TULSA, Okla. — When we lose power we often look to family and friends for a place to stay, but with widespread outages, those people are also affected leading locals to flood hotels.
"We actually are at full capacity," said Ben Guardino the General Manager for Hyatt Place in Downtown Tulsa. "We've been at full capacity since last weekend due to the natural disaster storm that we've experienced here."
But it's not just those affected by the storm packing hotels.
Big events are happening around town. The USA Gymnastics tournament is taking place downtown at the BOK Center and Cox Center. Also downtown this weekend, the pride festival and parade, and in midtown, the second annual Route 66 Road Fest will be going on at the Sagenet Center.
Some of those visitors coming in from out of town have been surprised by what they're seeing in Tulsa.
"When we walking the street you could see all the debris and trees," Lily, who's in town for the gymnastics competition, said.
"We were kind of glad we missed it, but I was in shock because I didn't know it happened until I saw it," Brynley Caplinger, also in town for the gymnastics competition, said.
As clean up and restoration continues, and guest continue to come and go, hotels across the area are banning together to make sure everyone has a place to stay.
"We are taking walk ins from other hotels that cannot accommodate it due to lose of power so that's been really nice that we've all stayed in contact and helped each other out," Guardino said.
Including helping out their own hotel employees.
The president of the Metro Tulsa Hotel and Lodging Association, Brad Venable, said hotels have plans in place for surges like this.
The unforeseen challenges lie within staffing as employees are also affected by the storm and may not be able to work.
Guardino, the Hyatt Place GM, said he's had to house some of his own staff.
"It's really just been a family effort just trying to make sure we are taking care of our locals," he said.
While storm guests are starting to taper off, Guardino said they remain busy with out of town visitors for events and storm workers.
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