Unlike retailers, owners will never recoup costs of rooms empty tonight.

Empty rooms and record-low occupancy rates due to the coronavirus are pushing many Ohio hotels and motels toward temporarily closing, potentially putting nearly 100,000 people out of work, industry experts say.

Ohio’s hotels and motels are in big trouble, including the roughly 130 to 140 in the Dayton market, because demand for leisure and business travel suddenly evaporated and is weaker than it has ever been, said Joe Savarise, executive director of the Ohio Hotel & Lodging Association.

Last year, hotels and motels in the Dayton market on average had a more than 64% occupancy rate, Savarise said. But because of COVID-19, some hotels and motels across the state are seeing rates in the low double digits range and even single digits.

“This is going to impact every sector of the economy, but it’s clear that hotel and lodging has been hit worst and first,” Savarise said. “The loss of business our industry is seeing is worse than anything ever in history ... there’s nothing to compare this to, even post 9/11.”

The Dayton market’s 130 to 140 hotels have more than 12,000 rooms. Ohio is home to about 1,500 hotels with about 138,000 rooms, Savarise said.

Normal hotel occupancyrates in the state are the mid-60% range, and at times, they can be 90% or higher, Savarise said.

When hotels’ occupancy rates get into the 10% to 12% range, they have to consider closing temporarily because revenue and expenses are so out of whack, Savarise said, and many businesses are getting close to that point, if they’re not already there.

People are staying home. Vacations have been canceled. Workers aren’t traveling. Meetings, events and gatherings have been nixed or postponed.

“The impact is massive on the