CAROLINA BEACH, N.C. (WECT) – After Governor Roy Cooper announced plans to begin “phase one” of reopening North Carolina Tuesday, hotels and short-term rental properties in the Cape Fear started to prepare to open their doors.
“After a long winter, people like us, in coastal tourism, we live off our savings then we live off our credit cards and then spring comes and cash flow and reservations keep flowing,” said Debi. “When that happened, I had to give back over $3,000 in reservations so we’ve lost over $60,000.”
The DiNatale’s have owned Carolina Beach Inn for seven years. When they heard the Governor’s announcement that allows hotels and short term rentals to reopen Friday, May 8 at 5 p.m., they immediately got to work to reopen. Now, Carolina Beach plans to lift all restrictions at the same time at the same day,
They say while they’ve always prided themselves on keeping their rooms and facilities clean, they’re even shinier with the stricter precautions the two are taking.
They understand that even though Governor Cooper’s order allows them, and all other hotels to reopen, staying home is still encouraged. The DiNatales just want everyone to feel safe and welcome as they work to get back to normal.
“We’d like to get back into business because we survived all the hurricanes in the last eight years and this is nothing like we’ve ever had before,” said Debi. “So we’re just waiting. Of course, we don’t want anyone to get sick here. We don’t want any cross-contamination but we also want people to have a quality of life that they enjoy here at the beach.”
Wrightsville Beach plans to reopen hotels and short-term rentals Friday. Surf City plans to lift short term rental restriction on Friday. Mayor Saffo says the City of Wilmington has not made a decision yet. Kure Beach voted on Wednesday to reopen hotels and short term rentals on May 22.
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