“Hurricane Sandy tore up the Atlantic coast one year ago, and hotels played a crucial role in the wake of the storm. Many travelers were stranded, and locals had to move into hotels when they found themselves suddenly homeless. The following are just a few of the venues who went above and beyond standard hospitality to protect property and guests, and who gave back to their communities in Sandy’s wake.
Hilton Garden Inn, Staten Island
While Manhattan was grappling with a blackout, things were even worse in New York City’s southernmost borough, where thousands were left homeless after Sandy’s catastrophic impact. TheHilton Garden Inn Staten Island, along with the Hampton Inn Suites across the parking lot, crammed more than 700 stranded New Yorkers into just over 300 rooms, plus 50 Red Cross workers on cots in its ballroom. The hotel’s owner, Richard Nicotra, has continued to raise money for Sandy relief and reconstruction, including a benefit party in late 2012 that raised almost $150,00 for the the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation for Sandy Relief. Volunteers from Hilton Garden Inn’s “You Can Count On Us” volunteer program have continued their work in Staten Island, for which they earned the President’s Volunteer Service Award this past May.
” – The New York Traveler.