Waltham Hotel Offers Free Stays To Coronavirus First Responders

WALTHAM, MA — A Waltham hotel has set aside a third of the rooms for first responders and those on the new coronavirus front line to stay for free amid the pandemic, even as hotels across the state are facing a financial hit.

Holiday Inn Express on Winter Street is offering free rooms for anyone working at or alongside the Waltham Police and Waltham Fire departments, including Cataldo EMTs; and doctors, nurses and staff at Newton-Wellesley Hospital and Boston Children’s at Waltham Hospital.

"We just wanted to do whatever we could to help," said Bob Clement, president of the Park Lodge Hotel Group, behind the hotel. "We just wanted to do whatever we could to help."

As of Thursday, 18,941 people had tested positive for the virus across the state, and the number of those who had died rose to 503. Nearly 95,000 residents have been tested for COVID-19, according to health officials. Baker said Friday he expects a surge of cases in the state during the next week and a half.

Late last month Gov. Charlie Baker ordered hotels to stop renting rooms for vacation or leisure and only sell rooms to those affected by the coronavirus. With the number of visitors down to mostly truck drivers and essential workers, Keith Gilbert part of a family that has owned and operated three Waltham hotels, including the Holiday Inn, for more than 20 years, got the idea.

It's already exhausting for first responders to have to be working extra hours when people are out sick during the pandemic, let alone worry about exposing their families or have to drive hours to go back home. Why not open up the hotel as a place for those who need it?

Gilbert brought the idea to Clement and together they ran it past the mayor, who called it a generous idea, he said.

On April 7, they reached out to the four organizations and let them know. So far, one group has indicated they might need them next week.

"It's not just employees who test positive, this is for people working doubles and triples," said Clement. "People working around the clock because others are calling out sick."

Clement said the great hope is that this will all be over sooner than later.

"But we're here to help and if we can, we will," he said.

Massachusetts hotels cut nearly 18,000 jobs between the first Massachusetts coronavirus case announced on Feb. 1 and the end of last month, according to the Massachusetts Lodging Association.

Nearly 1 in 5 workers in the Boston metropolitan area work in the restaurant, entertainment and other industries already hard-hit by the economic downturn resulting from the new coronavirus, according to data from Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Metropolitan areas that rely heavily on tourism are expected to fare worst in a recession. And while economists expect the biggest job losses to be in the restaurant, transportation, employment services and mining sectors, the ripple effect of reduced spending and supply-side backups will hit almost every corner of the region's economy.

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Patch reporter Jenna Fisher can be reached at Jenna.Fisher@patch.com or by calling 617-942-0474. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@ReporterJenna).