TravelStore Designated to Manage State of California Hotels for Healthcare Workers Program During COVID-19 Crisis

April 23, 2020 – Los Angeles: TravelStore, a 100 percent employee-owned travel management company headquartered in Los Angeles, is arranging hotel accommodations for frontline healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic as the contracted travel management partner for the State of California.

The program was announced by California Governor Gavin Newsom on April 9, 2020, and provides doctors, nurses, and other critical frontline healthcare workers access to no-cost or low-cost hotel rooms.

“We are very thankful for the opportunity to assist our health care professionals,” said Trudy Flores, Senior Vice President, Northern California Operations, at TravelStore. “Medical professionals are routinely working 12- to 24-hour shifts and making long commutes to and from home, where they risk spreading the virus to family members.”

This program prioritizes healthcare workers who come in direct contact with, or are suspected of having direct contact with, COVID-19 patients or who test positive for COVID-19 but do not require hospitalization.

By providing hotel rooms in close proximity to medical facilities, healthcare workers can avoid potentially spreading this virus once leaving their shift by selecting to stay in one of the pre-identified hotels properties across the state.

TravelStore has encountered several moving stories since engaging in this program. Especially gripping was the story of one nurse who had been working double shifts and, to avoid contaminating her children at home, had spent 11 nights sleeping in her car prior to this California State Program that provided her a hotel room.

“Demand for this program has been significant,” said Flores. “We have 100 percent of our corporate travel consultants as well as many of our leisure consultants working on hotel reservations.”

While the travel industry has mostly come to a standstill, TravelStore had made the decision not to layoff or furlough any of their workforce due to the pandemic. Having transitioned all employees to home-based offices in mid-March, TravelStore has been fully staffed and is now operating extended hours to manage the increased call volume.

“Governor Newsom’s emergency initiative has been embraced by our employees,” said Osvaldo Ramos, CEO of TravelStore. “As Californians, we are eager to help and support our healthcare workers, not to mention to be more productive during these challenging times.” TravelStore reports that in the first eight days, the agency has booked over 32,000 room nights. Over 200 hotels are presently participating in the program.

California healthcare workers interested in the program can visit TravelStore’s government travel site, CalTravelStore.com, for more information.

About TravelStore

Established in 1975, employee-owned TravelStore is rated among the top travel companies in the nation by Business Travel News and Travel Weekly, and has earned the “Top Business Travel Management Company in Los Angeles” rating by the Los Angeles Business Journal. Headquartered in Los Angeles with several branch locations throughout California, TravelStore specializes in both business travel management and vacation travel services. For more information, visit TravelStore.com or call 800-850-3226.