74% of hotels may lay off more workers without Congress stimulus deal: AHLA

 


Layoffs continue to loom for hotel workers.

As many as 74% of hotels would be forced to lay off employees – in addition to those that have already been laid off at the height of the coronavirus pandemic – if they don’t get access to government funding, according to a new survey by the American Hotel and Lodging Company (AHLA), an industry trade group.

As many as 74% of hotels could be forced to layoff more employees during the coronavirus pandemic without more government funding.  (iStock)

The AHLA surveyed more than 1,000 hotel industry owners, operators, and employees between Sept. 14 and Sept. 16, and found that 68% of hotels have fewer than half of their usual pre-COVID staff working full time. What’s worse, 67% reported they would only be able to stay open six months more with current occupancy levels.

The hotel industry has struggled to pay mortgage payments and taxes after shuttering for several months, with business and leisure travel at a standstill. Now, the industry, like many others, is in a holding pattern as a result of the Senate failing to reach a 60-vote minimum to pass a $300 billion coronavirus relief package.

“These are real numbers, millions of jobs, and the livelihoods of people who have built their small business for decades, just withering away because Congress has done nothing,” Chip Rogers, president and CEO of the American Hotel & Lodging Association, said in a statement. “We can’t afford to let thousands of small businesses die and all of the jobs associated with them be lost for many years.”

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