owner of the historic Varden Hotel. “It feels like we’re living in a science fiction movie.” Like Beauchamp, Black had to lay off ten employees who usually lean toward the 35-room hotel and its guests.

Months without revenue and future investments in new technology will present a financial challenge to small hotels. “I hope this does not mean the end of small businesses like ours,” said Beauchamp. “We don’t have the financing that the big companies have.”

At the same time, its small size may be an advantage over large, corporate-owned hotels once travel restrictions are lifted. With three floors instead of ten floors to prepare and no corporate ladder to slow down decisions, independently owned hotels can be flexible and quick to reopen.

“Basically we can open in one cent,” said Black.

It may take some time for hotels to return to their feet. Rescamp admitted, “We will not be fully occupied for too long.” But, she said, “We’ll go as long as it takes. This is not just our business, it’s our passion.”

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