An American Hotel & Lodging Association survey found that 87 percent of responding U.S. hotels laid off or furloughed staff because of the Covid-19 pandemic, and only 37 percent of those have brought back at least half of their full-time employees. Nearly one in four hotels is back to a minimum of 60 percent of their pre-Covid staffing levels, while 29 percent are still at or below 20 percent staffing. About 36 percent have been unable to bring any of their furloughed or laid off workers back to full-time employment.
Of the more than 600 hotel owner respondents, more than half said that they are in danger of losing their property to foreclosure by commercial real estate lenders due to Covid-19.
"It's hard to overstate just how devastating the pandemic has been for the hotel industry. We have never seen a crisis of this magnitude," said AHLA president and CEO Chip Rogers. "We are encouraged to see many of AHLA's industry priorities included in the Senate package released this week. We urge Congress to direct help to the industries and employees that need it the most, and to move swiftly to support them."
AHLA conducted the survey from July 23-27 and received more than 1,200 responses.