ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) — News10NBC is continuing to look into the Wyndham Hotel closure on State Street after the city shut it down Friday for having 23 open fire and building code violations.
Mayor Malik Evans said the city’s order to vacate was a last resort.
When that happens, it means the property has run out of time and the city has run out of patience. The mayor also said the recent five-alarm fire on the city’s northwest side at Pallet Express highlighted an important reason for keeping up with fire code violations. While the city has a need for more hotel rooms, it also does not want to see another large-scale fire break out.
Mayor Evans didn’t specify how long the city had been working with the Wyndham before deciding to close it. He said the city works with everybody “for a long time” before making this kind of decision.
“We need to have hotel rooms in our city and we need hotels that are operating in a way that will allow patrons that want to be able to stay there. So we would like to see these things fixed ASAP as we said in our statement and when they get them fixed the hotel will be able to be open back up,” Evans said.
Mayor Evans said the hotel’s next steps require constant communication with the code enforcement office as it works on repairs. News10NBC called the hotel’s CEO Monday to speak about those repairs. He said he’s not commenting about the hotel right now.
Last week, the fire marshal confirmed there were multiple safety hazards. This included things like locked emergency exit doors and no working central air conditioning.
Bodybuilding competition promoter out thousands with no refund
A woman is struggling to get answers after the Wyndham Hotel closed last week, leaving her scrambling to rebook 55 rooms for a bodybuilding competition.
Anne Marie Marshall, the promoter for the local show of the OCB Elevate Bodybuilding Competition, finalized a contract with Wyndham back in December.
Despite repeated calls, Marshall said she’s not able to reach anyone at the hotel.
This past weekend, she rebooked a new block and found a check-in space for the bodybuilding event. That means both she and the athletes are out double what they intended to spend since Wyndham hasn’t refunded their original rooms.
The contract secured a 55-room block for athletes to stay at a rate of $125 per night. It also reserved an event space for the competition’s check-in area.
“I paid in full — right from the get go,” Marshall said.
But things went downhill fast, even before finding out the city shut down the hotel. Marshall said she visited the hotel about two weeks ago to check on preparations.
“Of course I was nervous so I wanted to go in and talk to them. And I did that about two weeks ago, and that’s when I felt how warm it was in there. I said, ‘what’s what’s going on with the air conditioning?’ and she said ‘Oh we don’t have central air at the moment,’” Marshall said.
Marshall said the CEO assured her the space would have air conditioning before the event. But that’s one of the reasons the city shut it down — the presence of more than 70 portable AC units causing what the fire marshal called “an electrical hazard.”
Marshall said the hotel didn’t update her when the city shut it down. She found out from competition athletes messaging her saying their room reservations were cancelled.
“I immediately started looking for another hotel, which we have Jazz Fest this weekend. So downtown was out there was nothing available,” Marshall said.
She ended up finding a spot about 10 minutes outside the city but is still concerned for the athletes traveling here who don’t know whether they’ll recoup the cost of the Wyndham bookings.
“We’re just trying to get the show final, everything finalized. So it runs perfectly this weekend, but, I will be in touch with corporate or whoever, my own attorney, you know, just trying to make sure that these athletes and my staff that are flying in from out of state get refunded,” Marshall said.
Marshall’s contract was sent to a lawyer at Tully Rinckey. Greg Rinckey, founding partner at Tully Rinckey PLLC, said there is recourse for her and the athletes to recoup what they paid.
“I mean this is a this is a breach of the contract. So I don’t know how she paid for it. But the first thing is if she put it on a credit card, you know I would call the credit card company and dispute the charges and say, you know, you signed a contract for xyz services and now the hotel can’t fulfill the contract,” Rinckey said.
Marshall said the show is still on this weekend at the School of the Arts Theater. She said all of the athletes were still able to participate despite the rebookings.
