Hurricane Ian evacuees from Florida's west coast are booking hotels in Palm Beach County

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Hurricane Ian prompted a surge in hotel bookings throughout Palm Beach County as residents of the state’s west coast sought to flee the oncoming storm. 

“We are booked up,” said Chris Steele, general manager of the 150-room Canopy by Hilton West Palm Beach Downtown Hotel. 

Demand for hotel rooms was especially fevered after Florida Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie on Tuesday urged people to drive east to South Florida for shelter. 

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"Many people in the Southwest Florida area, your best bet is going to be evacuate across the state," Guthrie said. "Just go straight across the state to Broward, Miami-Dade, Palm Beach." 

The Canopy’s Steele said the storm at first trimmed the hotel’s room reservations, after some groups last week canceled and rescheduled bookings. 

But on Monday, with the path showing a track heading for the west coast, reservations “skyrocketed,” he said.  

“We’re booked tonight, tomorrow night and we’re almost sold out for Thursday,” Steele said. 

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It was a similar story at the Residence Inn West Palm Beach off 45th Street. 

The extended-stay hotel, which features suites and full kitchens, is sold out for the next several days. Calls for rooms started picking up on Monday and were nonstop by Tuesday, a reservation official said. 

Hotel officials throughout the county said as soon as vacationers cancel rooms, that same room is gobbled up by people evacuating from the storm. 

At Crane's Beach House Boutique Hotel & Luxury Villas, general manager Cathy Balestriere said she knows from experience that guests not only need shelter from the storm but also from the aftermath of the storm, which could knock out power for lengthy periods of time. 

When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005, Crane’s hosted nearly a dozen evacuees from Louisiana for months after the storm, she said. 

Crane’s features 28 apartment-style suites featuring living areas and kitchens or kitchenettes. Pets are accepted, too. 

Late last week Crane’s began posting ads on social media to let Gulf coast residents know about the boutique hotel, Balestriere said. She also extended the hotel’s Florida resident rate through the end of the month to keep some room rates under $200 per night. 

As of Wednesday morning, the hotel was nearly sold out, with new bookings by evacuees quickly replacing vacation cancellations. 

“We’ll have rain,” Balestriere said of Palm Beach County, “but it’s still the safest place within driving distance to get back to the west coast.” 

Alexandra Clough is a business writer at the Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach her at aclough@pbpost.com. Twitter: @acloughpbp. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.