Visit Hot Springs temporarily furloughs most employees

Visit Hot Springs temporarily furloughed 41 of the 61 employees who work in the convention and visitors bureau and at the Hot Springs Convention Center Thursday and Friday due to diminished convention business brought about by the coronavirus pandemic, VHS CEO Steve Arrison said Monday.

The Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau followed suit in temporarily furloughing 161 of its employees on Monday, citing the pandemic’s economic impact.

“I think we’re all in the same boat, (even) Little Rock; people aren’t meeting, you’re not allowed to travel, people in groups of 10 or more cannot meet together, so obviously it’s just a lack of business,” Arrison said. “Without revenue you have to cut somewhere.”

He noted that health insurance for the temporarily furloughed employees will be paid for by VHS for April and May, and they plan to bring every employee back “just as soon as business returns.”

“We’re holding everyone’s jobs, they’re not losing seniority, they’re just not working,” Arrison said. “… They’re all valued employees, (but) with no revenue we just had no choice. Our employees are our most valuable resource and we’re just trying to make it any way we can.”

Two of the 20 Visit Hot Springs employees who were not temporarily furloughed work in the Northwoods Trails system, and Arrison said the trails are currently seeing “incredible usage.”

“The Northwoods is extremely busy, so (those employees are) maintaining and taking care of those trails,” he said.

The rest of the VHS employees who were not temporarily furloughed are working from home, Arrison said.

“We’re trying to follow the governor’s orders with social distancing,” he said. “Our sales people are still trying to take care of our customers if they haven’t canceled their meetings, or we’re moving their meetings, we’re still looking to book groups in the future. Our marketing team is still working to put together our plans to hopefully start marketing again after this is over.”

Arrison said there have been no changes to the remaining 20 VHS employees’ pay or benefits.