Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Local motels have navigated the pandemic with varying results, but business is picking up consistently once again.
DAVENPORT – Local motels here responded to the COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns in different ways, and customer bases have also proven their differences. As summer begins to get under way as hot weather rolls in this week, the lodging businesses are in the midst of what is typically their busiest season.
Response to shutdowns
Black Bear Motel owner Kimberly Elwood, who has owned the motel for 19 years, never shut down operations. She said the first months were slow for business.
"But that's only because people were waiting to get back to work," Elwood said.
She said when essential workers were permitted to return to work, the customers returned. Ag workers, those working on the hospital extension and crews at Lake Roosevelt became regulars.
"The biggest change was the (type of) customers," Elwood said. "On the weekends, people that couldn't get a room in Spokane because the hotels were shut down would come here....I don't see as many vacationing people as I used to."
The Davenport Motel did shut down for several months from mid-March to August 1, 2020.
"We weren't getting any reservations, so we shut down," owner Elaine Nevin said. "But we weathered the storm."
"We re-opened in August because reservations came back in," she added. "People were ready to get out and move about."
Changes to cleaning
Both motel owners used the shutdowns, whether enacted or not, to adjust cleaning protocols. Plexiglass was installed at the front desk of the Davenport Motel, and staff began adhering to cleaning standards put in place by the Department of Health.
Elwood, the lone staff member at Black Bear Motel, is hazmat-certified from a previous job at the jail. She bought a new heating unit, installed ozone machines, uses ultraviolet light and started wiping down everything people touched with rubbing alcohol.
Getting busy again
The last 30 days have finally started to become busy again at the Davenport Motel, Nevin said.
"The summer is always busy, except for 2020," Nevin said. "The travelers have started to come through the past 30 days."
People with friends or family in town or who are making a stop through are frequent customer bases at the motel. Another trend picking up is people visiting from Western Washington interested in moving out of urban areas to Lincoln County, Nevin added. Local contractors also stay in the motel.
"People come through looking for property," Nevin said.
Weekly regulars have stayed consistent even through the pandemic at Black Bear Motel. There's also six RV hookups, which Elwood said is almost always full.
"Every year we get busier and busier," she said. "I didn't really see a huge difference in 2020."
The Davenport Motel, meanwhile, is prepping for July and August while customers begin to come back.
Both motels in town have 10 rooms for guests to stay in.
Drew Lawson is the editor of the Davenport Times. He is a graduate of Eastern Washington University.
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