Not to be outdone by the commercial airline industry, executives and representatives of the lodging companies in the United States has requested $250 billion in assistance as a result of the economic impact which they have suffered due to the current 2019 Novel Coronavirus - which is also known as COVID-19 or 2019-nCoV - pandemic.
The request for $250 billion includes $150 billion to allow owners of hotel and resort properties to continue to pay off their loan payments and to support employees who are being laid off - tens of thousands of employees of Marriott International, Incorporated alone are reportedly being furloughed without pay but will receive benefits - while another $100 billion would go to providers of recreation and retailers as two of numerous examples of suppliers.
The chief executive officers of ten lodging companies met with Mike Pence - who is the current vice president of the United States - yesterday, Tuesday, March 17, 2020 to request urgent "assistance to keep hotels from shuttering" and to protect millions of employees of the lodging industry from losing their jobs.
"The impact to our industry is already more severe than anything we've seen before, including September 11th and the great recession of 2008 combined," stated Chip Rogers - who is the president and chief executive officer of the American Hotel and Lodging Association, which ironically boasts about being All Together Powerful - according to this official press release from the trade organization. "The White House and Congress can take urgent action to protect countless jobs, provide relief to our dedicated and hardworking employees, and ensure that our small business operators and franchise owners - who represent more than half of hotels in the country - can keep their doors open."
A decline of 30 percent in the occupancy of guests at hotel and resort properties could result in the loss of as many as four million jobs, according to this study from Oxford Economics and the American Hotel and Lodging Association - "with $180 billion of wages and a $300 billion hit to the GDP - crippling the hotel industry, the local communities they serve and the U.S. economy."
Hundreds of hotel and resort properties worldwide have already temporarily shut their doors - and more closures are certain to occur.
As to whether the complete request of $250 billion by the lodging industry will be fulfilled remains to be seen.
Airlines for America had submitted its proposal of requests on Monday, March 16, 2020 in this document - which calls for both $25 billion in grants for passenger airlines and $25 billion in loan guarantees and tax relief for the first three months of the year - after air travel from China and most of Europe was blocked by the United States; and after a significant reduction in domestic travel because of concerns pertaining to the spread of 2019 Novel Coronavirus.
After what seems to be a vast array of countless devaluations and cuts of benefits overall to customers - that's us - in recent years during when the economy was booming, lodging companies are already now joining airlines for financial assistance...
...and the worst of this artificial man-made economic disaster - which could easily have been avoided, in my opinion - has not even reached its full impact.
Tell you what, lodging industry: I just might - just might - consider agreeing to the assistance if you clean up your act as to how you treat your customers.
A good start would be eliminating those deceptive mandatory resort fees and similar junk fees you charge your guests. Keep those intact; and you do not deserve any assistance, in my opinion.
This article is the latest in a series pertaining to the 2019 Novel Coronavirus in an effort to get the facts out with information derived from reliable sources.
Other articles at The Gate which pertain to the 2019 Novel Coronavirus include:
Photograph ©2018 by Brian Cohen.
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