More Hilton Head, Bluffton resorts close for coronavirus. Some won’t reopen until May
Three more major resorts in the Hilton Head Island area have closed as a result of the coronavirus.
Sonesta Resort Hilton Head Island, The Omni Hilton Head Oceanfront Resort and Montage Palmetto Bluff in Bluffton have announced on their websites that they have closed. Countywide, hotel and resort occupancy rates have plummeted as local leaders try to discourage tourism and other states require residents to shelter in place.
Hilton Head Mayor John McCann announced in a Friday morning town council meeting that the Sonesta Resort would close from April 5 until May 31.
The Omni appears to be closed through May 21, according to its website. Two calls to the Omni resort and the Omni corporate office were not returned Thursday.
Montage Palmetto Bluff updated its website and said it had suspended hotel operations as of March 20.
The website does not list an end date for the closure. Two messages left at Palmetto Bluff were not returned Thursday.
It is unclear whether the hotels have closed entirely and sent all guests home or simply closed to new reservations.
Hotels closing on Hilton Head
The closures come as at least one other resort and one timeshare rental company on Hilton Head Island have closed during what is typically the start to the high tourism season on Hilton Head.
Disney’s Hilton Head Resort closed March 20 and has not announced when it will reopen.
Spinnaker Resorts, which operates Bluewater, Waterside, Southwind, Egret Point, Carolina Club and Cottages, as well as the S.R. Hotel on Hilton Head, announced last month it had canceled all reservations through at least April 2.
Hilton Head leaders have encouraged rental companies to suspend all new reservations through the end of April. At least 12 vacation rental companies have agreed to refuse new reservations until April 9.
Major attractions to tourists such as the RBC Heritage Presented by Boeing PGA Tour event, originally supposed to be April 13-19, have been canceled.
This story was originally published April 2, 2020 at 1:40 PM.
