When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Mark Castleberry saw his staff come together in a way he’d never seen before.
Castleberry, who owns Courtyard by Marriott and Hampton Inn properties in both Columbus and Starkville as well as the Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott in Columbus and the Comfort Suites in Starkville, saw his head chef assist his maintenance person. His sales director started folding towels to help the housekeepers.
The changes helped Castleberry’s hotels stay afloat during the very worst of the crisis, where occupancy dipped to just a few people per night — below 10 percent of full capacity.
Now, things have rebounded, although they’re not back to normal yet. Occupancy at Castleberry’s hotels is up to 45 to 50 percent.
“Our team really came together to do what it took,” Castleberry said, “and I think we’re gonna make it.”
His hotels and others in the area have begun to bounce back after a pandemic-induced decline that reached its worst in late March and cut deeply into sales tax revenue for local cities.
In March, Starkville made $11,865.35 from its hotel and motel tax revenue, a decrease of more than 58 percent from March 2019.
A 36.6 percent drop came in Columbus, which made $31,462.93 in hotel tax revenue in April 2019 but just $19,943.66 this April. March 2019 yielded $51,719.37 by the same measure, but March 2020 made the city just $22,449.23 — a 56.6 percent decrease.
Sunny Sethi, who owns Hilton Garden Inn in Starkville and Hyatt Place in Columbus, saw revenue from the properties drop to 10 percent of normal in late March and early April. Now, it’s back at 50 percent of normal.
Those numbers are steadily — albeit slowly — increasing as hotels in the area, around the state and nationwide hope their improved fortune continues.
“We went through some real tough times, but we are seeing a direction of normalcy occurring, and we’re very thankful for that,” Castleberry said.
‘What are you doing right?’
Jordan Smith, general manager of Castleberry’s Courtyard and Fairfield by Marriott properties in Columbus, said interested customers typically have one main question when it comes to booking a hotel: “What are you doing right?”
He said it’s not a negative question. Rather, people want to know that they’re going to be safe staying at a hotel, and Smith sets out to put their minds at ease.
Bottles of hand sanitizer are placed in hot spots in the Courtyard’s lobby, and Smith said he’s ordered distance markers to space lined-up customers six feet apart.
Hotel operations have also been condensed into the Courtyard, though Smith said the Fairfield is still open for reservations at the same price. Currently, about 20 percent of guests at the two hotels are at the Courtyard.
At the Wingate by Wyndham in Columbus, manager Phillip Lovell said his housekeepers are outfitted with masks and gloves and equipped with potent sanitizing agents. Regular breakfast is “over” — instead, customers can grab “go-bags” with a granola bar, a muffin and a bottle of water.
Lovell said occupancy at the hotel is back to 50 percent of normal in terms of revenue and that he hasn’t had to lay anybody off.
That fits in with what Castleberry professes: Cleaning extensively, training employees and providing staff with the right equipment and materials to limit the spread of the virus are important concepts for two central reasons.
“There’s a moral obligation, and it would be bad for business,” Castleberry said. “We have nothing to benefit by not doing a tremendous job.”
While their current 50 to 70 percent occupancy doesn’t match the typical mark of 85 to 90 percent, the properties are still financially sound, Smith said. No employees at either hotel have been laid off, and no one has been furloughed.
“Obviously, compared to year over year, we’re not where we want to be, but I don’t think anybody is,” Smith said. “We actually have been able to sustain ourselves pretty well.”
Sethi said he received money from the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program in order to stay open during the worst of the pandemic. The federal initiative, he said, is doing its job.
“Realistically, if it wasn’t for the programs that the federal government put out there, I don’t think that we would have sustained it,” Sethi said. “That seems to be doing what it’s intended to do, which is stabilizing and giving time for businesses to return to normal. It’s starting to do that, and we see that.”
An ‘in-process thing’
Occupancy rates in Mississippi hotels dropped from 60.2 percent in April 2019 to 29.1 percent in April 2020, according to statistics provided by the Mississippi Hotel & Lodging Association. Revenue per available room (RevPAR), a key statistic for hotels, was down to $19.80 from $52.79 a year ago, a 62.49 percent decrease.
However, national data offers hope that some improvement should be reflected in the state’s May 2020 numbers once they are released.
According to STR.com, which compiles data on the hotel industry, occupancy sits at 39.3 percent nationwide, down 45.3 percent from a comparable week in 2019. Nationwide RevPAR, though, is at $33.43, down 65 percent.
Sethi said that a key to maintaining the improvement his hotels have seen as well as ushering in new business across the nation is the policy put into place by the country’s major hotel chains, including Hilton and Hyatt.
“I feel like because we do have good brands that we deal with — top-tier brands — we’re getting a lot of guidance that we wouldn’t have normally,” Sethi said.
Castleberry said he’s received help from Hilton and Marriott and that both companies are looking at the problems they face and what they can do about it on local and national levels.
Some examples, Castleberry said, include, “What can we learn from this? How can we lessen the ability to transmit anything in a hotel? How can we do a better job and learn from this on into the future?
“It’s been a very, very difficult situation, but again, we hope to learn and be better for it,” Castleberry said.
Then there’s the other elephant in the room: how soon relaxed COVID-19 restrictions will bring back major events to the region and restore tourist confidence.
Castleberry acknowledged his hotels have lost money from canceled sports and community events — including home baseball games at Dudy Noble Field, the NCAA women’s basketball tournament at Humphrey Coliseum and the Spring Pilgrimage in Columbus.
He said sports already planning their return in the fall is a positive step, but time frame and fan access will have an impact.
“It is a matter of when and how many fans will be able to attend,” Castleberry said.
Regardless, he’ll be looking forward to the return of the events that have been sorely lacking lately. Castleberry said his hotels have already booked several wedding guests in the weeks to come.
“It’s turned the point from a theoretical to an in-process thing,” he said.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 32 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.