Hotel Leaders Issue New Call for Federal Aid as Leisure Travel Lifeline Winds Down
Skift Take
Tweaks to existing federal programs could assist the U.S. hotel industry survive the worst of the economic fallout from coronavirus. But Washington gridlock continues to keep industry stimulus out of reach.
While the next iteration of coronavirus relief from the U.S. Congress faces an uphill battle in Washington, hotel industry leaders rolled out a new wish list of key measures they say would be vital to ensure hoteliers stay afloat for another year.
But what will it take to get the federal help the U.S. hotel industry so desperately needs? Perhaps a structural change in how it deals with political leaders.
“The airline and auto industries are huge oligopolies and have been bailed out several times to save jobs,” said Remington Hotels CEO Sloan Dean. “Nothing has ever been done for hotels. Even if we are a bunch of small businesses, we are still a huge employer. Our fragmentation is why our lobbying efforts haven’t been as successful.”
U.S. President Donald Trump signed four executive orders earlier this month aimed at providing coronavirus relief and to execute a workaround to stalled talks on Capitol Hill. But the measures, which include $400 in added federal unemployment benefits to individuals and a payroll tax break, don’t go far enough for the struggling hotel industry, argued American Hotel & Lodging
