Riding Out Hurricane Helene At The JW Marriott Marco Island

I was attending a conference at the JW Marriott Marco Island Beach Resort and we all chose to ride out Hurricane Helene, here’s what that experience was like. 

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Calm before the storm

Uncertainty, Not Hubris

My family arrived at the JW Marriott Marco Island Beach Resort On Monday, September 23rd ahead of a week long conference for travel agencies. The weather was starting to stir some as were concerns both from locals, like mother-in-law who still doesn’t have her home completely returned to normal following Hurricane Ian, two years to the day before, as well as those from afar.

Based on the storm’s trajectory, the conference (and most of the on-site participants) were happy to move forward, but the second half of the conference when the storm would impact the event the most, caused too many cancellations to maintain.

We faced a choice, do we stay and ride it out, or do we tuck tail and head to Miami (well out of the path) or return home. While we were uncertain, we closely monitored the storm and never decided to leave the resort. It seemed the track would be far enough away that there was likely inconvenience on the way but unlikely that there would be real harm to our particular area. Not far from the property, some saw flooding and devastation akin to Hurricane Ian.

We were fortunate.

Front Row Seat To A Storm Surge

Though the 420-mile wide hurricane was the third-largest since 1988 that’s hit the gulf of Mexico, it dwarfed Ian (Fort Myers) by one third, and still larger than Katrina (New Orleans) for context. During Ian, my niece had an apartment a block off the beach, and that storm surge was slated to hit 18′. On a second level apartment, the water line was above the doorway, and had she not fled before the surge hit, I don’t know if she’d be alive to tell the story. Even miles inland, waterways were flooded and poured outward, with my niece, nephew, and mother-in-law wading in chest deep water some five feet above the street level as an alligator swam calmly by.

Storm surge from Helene was estimated to reach 15′ and as the storm passed by some 190 miles to the west, we watched from our room’s private balcony as the water receded into the ocean 10-20 feet behind the low tide line. At that point, I had a couple of hours before high tide coincided with the storm surge and decided to swap my mother’s car which I borrowed for our stay for a rental car just in case. There was limited elevation from the beach to the parking lot.

JW Marriott Marco Island Beach Resort’s normal shoreline

Water receding

Through palm fronds blown sideways and trees tilting in sheets of rain, the water began to creep up the beach. By the time I returned with the replacement vehicle, an SUV that sat a few feet higher than my mother’s sedan, water in canals had risen to near parity with the street level. The water had climbed up to the edge of the hotel property, and visibility dropped to 20′.

Watching from lobby

Thunder and lightning crashed outside from early evening until dawn, the glass door becoming pulled slightly open against the deadbolt lock to create an airflow gap whistle before resetting back in place. Winds were estimated to reach 80 mph at our location.

Thankfully, the water never proceeded in our location beyond the hotel’s grassy edges but sea life, and debris could be found some 50′ from the standard shoreline on the hotel’s private beach.

The JW Marriott Marco Island Beach Resort’s Response

Moving into emergency protocol, a couple of days ahead of the surge’s arrival, the hotel removed all exterior balcony furniture from the rooms and suites around the hotel and placed them inside the guest rooms. All of the guest balcony doors were locked by deadbolt from a key only the hotel management held.

Staff removed all of the beach loungers and secured the palapas with sand bags. They put bags outside of floor level doors as well, closed the pool, and its famous Quinn on The Beach restaurant on the adults-only Paradise by Sirene wing of the hotel.

Preparation

Power flicked on and off throughout the night as it moved from standard power to reserve generators.

Perhaps the most impressive response was with children on property. Staff that would normally be assigned to the pool or elsewhere working with kids instead made a makeshift kids room in an open conference room. Inside, they played movies on a projector, worked with the kids making blankets for the homeless, and feeding them snacks. At one point, my daughter was even taken to the on-site Build-A-Bear to make a stuffed animal.

None of these added any cost to us, but it made it far easier for our kids to be taken care of and to feel safe while the storm raged just outside the glass windows.

Once the storm had passed, bus loads of linemen and tree removal labor arrived and were checking in at the front desk as the hotel made room for workers restoring the island.

Conclusion

I’ll review the hotel on the merits of the stay in the future. But the response to Hurricane Helene was nothing short of professional, and expedient. While I hope we don’t soon find ourselves riding out a storm of this caliber, I was relieved in the response from the property. My family was kept safe, the hotel continued to operate, and appropriate precautions were taken. Offering my children something creative to do and relieving our stress was an example of the staff and management of this excellent property.

What do you think?