Hospitality industry in urgent need of support

Lawmakers and union leaders are calling on the federal government to help the hotel and lodging industry in the United States after the coronavirus pandemic halted business travel, causing widespread job losses and billions of dollars in lost revenue.

US hotels are expected to lose $59 billion in revenue this year as business travelers stay away, according to research by Kalibri Labs and the American Hotel & Lodging Association, or AHLA.

Industry analysts said hotels will not bounce back to pre-pandemic levels until 2024.

Last year, hotels had more than 1 billion unsold rooms for the first time ever, according to global hospitality data benchmarking and analytics company STR. Average occupancy was 44 percent.

Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that there were roughly 1.74 million fewer leisure and hospitality jobs in August 2021 than in February 2020. Unemployment in the industry is at nearly 20 percent.

In an attempt to help the industry, US Representative Charlie Crist and Senator Brian Schatz introduced legislation called the "Save Hotel Jobs Act".

"These unprecedented times call for unprecedented support," said Crist in a statement. "Hotels and hotel employees across the country, and especially in Florida, are still reeling from the pandemic."

He added that legislation would create a payroll support program to assist hotel workers and hoteliers throughout the pandemic.

Employee payroll

It would also provide up to three months of payroll support for hotels that sustained a 40 percent drop in revenue between 2019 and 2020. All of the grant would be used on employee payroll and benefits.

Crist said that legislation also includes right-of-recall provisions to get hotel workers back to work and tax credit to enable hotel owners to purchase personal protective equipment to keep workers and guests safe.

Marriott International, the world's largest hotel chain, reported a $267 million loss last year, its second largest on record.

In March last year, Marriott furloughed about 4,000 staff members at its company headquarters in Maryland.

Hilton hotels reported a $225 million loss in the fourth quarter of 2020 and a loss of $720 million for the year. Before the pandemic, business travel accounted for 70 percent of Hilton's revenues.

This year, leisure travel improved after lockdowns were lifted, with bookings increasing in July and August. On Labor Day weekend in September, Hilton had 85.7 percent occupancy－its best performance since the pandemic began, according to the Financial Times. However, business travel has yet to rebound.

Hilton also laid off 2,100 people, or 22 percent of its corporate staff, last year.

A report from AHLA warned that if Congress does nothing to help stabilize jobs in the hotel industry, approximately 500,000 jobs may be lost by the end of this year.

More than 3 million hospitality jobs have already disappeared during the pandemic.