Dear Guests,
After announcing last week that our two locally owned and operated inns would remain open to those traveling for governmentally-approved essential services, Hoagland Properties, owners of the Super 8 by Wyndham Florence OR and the River House Inn in Florence, is temporarily consolidating guest lodging to one site and keeping the other available to local officials should emergency needs arise.
Through April 30, 2020, Super 8 by Wyndham Florence OR will transfer all its existing guest reservations to the River House Inn.
Guests are asked to continue observing physical distancing guidelines. Housekeeping procedures have been redesigned to provide the safest environment for both guests and staff.
We look forward to the day we can re-welcome the general traveling public back to our two award-winning inns here in Oregon’s Coastal Playground.
Our rooms are sanitized with the best disinfectants recommended by government and industry leaders. Even with an outstanding record of cleanliness, we continue to monitor closely the continuing updates from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the World Health Organization (WHO), and have adjusted our cleaning policies to further reduce risk for our guests. We continue to monitor developments daily and follow government and industry guidelines for businesses to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
In recent days our dedicated staff have completed extra deep cleaning processes at Super 8 by Wyndham Florence OR and are now doing the same at River House Inn. We are doing everything we can to keep current team members employed for as long as possible; but staffing is currently a week by week decision.
While other area lodgings are laying off 75% or more of their employees, or closing altogether, we are looking at unique ways to better train our staff, including some online training possibilities—even though hotels are not businesses where employees can generally work remotely. These kinds of measures are why we consistently attract, train, and retain the best staff in the region. They know we value them as part of our team. Once hired they receive the best training in industry-leading cleaning and guest services practices. As such they work hard to fulfill our mission statement “to exceed guest expectations with a spotless, reasonably priced, well-appointed room and exceptional service.”
Helping Local Authorities
On March 13, prior to the Oregon Governor Kate Brown’s executive order and reports of other Florence-area hotels closing, we approached City of Florence leaders and the Western Lane County Emergency Operations Group (WLEOG) to offer Super 8 by Wyndham Florence OR as potential housing for COVID-19 related needs.
Though there is no current emergency or need as of today (4/7/2020), the Super 8 by Wyndham Florence OR remains available for emergency operations should circumstances change as quickly as media reports project they might. With so few essential service employees coming to work temporarily in Florence right now, and with tourism banned, we made the decision to house all guests at the River House Inn.
Our immediate plan, and our desire, is to serve our city and retain our staff for as long as possible to survive this crisis. Changes from the original federal CARES Act to the version that passed, extension of safe distancing until at least April 30, and cancellation of this year’s Rhododendron Festival, all forced changes to our initial plan.
Recreational travel is currently prohibited by law per Oregon Governor Kate Brown’s ‘Stay Home, Save Lives’ edict of March 23, 2020. The order specifically permits travel for medical work, commercial delivery of necessities, and construction, and allows hotels to serve essential service employees as long as they have procedures in place that inhibit infection and have someone in charge to enforce them. That’s what we’re doing right now.
Since the outbreak, both of our inns have increased the frequency of cleaning high-touch surfaces in public areas including door handles, lobby countertops, commonly accessible restrooms at both properties, and the conference room at the River House Inn. We have closed our complimentary morning food service for guests.
For employment opportunities with Hoagland Properties contact general manager Amy Graham at 541-991-4674, or bookkeeper@harborside.com. Other questions can be directed to company president Ron Moore at 541-997-0305, or ron.moore@hoaglandproperties.com.