Group warns hotel job losses could double
Connecticut’s lodging industry lost nearly 10,000 jobs over the last six months and that number could nearly double if federal lawmakers don’t come up with some kind of bailout package for companies in the sector, a leading industry trade group is predicting.
The latest data from the American Hotel & Lodging Association found that 9,925 Connecticut hotel industry jobs were lost between March and September. Connecticut’s hospitality industry employed more than 26,000 people when COVID-19 hit the United States and resulted in hotels being closed by public health mandates, as well as dramatic falloff in the amount of business and leisure travel.
The AHLA is projecting that without some kind of financial bailout for the industry, Connecticut’s lodging sector could lose another 8,310 jobs in the coming months.
Chip Rogers, president and CEO of the AHLA, said Congress needs “to put politics aside and prioritize American workers in the hardesthit industries.”
“Hotels are cornerstones of the communities they serve, building strong local economies and supporting millions of jobs,” Rogers said. “Thousands of hotels across America are in jeopardy of closing forever, and that will have a ripple effect throughout our communities for years to come.”
AHLA officials said that prior to the start of the pandemic, there were 389 hotels in Connecticut.
Without an industry bailout, the organization is projecting that 181 of those hotels will go into foreclosure.
A survey of AHLA members done last week found that 67 percent of hotels nationwide don’t expect to last another six months if another COVID stimulus bill is not passed.
Nationwide, 871,065 of the 2.28 million hotel jobs that existed before the start of the pandemic were wiped out over the last six months. Without some kind of bailout, an additional 729,317 hotel jobs could be lost in the coming months, according to the AHLA.
Ginny Kozlowski, executive director of the New Haven-based Connecticut Lodging Association, said it’s hard to tell whether lawmakers
in Washington will act on a bailout before the November election.
“If the economic numbers continue to look challenged, it’s possible we’ll see a bill before the election,” Kozlowski said. “But after the election is probably likely when it will happen.”
For those looking for data on the health of Connecticut’s lodging industry, she said hotel occupancy tax
receipts were down by 63 percent in June and off by 50 percent in July. Sept. 30 is the date hotel occupancy taxes for August must be paid, according to Kozlowski.
“There are a great number of hotels that are financially challenged, even though there was more activity in August because people got displaced by power outages from the tropical storm,” she said.