Santa Barbara hotels are projected to lose $273 million in business travel revenue in 2021, down 54% compared to 2019 levels, according to a recent report from the American Hotel & Lodging Association and Kalibri Labs.
California hotels stand to lose more than $9.8 billion, while hotels across the nation are projected to end 2021, down more than $59 billion in business travel revenue compared to 2019.
The national hotel industry lost nearly $49 billion in 2020, according to a news release from AHLA.
The new analysis comes on the heels of a recent AHLA survey, which found that most business travelers are canceling, reducing and postponing trips because of COVID-19.
To keep hotel workers on the payroll, U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal, D-Santa Barbara, has co-sponsored the Save Hotel Jobs Act. The legislation would provide grants covering payroll and benefits expenses. It also would require businesses receiving the grants to give the right to go back to work to employees who were laid off because of the pandemic.
Other provisions cover areas such as worker-friendly tax credits.
Hotels are expected to end 2021 down nearly 500,000 jobs compared to 2019, including more than 75,000 lost jobs in California, according to AHLA.
Chip Rogers, AHLA president and CEO, applauded Rep. Carbajal for co-sponsoring the legislation. “While many other hard-hit industries have received targeted federal relief, the hotel industry has not. We need Congress to pass the bipartisan Save Hotel Jobs Act so hotels can retain and rehire employees until travel demand, especially business travel, comes back to pre-pandemic levels.”
For more information, visit www.ahla.com.
email: mmcmahon@newspress.com
