COVID-19 almost cost them their Overtown hotel. Here’s how Black Lives Matter saved it

There are footsteps again in the 22 rooms above the busy little kitchen at the Copper Door Bed & Breakfast.

Not in all of them. But in about 10 percent of them on any given day over the past month, that padding around upstairs has been the sound of hope for Jamila Ross and Akino West’s mom-and-pop Overtown hotel.

Over the past six weeks, rule changes for reopening hotels during the coronavirus pandemic, a focus on Black-owned businesses that spotlighted their soul food pop-up restaurant, and loans and rent relief have changed the prospects for the young Black hoteliers.

“We’re certainly at a better place, mentally and physically,” Ross said.

Even amid the pandemic, the couple started making a name for themselves when they turned their hotel kitchen into a takeout and delivery pop-up, Rosie’s. West, a skilled chef who has trained under some of Miami’s best, cooked up a preview of the Southern-style restaurant they still hope to open one day at the hotel.

And then in the wake of the brutal killing of a George Floyd, which prompted protests in support of Black lives in every major American city, people started looking for ways to support Miami Black-owned businesses.

Diners found Rosie’s take-away window and the couple’s dream project nestled between Overtown and Little Havana.

“The light in that situation is that it spread to Black-owned businesses,” Ross said. “We have been able to reap the benefits of that exposure and it has been phenomenal. I think there will be a lot more exposure for Black chefs and Black ownership.”

Sales edged up 10-15 percent, she said. More important, people looking to amplify Black voices found them. “In a small business, it means a lot to us,” she said.

They’ve doubled down on Rosie’s, introducing several new dishes that show off West’s pedigree as an alum of the Michael Schwartz restaurants: shrimp and made-like-mom’s creamy grits, a crispy chicken sandwich and a sausage-egg breakfast sandwich. And they hope to set up an outside dining area, with appropriate social distancing, in their covered patio.

It helps that their finances are balanced better, Ross said. Their landlord cut their rent. And the couple received a low-interest federal Economic Injury Disaster loan.

Rules intended to control the spread of coronavirus relaxed in early June, allowing the Copper Door to reopen its rooms. They started taking reservations for the first time in three months, mostly to families of patients at nearby Jackson Medical Center or those visiting South Florida family after many months in quarantine.

They are offering a 40 percent discount on bookings through Copper Door’s website, meaning a $140 room rents for less than $100. It also lets them upgrade rooms and beds from, say, a double to a queen.

“We have the opportunity to treat you,” she said.

The recent, record spike in Florida COVID-19 cases may mean a further rollback in reopenings. The couple felt it when Miami-Dade County closed beaches Fourth of July weekend and they lost six or seven bookings.

But Ross said their business is in better shape to handle an unpredictable future.

This story was originally published July 20, 2020 at 12:00 AM.