As Hurricane Ian bears down on Florida this week, numerous state agencies are mobilizing to respond. Seattle-based travel giant Expedia is also providing a level of assistance.
In a state preparedness update on Tuesday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis made mention of Expedia and the help the company is providing to those displaced by the storm.
Visit Florida, the state’s official tourism marketing corporation, activated what is called an “Emergency Accommodations Module” on Expedia’s web site “to provide real-time hotel availability and lodging resources for impacted Floridians and visitors.”
The module allows users to select check-in and check-out dates, number of rooms and travelers, whether a flight or car is needed, and whether multiple places to stay are needed before searching for what’s open across the state.
“Our hearts go out to those impacted by Hurricane Ian and we are happy to put our resources forward to people who need to find a safe place to stay during the storm and recovery,” an Expedia Group spokesperson said. “We have a team who continuously monitors major events globally and assesses severity and impact to determine when we will activate our Emergency Accommodations Portal.”
Additionally, Expedia Group has a partnership with the Center for Disaster Philanthropy (CDP), and contributes to their Atlantic Hurricane Season Recovery Fund and Global Recovery Fund to support communities impacted by natural disasters globally.
During an update Tuesday, DeSantis said more than 2.5 million people in Florida are now under some type of evacuation order.
Ian was a Category 3 hurricane as of Tuesday afternoon, and the center of the storm was projected to make landfall somewhere between Tampa Bay and Fort Myers on Wednesday or early Thursday.
