Burnaby hotel Accent Inns recently received a panicked phone call.
It was from a health-care worker at a retirement home in Port Coquitlam that was dealing with a COVID-19 outbreak.
“This employee had gone to work that morning unaware of the outbreak and was now scared to go home in case she infected her family. She needed somewhere to safely isolate,” said a company spokesperson. “She called Accent Inns because early in the pandemic they had reached out to all care homes offering a low rate for frontline workers who needed to isolate. To thank this health-care worker for alerting the hotel of the community’s need, she was given a room to self-isolate in for seven days at no cost.”
Accent Inns has now reinstated its Essential Service Workers program at both their Richmond and Burnaby locations – meeting the call to offer frontline essential service workers rock bottom rates, while enabling people to donate to cover their accommodation costs through the United Way Hotels for Frontline Workers Fund.
The Burnaby rate is $69 per night.
“When we ran this program earlier this year, we were able to give hundreds of frontline workers a safe place to stay,” said Mandy Farmer, president and CEO of Accent Inns.
“We did this with the help and support of our community and it makes me very happy that we are making a positive difference in this fight and supporting those who are the heroes on the frontlines.”
If you are frontline worker needing accommodation, go to: accentinns.com/essentialservices.
To donate to the Hotels for Frontline Workers Fund, visit uwgv.ca/hotels/.
