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It could take years for Baltimore’s hotel industry to recover from the pandemic. Longtime workers are looking for a livelihood.

Working at the Hilton Baltimore was “not just a job” for Jazz Baxter, a banquet server and bartender who spent 10 years at the Inner Harbor hotel. “I was able to actually see my life improve,” Baxter said. The union-represented position offered benefits and enough money to finally build up some retirement savings. Like scores of other hotel workers in the region, Baxter lost his job last year as the coronavirus pandemic hit the industry. Now, he is starting over in his 40s with a completely different occupation as an insulator. “I didn’t leave because I wanted to,” said Baxter, who lives in West Baltimore with his wife and 5-year-old son. “I left because I was forced to.”

Hotel closures and mass layoffs have left workers reeling in an industry that supported families and generated significant tax revenues for local governments. While observers say pent-up demand for travel and the arrival of vaccines will help the rebound, it could be several years before travel fully returns.

The American Hotel and Lodging Association projects that travel will begin bouncing back this year, but “full recovery” isn’t expected until 2024.

As travel halted and large gatherings became unsafe, a torrent of event cancellations hit the industry early last year.

The Baltimore Convention Center, which is attached to the city-owned Hilton where Baxter worked, lost an estimated $92 million in business from March to December, according to Visit Baltimore, the city’s nonprofit marketing group.

KARL MERTON FERRON/ BALTIMORE SUN Jazz Baxter, who worked as a banquet server, outside the Hilton Hotel Baltimore. The hotel laid off Baxter and other workers as the coronavirus pandemic devastated the hotel industry. Many are struggling with longterm unemployment after building steady careers in the sector.