The hotel industry is asking Congress to come to its aid during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Thousands of jobs have been lost. And while there have been some positive gains in 2021, the industry continues to gasp, laments the American Hotel & Lodging Association.
Passing the Save Hotel Jobs Act would be a great start to helping it recover, said Chip Rogers, president and CEO of the national association.
Among other things, the act would provide full payment support to the industry’s workforce for a period of three months via grants and offer tax credits to hotels.
UNITE, a national union representing thousands of hotel workers, has joined Rogers in pleading for government assistance.
“While many other hard-hit industries have received targeted federal relief, the hotel industry has not,” Rogers said. “The Save Hotel Jobs Act will provide critical support to hotels and their workers during this crucial period. We need Congress to pass the Save Hotel Jobs Act to help hotels retain and rehire employees until travel demand, especially business travel, begins to come back.”
During the height of the pandemic, the industry hemorrhaged 3.1 million jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It expects the figure to improve in the upcoming months but predicts it will limp through with 500,000 fewer employees.
The largest source of hotel revenue, business travel, is only 15 percent of what it was prior to COVID-19. It’s not expected to improve much until late this year.
Full recovery is three years away, Rogers said.
The bill already has two sponsors, U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, and U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist, D-Fla.
U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, a Republican whose Coastal Georgia district benefits from travelers and tourists, is waiting to study the final version of the Save Hotel Jobs Act before deciding his position, his spokeswoman, Mary Carpenter, said.
The Golden Isles Convention & Visitors Bureau already has a position. It supports the national association and its efforts to rebuild and relieve the hospitality industry, said Scott McQuade, president and CEO of the bureau.
To McQuade, the facts speak for themselves. Two of every three jobs lost in the nation in 2020 supported the travel and hospitality industry and more than $1.1 trillion has been lost in travel spending.
“We are fortunate that our local industry has come back much faster than the national trends, but there is still relief needed to our industry locally and nationally,” McQuade said. “The Save the Hotel Jobs Act helps the lodging industry through a combination of direct payroll grants and tax credits that are geared to keep our industry strong and prevent further hotel closures nationally.”
The national association…
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