WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Friday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the CARES Act, a $2 trillion relief package in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In a statement following the passage, Chip Rogers, AHLA president and CEO, applauded the passage but expressed concerns with the limits on SBA loans in the legislation.
“The hotel industry applauds Congress and the Administration for their tireless work in response to this unprecedented public health crisis. We appreciate Speaker Pelosi and Minority Leader McCarthy for their leadership. By passing the CARES Act, Congress has taken a critical first step to provide immediate support for American workers and the industries that drive our economy,” Rogers said. “We continue to support the underlying foundation of the CARES Act, which seeks to help millions of workers and thousands of small businesses, and we are grateful it has moved forward so quickly.”
“As we have previously noted, we are disappointed that Congress was unable to increase the limits on Small Business Administration loans so that they would be more workable for our industry during this unprecedented halt in travel. Under the current limits, hoteliers will only be able to meet their payroll and debt service obligations for an estimated four to eight weeks. While we all look forward to the day when it is safe to resume traveling, the reality is that most hotels today are facing single-digit occupancy, and that is unlikely to change in such a short time period. With no revenue coming in, hoteliers can’t make their debt payments, which will result in the business going under and employees losing their jobs permanently,” Rogers continued.
“As Congress weighs additional stimulus programs in the coming weeks, we urge them to swiftly address this shortcoming in the CARES Act. We will continue to work in a bipartisan manner on a fourth wave of COVID-related legislation and future economic stimulus packages to help affected workers and industries. COVID-19 has been devastating for our industry, but we stand ready to do whatever we can to make it through this crisis,” Rogers concluded.
An additional issue with the CARES Act is that the proposed regular unemployment pay, plus an additional $600 per person until the end of July, entices people not to want to go back to work. My employees, as many lower pay earners, will make out great on unemployment. Why would they want to work? They will make more money on unemployment than they have made all their lives.
Also, I probably can’t bring everyone back to work full time, it will be a gradual build up through the season. Hopefully there will be a season. So, with that, workers will need to be able to collect partial unemployment, if it will still be available.
I am in Cooperstown, NY, dependent upon the Baseball Hall of Fame, (now closed), Dreams Park, (now closed for the 2020 season), and opera (which is still waivering on opening), for its tourism. If none of these things open for the season, then there will be no reason for people to come to Cooperstown.
In which case, I am sunk! I have already refunded nearly $80,000 in advanced deposits. And I’m not done yet! We’ve not had a single reservation in over 2 weeks.
How do I hold on to my employees if I can’t give them meaningful work? How do I hold onto my business, my life savings?
Thank you for listening and for working so hard on our behalf.
Are there any provisions in the new law that allow employers to take tax credits for wages paid to retain employees? Billy