Stamford Marriott reports temporary layoffs

STAMFORD — The downtown Stamford Marriott hotel has temporarily laid off about 100 employees in response to the disruption of the coronavirus crisis, it said in a letter received Monday by the state Department of Labor.

Those job cuts occurred in March and April, but Marriott said it was sending the letter now because while it had been confident that the affected employees could be reinstated within a few months it could no longer predict when it would resume normal operations at 243 Tresser Blvd.

Layoffs might last more than six months, although “this action is not expected to be permanent,” Abigail Clarke, Marriott’s senior vice president of human resources, said in the letter.

Affected positions include bellmen, cooks, dishwashers, housekeepers and staff in banquet, front-desk, laundry, room service, sales and security positions. They do not belong to a union.

With the June 17 start of the second phase of Connecticut’s economic re-opening, hotels were allowed to resume general bookings. But Clarke said the plan still places “severe restrictions” on the hotel’s operations. She cited limits on gathering attendances, “thereby essentially barring the hotel from hosting weddings, business functions and other types of receptions.”

She also referenced the impact of the Connecticut-New York-New Jersey travel advisory, which requires individuals traveling to the tri-state area from states and territories acutely affected by the coronavirus to quarantine for 14 days after arriving. In addition, she noted many professionals’ continued remote-working arrangements and avoidance of business travel.

“It does not appear that these circumstances, which all significantly impact the hotel’s business, will be changing anytime soon,” Clarke said. “Therefore, it is now clear that Stamford Marriott will continue to operate at only a partial functionality for the foreseeable future.”

Also this spring, the Stamford Hilton furloughed about 150 employees, while the Stamford Sheraton cut about 100 positions . The latter is a Marriott International brand.

Marriott also operates Residence Inn and Courtyard by Marriott hotels in downtown Stamford.

It became the world’s largest hotel company through its $13 billion acquisition of Stamfordbased

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide in 2016, a transaction that resulted in several hundred local layoffs.

Many other hotels around the state have also made major layoffs in the past few months.

Statewide job levels in the leisure and hospitality sector, which includes hotels, plummeted from about 145,000 in March to 70,000 in April. They climbed to about 82,000 in May and then 104,000 in June, but the latter tally trailed the June 2019 total by 34 percent.

In another sign of the industry’s struggles, the state’s room occupancy tax revenues from hotels and other lodgings plunged from about $8.3 million in January to $2.3 million in May, according to the state Department of Revenue Services.