Le Plaza Haiti has restored the reservations system. You may now book reservations beginning from March 1, 2010, or later.

The team of Le Plaza hotel would like to extend its deepest sympathies to the Haitian population, clients and friends who have suffered losses from the tragic event of January 12th 2010.

Le Plaza has been fortunate enough to resume operations and has had the support of French and American experts who have visited our site.

In dealing with a crisis situation, we had shut down our reservations system. In order to better serve you, we are working to resume our online reservation system in the next couple days.

For urgent reservations, please contact us to be put on our waiting list. We will do our best to accommodate your request.

We would also like to take this opportunity to thank our clients and friend for all the messages of support we have received over the last couple of weeks.

We are committed to Haiti’s rebuilding efforts and will continue to strive to give the best service possible.

A few operational changes under the circumstances and tips.

• Electricity is given 12 hours a day 6.00 AM to 12h00 and 6.00PM to 12.00 AM
• WIFI is still available, although phone communication may sometimes be a challenge
• In order to reinforce security at the hotel, all guests are encouraged to wear a hotel bracelet
• Guests will be offered to enter into a meal plan as our Restaurant a la carte is not yet fully operational and you may be limited in the choice of some items.
• We do provide Laundry service but is on a rotational basis (by building)
• We do accept VISA and MASTER CARD, however, guests should travel with sufficient cash, as all Banks are not yet open and ATMs are hard to come by (US dollars are accepted almost everywhere)

L’Equipe de l’Hôtel Le Plaza exprime ses profondes sympathies a la population haïtienne, clients et amis qui on souffert de l’événement tragique du 12 Janvier 2010.

Le Plaza a pue reprendre ses opérations et a reçu l’appui de certains experts Français et Américains. Travaillant dans une situation de crise, nous avions fermé notre system de réservation en -ligne.

Sachez que pour mieux vous servir nous travaillons à remettre ce system en fonction dans les jours qui suivent.

Pour des réservations urgentes, vous pouvez nous contacter sur reservations@plazahaiti.com pour être mis sur liste d’attente.

Nous remercions aussi notre aimable clientèle de tout les vœux et messages de soutient reçus ces dernières semaines et travaillons pour vous assurer le meilleur service possible en vue rebâtir une Haiti meilleure.

Quelques changements opérationnels et conseil :

• L’hôtel fourni de l’électricité 12 heures par jour ; de 6.00 à 12.00 et de 18h00 a 22h00
• Le system WIFI est en fonctionnement cependant la communication par téléphone est parfois difficile
• Par mesure de sécurité nous demandons au client de porter un bracelet de l’hôtel
• Sur place, les clients ont l’option d’intégrer un Plan de repas. Les choix au Restaurant peuvent parfois être limités due aux difficultés d’approvisionnement.
• Nous offrons toujours un service de buanderie bien que nous employons un system de rotation de bâtiments.
• Nous acceptons les cartes de crédit VISA et MASTER CARD cependant, sachez que toute les banques et succursales de la capitale ne sont pas encore ouvertes et les distributeurs de billets sont rares. Les dollars américains sont acceptes un peu partout mais il est difficile de changer des Euros.

The reservations system is expected to be switched back on again by the end of the first week in February. If you are anxious to be notified as soon as this happens then we suggest that you subscribe to our new Mailing List.

You may unsubscribe at any time. Your information will certainly not be mis-used in any way.

We will use the mailing list to notify subscribers of any significant changes with regard to the status of the hotel.

This morning we received the following communication from the hotel manager.

Hello to all,
Thank you Chuck and my mom who have been managing the blog. I am managing Le Plaza and just wanted to confirm that we are all ok. We got internet working yesterday but phone lines are still not running well. Most of the original guests have left the hotel so should be getting back to you soon. All of our staff is accounted for although most of them have lost everything. We do have some cracks in the building but overall we are OK and operating. We were EXTREMELY lucky.

We have blocked out all reservations until the end of February and as you were made aware, operating on a first come first serve basis (with a waiting list). We are operating with 12 hours of generator a day so communication is still not at its best.

I want to thank everyone who wrote to us and have done my best to pass along the messages. We will try to get back to you as soon as possible but are still operating in crisis management mode.

I will try to stay in contact as much as possible.

Thank you again
Agnes

We got word that the hotel came through this morning’s powerful aftershock well.

Meanwhile, the Haiti coverage by CNN draws praise.

We received from the hotel this list. All of these people – among others – are safe at Le Plaza Haiti hotel right now.

• Barga Felipe
• Alcide Sombry
• Lamontage Annick
• Ricardo Puello
• Paul Coronell
• Cesar Barria
• Pablo Radriguez
• Arelis Slva Chifund
• Bijoux Marie Gardere
• Chen Kuei Juan
• Edmond Mamie
• Vaud Jean Michel
• Oram Vaden Morris
• Raymond Nikelson
• Seawood James
• Joseph Alex
• Joseph Nehemy
• Jean Baptiste Dieudonne
• Bonne Anne Windsor
• Frantz Duval
• Ogando del Rosario
• Yeral Emilio

Please pardon the miss-spellings. This list was conveyed by means of a cell phone. Hopefully the spelling will be near enough to accurate to give needed comfort to those still worried about their loved-ones.

We remain unable to reach the Hotel by either phone or email, so it’s a great comfort when we see Anderson Cooper reporting from Le Plaza Haiti.

Captain Connor, formerly of the RCMP, is still looking for a way to put his yacht to good use. It can be made available for free use by any reputable NGO, and perhaps by a Press organization. See the web site for more information: Yacht available in Port-au-Prince, Haiti in support of the relief effort.

Here is a fairly amazing set of photos from Haiti.

We have had not had much news today. There was one brief email from the manager saying she is okay, and that the Chinese guest who speaks no English has been picked up by Tele Haiti and they are looking after him. d

We have not yet received any detailed information about the status of the guests and staff.

We have been able to reach some other parts of Port-au-Prince by phone, but not the hotel. We suppose it must be in area where service has yet to be restored.

More information will be posted here as it becomes available.

> Staff member Yolene is reported safe this evening.

By way of an extremely poor – and extremely brief – phone connection, we have news that the following members of the staff are SAFE:

• Vlaimir
• Jean Claude
• Mikael

In addition, we have learned that guests Mr. Vilmenay and Mr. Moiso are likewise well, and we have notified their families.

We hope to post more such good news here soon.

We received a brief communication from the hotel this morning. The hotel is definitely fully occupied and no reservations will be honored. Over time, as rooms become available, they will be provided on a first-come first-served basis only.

The reservations system on the web site has now been disabled.

• If you made a reservation following the disaster, then your payment authorization will simply expire after a few days.
• If you made a reservation prior to the earthquake, then your payment will be refunded as soon as the hotel management is able to acquire steady Internet access.

We regret that we still do not have a report on the status of those who were guests of the hotel at the time of earthquake, nor of members of the staff. Watch this space for further updates.

We have received a message by email from a member of the staff who was evacuated with his son to Florida. It’s been posted as a Response to this message. Olgan’s son has had his arm amputated – both are otherwise fine.

The hotel management is sorry that it cannot accept any reservations at this time. Communication remains very limited and management will provide more information regarding the guests, staff and hotel just as soon as possible.

We are pretty well certain that CNN and Anderson Cooper are staying at Le Plaza Haiti. If that is so, then it pretty well follows that the hotel guests and staff are about as safe as can be.

Anderson Cooper Blog where he mentions his hotel

The hotel resembles a compound, with razor wire topping eight-foot walls and a gated parking lot, guarded by a man wielding an old shotgun. And although the hotel’s residents seemed safe, and street violence had not been seen, there was a feeling of apprehension.

We are not 100% sure that he’s at Le Plaza but we are very nearly certain. If you are able to provide any new information then please use the Comments area.

NOTE: We have received information that Anderson Cooper is indeed a guest of the hotel, and he will be conducting interviews at the hotel at 10pm Eastern time this evening (Thursday).

Here is news that will be of some comfort to those whose family or friends are believed to have been guests of the hotel:

I just saw CNN reporting from the balcony of Plaza and all appears well. I have to assume that it is functioning and was told that Anderson Cooper did an interview there last night.
They also showed that Plaza was giving water to the people in front on the street so this means the pumps are working.

I am Chuck Cavanaugh, the web site administrator for Le Plaza Haiti site. I live in the USA and I have no direct knowledge of events in Port-au-Prince. However, in response to so many desperate messages, I have created this blog which will allow others to share information. When I do receive information, I will post it here, as well as onto the front page of the main site: www.plazahaiti.com.

The only bit of news we have concerning the hotel was a brief cell phone conversation between the hotel manager, Agnes Pierre-Louis, and her sister in San Francisco. Agnes reported that herself and her father were in good shape. She said that so far as she could tell (in the dark) the hotel appeared to be structurally sound.

That first evening, members of the staff and the hotel guests were spending the night outdoors, in the parking lot – this out of concern for the series of powerful aftershocks.

As of this Thursday morning, we have no new information at all.

You are welcome to leave your comments and messages below.