The American Red Cross says it paid nearly $700,000 for thousands of unused hotel rooms during San Diego's October wildfires. KPBS reporter Andrew Phelps has details.
The wildfires forced half-a-million San Diegans to flee their homes. Thousands of people were stranded without hotel rooms, because all the hotels were full.
Meanwhile, the American Red Cross had booked blocks of rooms for relief workers flying in to San Diego. Six thousand rooms were never used — some of them at high-end resorts like the Hotel del Coronado. The hotels still got paid, though: $688,000.
Earlier this month, a Red Cross official told the Associated Press it was in the "tens of thousands of dollars."
The American Red Cross says the San Diego chapter will get its money back as it negotiate refunds with hotels.
Andrew Phelps, KPBS News.
