San Diego hotels step up to help Los Angeles evacuees

SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – As the Los Angeles wildfires displace thousands of residents, San Diego hotels open their doors to help, offering discounted rates.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office confirmed with ABC 10News that 180-thousand residents have been displaced by the wildfires as of Thursday morning.

With that, San Diego’s hotel industry is responding to the call for help, welcoming any evacuees from LA who are seeking shelter.

One of those hotels is Omni San Diego.

Charles Cho, General Manager of Omni San Diego, said he put out a rate for Los Angeles evacuees that is substantially below their normal rates.

“We just want to make sure we share our rooms, since we have them, with those who need them the most,” Cho said. “There’s still a lot of hotels in between us and where the fire is, but hey, if they’re willing to come down here, we’re ready for them.”

Cho said as soon as he heard about the wildfires, he checked Omni’s occupancy to see what they could offer.

As of Thursday, Omni is already helping one evacuee.

“Hospitality really is all about making friends, and it’s about building relationships,” Cho said.

Cho is not alone in his intentions to help LA residents.

According to the San Diego Tourism Authority, more than two dozen hotels across San Diego came together on Thursday to offer assistance to Los Angeles evacuees, and both the Tourism Authority and San Diego Lodging Association put the list of hotels together and published it online.

Fred Tayco, Executive Director of the San Diego Lodging Association, said, “We very quickly got the impression that the news was paling in comparison to what they were seeing on the ground. If you are evacuating and you are negatively impacted, the doors are open. “

Kerri Kapich, Chief Operating Officer at the San Diego Tourism Authority, said all the hotels will be offering their own special rates. The rates will all expire at different times.

“There are discounts in terms of no parking fees, resort fees for pets, and other things like that,” Kasich said. “At the end of the day, we’re here to help. LA is our neighbor. They’re our friends, our family. We just want to do everything that we can during this heartbreaking time.”

To see the list of San Diego hotels offering assistance to LA wildfire victims, visit The San Diego Tourism Authority website or The San Diego Lodging Association’s website.