With nearly 8,800 left jobless in Rhode Island’s hotel sector and an estimated 8 out of every 10 hotel rooms empty, some local hospitality leaders are pleading for aid from Congress.
About a dozen hotel representatives from Rhode Island, along with thousands nationwide, recently signed a letter asking federal lawmakers to pass relief packages that would help hotel owners who are in danger of defaulting on loans and facing foreclosures because business has dried up during the coronavirus pandemic.
Hotels nationwide are expected to lose 50% of their revenue in 2020 – more than $120 billion – according to groups such as the American Hotel & Lodging Association.
The pain has been just as severe on the local level, said Dale Venturini, president of the Rhode Island Hospitality Association, who signed the letter to Congress.
With the R.I. Convention Center shuttered, travel advisories in place and a ban on large gatherings, Venturini said the local industry has been hit on several fronts.
“We’re not filling the rooms or our banquet halls,” said Venturini. “And it’s been catastrophic.”
The COVID-19 crisis has touched off a larger number of layoffs, furloughs and pay cuts in the Rhode Island hotel industry than in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks and the 2008 financial meltdown combined, according to Venturini.
While the summer tourism season has provided some hope to hotels in vacation destinations such as Newport, Block Island and South County, the Providence area continues to see a lack of overnight visitors.
“It’s a Providence-specific problem,” said Kristen Adamo, CEO and president of Providence Warwick Convention & Visitors Bureau. “The type of tourism business that Providence does is mostly event-driven – from a meeting at the convention center to WaterFire.”
Adamo said canceled events from March through December will total a $52 million loss in direct spending. And two of the biggest hotels in the city remain closed – the 564-room Omni Providence Hotel and the 294-room Graduate Providence.
Graduate Providence is expected to reopen later this year, according to Graduate Hotels spokeswoman Caroline Stephens, but she could not provide a timeline. Omni Hotels did not respond to requests for comment.
Events and conferences are still being planned up to four years in advance, so Adamo said she is confident that Providence’s hotel industry will recover at some point.
“But it’s just a question of getting there,” she said. “I need everything to get back to some sense of normalcy by March [2021]. But we know we won’t be packing in 2,000 people in the convention center by the spring.”
In the letter to Congress, lodging industry leaders urged Congress to continue to work on COVID-19 relief packages, including one dubbed Helping Open Properties Endeavor Act, or HOPE Act, which would provide commercial-debt relief to small businesses. More than 60% of hotels are considered small businesses, according to national hospitality groups.
No hotels have permanently closed in Providence, but Adamo said she is scraping for every little bit of occupancy.
“The hospitality industry in Providence is going to need serious and sustainable financial support from either state or federal money because you can’t ask a whole industry to go a year without making any money,” said Adamo.
Alexa Gagosz is a PBN staff writer. Contact her at
Gagosz@PBN.com.
