Antoinette Delio usually sends her clients to faraway places, but her latest plan was to keep herself and clients safe in Santa Monica.
The CEO & Founder of Luxury Travel and Beyond had the same disastrous fate as many in the Palisades Fire, forced to flee her home near Marquez Charter Elementary School. Seeing the fire rapidly approaching, she fled, followed shortly by her husband, straight into treacherous bumper to bumper traffic.
“I didn’t take any clothing or anything,” Delio said. “I got a few really important things that I knew where they were, but that was about it. I mean, we just had to get out.”
Delio received the devastating phone call the next day that her home was gone, while also getting calls from her clients about a similar result. Wanting to do right for her own family as well as clients’, she connected to Huntley Santa Monica Beach through a chain of phone contacts.
The Huntley is one of 27 local hotels extending complimentary discounts to first responders and evacuees, a mobilization that came together as soon as the scope of the Palisades Fire’s destruction became apparent.
“The same day the wildfires broke out, we received messages of support from our incredible hotel partners sharing offers aiding those displaced and in need of accommodations … I’m inspired by how quickly our community stepped up to provide relief,” Santa Monica Travel & Tourism CEO Misti Kerns said.
Even in her personal time of crisis, Delio was able to meet with her clients at check-in and bring them up to their rooms, adding another personal touch to her efforts.
“They’re just so happy here,” Delio said, despite the situation. “I ran into them (and) they just couldn’t be more grateful. The people here are unbelievable, and they’ve been hosting so many firefighters and everywhere you look, they’re all families from the Palisades.”
Delio and her fellow hospitality professionals met this past week at a PROST event at Hotel Casa Del Mar, a soiree slated to be cancelled until it was repurposed as a victims fundraiser. Between hotels donating stays and taking part in a silent auction, she was proud of her industry, a sentiment shared by Kerns.
“Throughout times of immense challenge, we continue to see hundreds of our local businesses all stepping up,” Kerns said. “Not only providing meals, rooms and various services but also supporting Santa Monica nonprofits and community members, and they do so with immense grace and care.”
Hotels will continue to welcome evacuees and first responders, Kerns added, even as evacuation mandates were lifted in Santa Monica. Delio said that others with spaces in their homes and apartments should also consider hosting those displaced.
“I just always want to make sure everybody’s taken care of,” she said. “Anybody that has a place for people to live is really, really helpful right now.”
