. People were not at the Convention Center for 5 days (see post 532).
At the Sheraton New Orleans Hotel, which housed 1,000 guests during the storm, all guests who hadnt been able to get out on their own were evacuated to the Sheraton Park Central hotel in Dallas, according to a telephone recording at the New Orleans property. Hotel officials were unable to be reached at the hotel in Dallas.We are just going to have to agree to disagree.
The Hilton New Orleans Riverside, the citys largest hotel, also was successful in getting people out on Wednesday.
Yesterday evening we did a planned evacuation of 1,600 team members and guests from our four downtown New Orleans properties, said Kendra Walker, vice president of brand communications at Hilton Hotels Corp.
Everyone was taken to Baton Rouge, where they could hop on a plane or be picked up by friends or family. Anyone who wasnt able to do that was transferred to Hilton hotels in Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and Austin, Texas.
Hilton has set up a telephone number for friends and family to figure out to which Texas hotel guests were transferred. The 1,700-room Hilton Riverside was known to shelter as many as 5,000 guests during hurricanes, but Walker said that many guests were able to get out on their own before the situation in New Orleans became desperate.
Walker said that Hilton Hotels has donated $250,000 to the Red Cross, and the Conrad Hilton Foundation has donated $1 million to the Red Cross.