Travel

Hotel Workers Lose Jobs By Thousands In CA During Coronavirus

Businesses connected to the industry feeling the hurt, too, as new coronavirus concerns have led to massive layoffs.

Businesses connected to the industry feeling the hurt, too as new coronavirus has led to nearly half of all workers connected to the hotel business being laid off.
Businesses connected to the industry feeling the hurt, too as new coronavirus has led to nearly half of all workers connected to the hotel business being laid off. (Shutterstock / VH-studio)

ORANGE COUNTY, CA — The new coronavirus has led to nearly half of all workers connected to the hotel business being laid off already or facing layoff in the next few weeks, according to an Oxford Economics report.

In California, 125,454 employees who work directly for hotels have lost their jobs or soon will be let go, out of a total of 285,122, the report states.

Counting related businesses, the numbers are 414,069 of 1,014,600 workers.

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The American Hotel & Lodging Association said the industry normally supports more than 8 million jobs and blamed the losses on plummeting occupancy rates.

“Hotel owners are already reporting facing massive, unavoidable layoffs and furloughs,” the release said.

Find out what's happening in Mill Valleywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

According to the hotel association:

  • Hotels support more than 1 in 25 American jobs – 8.3 million in total.
  • The hotel industry pays more than $97 billion in wages and salary income, a 16 percent increase since 2015.
  • Hotels contribute nearly $660 billion to the U.S. gross domestic product.
  • Guests spend nearly $550 billion at hotels and local businesses.
  • Every 100 occupied rooms per night support nearly 250 local jobs, leading to $18.4 million in guest spending.
  • $186 billion goes back to the communities through local, state and federal taxes.
  • 1.3 billion guests stay in American hotels every year.

Disneyland resort, which operates three hotel properties on site, has pledged to continue paying their furloughed workers through April 18, according to a resort spokesperson. The park is closed until further notice, according to a report released on Friday.


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