"In the latest news, Marriott International plans to let go of 17 percent of its corporate workforce. According to The New York Times, the company confirmed that it will lay off 673 people in late October. Marriott had initially furloughed two-thirds of its corporate staff in March. In June, the furloughs were extended until early October. The hotel giant said it does not expect to return to prior levels of business until beyond 2021. Effective Sept. 20, Marriott will no longer be listed on the Chicago Stock Exchange, a move the company said would reduce administrative costs and requirements...
Seven months since the Covid-19 pandemic struck the United States, the hospitality industry is still reeling and the need for federal relief is growing dire. New research from Tourism Economics shows the leisure and hospitality industry accounted for 11 percent of pre-pandemic employment in the U.S., but makes up 36 percent of the nation's job losses. Recovery is expected to extend into 2023 and without aid from Congress, as many as 50 percent of all travel-supported jobs could be lost by the end of December.
Industry leaders are calling for the White House and Congress to issue immediate Covid-19 relief, and condemned the news on Oct. 6 that President Donald Trump would end negotiations until after the election. Although shortly thereafter, Trump reversed course and called on Congress to pass $135 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program and $25 billion for the airline Payroll Support Program.
"It’s time for our leaders in Washington to put politics aside and chart a bipartisan path forward to help businesses and employees in the hardest-hit industries," said Chip Rogers, president and CEO of the American Hotel and Lodging Association. "Millions of jobs and the livelihoods of people who have built their small business for decades are just withering away because our leaders in Washington are prioritizing politics over people. America’s hotel industry is on the brink of collapse. We can’t afford to let thousands of small businesses die and all of the jobs associated with them be lost for many years."
According to the AHLA, 68 percent of hotels have less than half of their normal staff working full time. In addition, more than two-thirds of hotels said they would not be able to last six more months at the current projected revenue and occupancy levels, and half of the hospitality owners polled said they are in danger of foreclosure. Without government assistance, 74 percent of hotels said they would be forced to lay off more employees.
To that end, AHLA and the U.S. Travel Association have partnered to launch the Covid Relief Now Coalition. The coalition includes nearly 150 industry organizations gathered around a single message: Congress must pass immediate travel-industry relief...
Meanwhile, Marriott has reopened 91 percent of its global hotels, including all 350 China properties. The hotelier's worldwide occupancy rates reached 34 percent in August, but occupancy rates in China are nearly double (60 percent). This marks a significant jump from earlier in the year. According to Sorenson, some of Marriott's China hotels were running at 7 percent occupancy in January, when the pandemic peaked there.
"China has been interesting to watch. We went into the crisis with about 350 operating hotels in China and about 90 to 100 closed and business disappeared in the beginning," said Sorenson during Cvent connect. "In the later part of January and into February, revenue was down about 90 percent across our hotels in China and occupancy was at 10 percent. We're now running about 60 percent occupancy as we speak and we think there is a real possibility that we will get back to 2019 levels of revenue as early as 2021. That bodes well and it does tell you something about the resiliency of people."
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Hotels Face a Dire Winter Without More Aid From Congress
COVID RELIEF NOW, a new coalition of more than 200 major public and private sector groups across the U.S., is calling for “No Recess without Relief” imploring Congress to not leave town for the 2020 elections without passing additional COVID economic relief. Millions of jobs and the survival of small businesses as well as vital government services are on the line.
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