THIS IS NOT A TEST

Large-scale evacuations of greater than 1,000 people occur approximately once every two weeks in the United States.  In 2005 catastrophic evacuations of more than 1.2 million people happened in Louisiana before Hurricane Katrina’s landfall, and still more than 100,000 people were evacuated from New Orleans in the week following the storm.  Three weeks later, 1.8 million people in Texas were ordered to evacuate before Hurricane Rita made landfall.  Currently this is every man for him self scenario.

September 13, 2008 – Ike Strikes Galveston

Two weeks later - 439,000 families have qualified for government-funded hotels, though less than 9,300 were checked in due to a lack of hotel space.  Evacuees were given a call-around list of hundreds of FEMA approved hotels that are sold out.

Three weeks later – hotels are still sold out, shelters are closing, massive tents are being set up to house thousands of displaced citizens and their families. 

FEMA and the Mid-Atlantic Region Mass-Catastrophic Event

Preparedness Consortium Agree

There Is A Critical and Immediate Need for a

Commercial Shelter (hotels) Data Source!

Sheltering evacuees is a major priority of concern of government officials and emergency responders prior to, during, and after a catastrophe. Although a majority of evacuees will stay with family, friends, or at hotels/motels rather than at public shelters, the availability of public and private (hotels) shelters is critical to the success of an evacuation - 46% of evacuees would rather stay with family, friends, and 33% will stay at hotels rather than public shelters.  Even those who have other places to stay often find that they must spend the night in shelters while en route to their final destinations because hotels/motels along evacuation routes are full and they must rest during their trip.

Solution:
FindShelterNow.com™ - a national, consolidated data source of hotels with rooms to sell tonight – the last-minute vacancy.
Patent Pending

Our mission is to form a consortium of hotels across the nation who agree to be each others affiliates to ensure that hotel managers, convention & visitors bureaus, local emergency managers and evacuees know the location of available hotel space outside the risk area and can interact to reserve available rooms for the evacuees. The availability of such information would significantly improve the efficiency of evacuations and reduce evacuees’ stress.

FindShelterNow.com™ is a hotel and travel technology service provider located in Columbus, Ohio.  We specialize in the management and distribution of same-day, last-minute hotel rooms for the needs of the last-minute traveler, 15% of a hotels source of business.

To solve this problem we will partner with all hotel chains/brands across the US to develop a national consolidated real-time hotel vacancy resource with reservation capabilities - FindShelterNow.com™.

Our evacuation assistance program is intended to be the one stop source for shelter space that aides in disaster evacuation implementation and recovery for all federal agencies to ensure that evacuees have the ability to readily find shelter for themselves and their families. 

FindShelterNow.com™ encourages and engages hotels to agree to be each others affiliates to ensure that FEMA, hotel owners and managers and evacuees know the location of the nearest available hotel space outside the risk area and can interact to reserve available rooms for the evacuees.  Making this information and service available to everyone who needs it will significantly improve the efficiency and effectiveness of evacuations and reduce evacuees’ stress.

Homeland Security will advise FindShelterNow.com™ where the risk area is located.  FindShelterNow.com™ will notify area hotel owners and managers via email bulletin, call and/or pager if an event has caused an evacuation in their area or if their hotel is located beyond the area.  Hotel managers can immediately implement their own emergency procedures.  We will ensure that the areas in which the evacuation hotels are located are outside of any plume, fall-out, etc from a terrorist attack.

In an emergency the evacuee and all hotels will access FindShelterNow.com™ to make reservations at a hotel with availability located beyond the risk area, even if several states away.  The room will be reserved and driving directions given.  Our plan includes provisions for informing evacuees and hotels about the locations of available hotels for special needs (i.e., with pets, special needs, hotels that accept FEMA housing vouchers, etc.)

FindShelterNow.com™ continually monitors the status of hotels and provides seamless real-time information on the availability of hotel space.  With FindShelterNow.com™ hotels do not have to report the availability of accommodations because information is updated automatically.

We accomplish this by partnering with hotels to network hotel reservation systems as well as cooperatively linking hotel front desks to FindShelterNow.com™.  We directly, automatically, and seamlessly connects with each participating hotel’s Central Reservation System or Property Management System.  Together we will create and design the next generation of online and mobile hotel room distribution infrastructure for FEMA, hotels and evacuees. 

Our plan includes tracking the destination of evacuees through the analysis of hotel reservations from the onset of the event so we can inform strategic state and local partners where people are going.

Our plan includes mapping that shows where hotels/shelters are filled, and where hotels/shelter is still available, used by local, city, state, and federal evacuation centers and personnel to direct the evacuee to safety further away.

Our plan includes an exchange of travel agent commission paid to hotels for booking rooms for evacuees by the hotel that gets the reservation.

Our plan includes the ability of hotels to further help the evacuee by having the capability to in-put information in to the FEMA Family Registry.

Our plan includes the ability to link FSN with the Red Cross National Shelter System (NSS) so evacuees can find free shelter 

FindShelterNow.com™ will be accessible to anyone who needs it.

Contact:

Leslie J. Mack, Founder, CEO
INNergized INNterprise, Inc.
Columbus, OH
(614) 937-1377

leslie@innergizedinnterprise.com
leslie@FindShelterNow.com