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It was Sept. 5, 2017, and Irma was about to collide with the
Caribbean island of St. John. Expected to veer north at first,
the slow-moving Category 5 hurricane instead unleashed her
full fury on St. John, as well as its neighbors, barreling down
the center of the 20-square-mile (52 square kilometers) island
with winds reaching 220 mph (354 kph) for five straight hours.
Days before, Thorp Thomas, senior vice president of ILG vacation ownership
management, had begun tracking the storm’s approach. Through email alerts
and morning and evening calls, he coordinated with staff at The Westin St.
John Resort Villas and updated corporate teams that would be affected
during the event, and in its aftermath.
“We start looking at occupancy levels. We are monitoring evacuation orders.
We are beginning to cancel reservations, trying to get people who are at the
resort off the island,” Thomas says. “You can imagine the thousands of details
that flow from that.”
The day before Irma struck, about 40 staff members who had volunteered
to ride out the storm at the resort were moving furniture from pool decks, tying
down anything that might become flying debris, and relaying instructions to
approximately 300 guests still on-site. Veterans of past hurricanes, the staff
knew exactly what to do. But Irma was about to give their well-oiled disaster
preparedness plan its ultimate stress test.
15
Making Preparedness a Priority
A year like 2017, with devastating hurricanes, floods, earthquakes,
wildfires, and other natural disasters, is a stark reminder of how
essential it is for resort owners to be prepared for the worst.
“We thought it was going to be bad, but not nearly what
the end result was — not to mention there was a second hurri-
cane [Maria] on the way,” Thomas says. Ultimately, 13 properties
under the ILG vacation ownership segment and two corporate
offices stood in the path of Irma or Maria. “The good news was
that everybody, to a person, did their job. It was literally chaos —
but
managed
chaos,” Thomas recalls. “We made all the right
decisions. We made them at the right time. A lot of that is prepa-
ration, a lot of it is experience.”
A disaster preparedness plan is a set of standard operating
procedures for safeguarding the lives of guests and employees,
and protecting property and assets as much as possible during
a disastrous event — and then bouncing back as quickly as pos-
sible. Because every resort is unique and no two events unfold
as expected, the best disaster preparedness plans address a
mind-boggling number of details for a range of scenarios. They
include risk assessments, timelines, communication systems,
evacuation procedures, and security. The goal is to empower
every employee with knowledge and responsibility so they can
spring into action in an emergency. Just as important, the plan
should provide aid and support for displaced employees and
their families during what may be a long rebuilding process.
Covering All the Bases
To make sure all the bases would be covered in any disaster
event, Westgate Resorts brought together its risk management
staff, insurance experts, and resort operators to craft a plan that
is reviewed and updated every year. This proved to be critical
when one of its resorts faced a wildfire in 2016, not to mention
the resorts affected by the recent hurricanes.
“We have the most detailed disaster preparedness plan,”
says Mark Waltrip, Westgate’s chief operating officer. “We have a
to
Comeback
om Crisis
The Elements of a
Rock-Solid Disaster
Preparedness Plan
By Joyce Hadley Copeland
Associates at The Westin
St. John Resort Villas
assisted in the cleanup after
hurricanes Irma and Maria
devastated the island.