Czaro Strategic Communications

When there’s a crisis, someone has to be in charge. If that person isn’t identified beforehand, or doesn’t quickly emerge, then you experience something between confusion and catastrophe.

I saw this first-hand on my recent vacation.

At 9:35 p.m. the fire alarms went off in our hotel. We were already in bed because we had an early flight. We had no idea what to do. Yes, evacuation made sense, but it was awfully inconvenient.

I took my youngest daughter down the stairs to the lobby and saw firefighters getting on elevators and a couple dozen guests outside. I overheard one fire official talking with the desk manager about something electrical in a room on the 6th floor and the sprinklers went off throughout the hotel. They were standing next to a waterfall coming from the ceiling.

Fires. Floods. Were locusts next? My daughter was in panic mode now.

I got in the elevator (a classic no-no) with some firefighters (so I felt safe). They didn’t say a word to me. When they got off at 3, I was concerned because the sprinklers were going off and we were on 4. When we got off, there was a torrent of water coming from the ceiling throughout the hallway. My oldest daughter and my wife weren’t in the room so we hustled to the elevator (as more firefighters were piling out – no one said a word).

My family reunited in front of the property with about 50 other guests. This was a big hotel and it was a Friday night. Where was everyone else? I guessed, in their rooms.

I looked at my wife and knew immediately we weren’t staying. I went back in (since no one was stopping me) to get our belongings. Up the elevator I went. But after I retrieved our luggage the elevators were turned off.

That meant I had to take the stairs with two big suitcases, four backpacks and a bag of stale snacks. I loaded the bags in the car, checked out, and drove 200 yards to the next hotel.

It took me a long time to get to sleep because I kept replaying the crisis over in my mind.

• Why were guests permitted to come in and out?
• Why was there no evacuation?
• Where was the hotel staff?
• Would things have been any different if there was an actual fire?
• During this escapade, did people arrive to check in and stay there anyway?
• How can I parlay this into free room nights?

It would have been fun to communicate between the hotel, fire department and the guests – but I was on vacation.